Worst. Audible. Ever.

S.J. Barlament | 7/16/2008 4:34 pm | Tea in the Yahara

Admit it: Even with all the boneheaded plays -- not to mention all the crazy, incredible, did-he-really-just-do-that throws -- over the past decade and a half, all the hemming and hawing about retirement over the past few years, and that weak "out" that essentially ended the Green Bay Packers' hopes of making it to the Super Bowl last year, you never expected Brett Favre to pull a T.J. Rubley, now did you?

Rubley, of course, is famous around these parts for calling what has to be the worst audible in franchise history. Called into action in relief of an injured Brett Favre and an injured Ty Detmer versus the Minnesota Vikings on November 5, 1995, Rubley and the Packers faced third down and a foot to go from the Vikings' 38-yard-line with one minute to go and the game tied, 24-24. Then-coach Mike Holmgren called a quarterback sneak, presumably to run out the clock and set up a winning field-goal attempt for the Packers. Rubley inexplicably called an audible, rolled right, and threw across his body into traffic.

Rubley's pass, of course, was intercepted by former Packer (of course) Jeff Brady, setting up a game-wining field goal by Fuad Reveiz (of course) for the Vikings (again, of course) as time expired.

Well, now it looks like we have a new candidate for Worst Snap Decision Ever Made By A Green Bay Packers Quarterback. I speak not of Brett Favre's decision earlier this year to retire from professional football; I speak not even of his decision from a bit later this year to return to the Packers, or even his decision only a bit later to ultimately stay retired; I speak not even of his latest decision, yielding once again to his desire to compete for one more year in the NFL.

No, the Worst Snap Decision Ever Made By A Packers Quarterback award now goes to Brett Lorenzo Favre simply for asking for his unconditional release from the team for whom he has played almost his entire career. Not because he doesn't have the right to ask the Packers for his release, mind you. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, after all. Not even because I, like any good Packers fan, hate the idea of his playing for any other NFL franchise. No, Favre deserves this award simply because he has handled this entire situation terribly -- from a strategic standpoint, if nothing else -- from day one right up to the present.

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Sure, whether or not it was ever part of his intent, Favre has now managed to have put Ted Thompson, Mike McCarthy, Aaron Rodgers, and the rest of the Green Bay Packers organization behind the eight ball. So if he was going for that, he's actually succeeded on some level in this whole fiasco -- but somehow I doubt that being a thorn in the side of an organization he has come to define over the course of his professional career has ever been high on Favre's list of priorities.

No, the reason I say that Favre has royally screwed up this situation is that he -- not Thompson, mind you -- has now made it virtually impossible for the Packers to take Favre back and still have any semblance of a "normal" football season in 2008. If Favre really does have a desire to play for the Packers once again, as he has stated (and for the record, I do believe that he'd prefer to play in Green Bay if it were at all possible), all he has done by forcing Thompson's hand is make it even more unlikely that Thompson would ever consider taking Favre back in the first place.

Now, regardless of what you think of Ted Thompson -- and I happen to believe he's done a great job as GM, pretty much right up until Favre first retired earlier this year -- you can't argue with the fact that the guy appears to be a bottom-line thinker. In any given situation, he'll do what he thinks is best for the team, no matter what the fans (or what the team's players) may think of him. Sounds a bit like Ron Wolf to me, and Ron Wolf was a pretty damn good GM.

Given all that, there's no way Thompson can now be thinking that bringing Favre back to the organization to whom (and on whom) he belongs can be anything but a questionable idea. And given that Thompson is such a bottom-line guy, it doesn't seem likely that he'd be too willing to let Favre play for anybody else in the NFL, either.

Having his almost-MVP quarterback from a year ago out there playing for someone else's team may make even less sense to Thompson than would bringing Favre back to the Packers. (And no, I don't buy the assertion that Thompson has been pressuring Favre to retire (or hoping that he would) so that he (Thompson) could put his own stamp on the organization, either. Thompson's fingerprints are now all over this organization, from the head coach on down to the waterboys, and all he cares about now is having the players that will make it easiest for his team to win.)

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So what has Favre gained from this whole spectacle? Well, let's see.

It's probably pretty safe to say that about half of the fan base that has idolized him for almost two decades now thinks of him as a traitor -- if listening to talk radio and checking out Packers message boards is any indication (and yes, I think it is). It's also probably pretty safe to say that Favre's chances of coming back and actually playing for the Packers in 2008 sit at somewhere around 10 to 30 percent. And his chances of playing somewhere else in the league (provided Thompson has half a brain in his head, mind you -- and I think he does)? I'd say that chance sits somewhere between 0 and .1 percent.

Sure, there's a small chance that the Packers and Favre could resolve this situation in the two weeks that remain before training camp begins. To start, Thompson and McCarthy could meet with Aaron Rodgers and hammer out a(n insanely) lucrative contract extension that would keep Rodgers in green & gold for the next five years -- which should give Favre plenty of time to retire, unretire, and retire, unretire, and retire again as often as he'd like -- until Favre finally retires for good and Rodgers inherits the team.

Under that scenario, of course, Favre returns as the starting quarterback for now, with all attendant comments from Rodgers regarding how "the Packers are Brett's team and always will be," and "I'm glad to have him back," and "I'm the most patient person you could ever possibly hope to meet." And of course, that scenario happens to have a hidden upside for Rodgers and the Packers, as well: If Rodgers can somehow manage to beat out Favre for the starting job during this season or any other, then the Packers truly become an even-more-ready Aaron Rodgers's team to lead, no questions asked.

But the more likely scenario at the moment, unfortunately, seems to be that Brett Favre may possibly be facing an immediate future much like the one T.J. Rubley was staring at just a little under 13 years ago. Having made, up to that point in franchise history, the Worst Audible Ever, Rubley was off the team within a week.

Whatever attendant controversies and hullabaloos may come, I for one can honestly say I hope Favre ends up sticking around at least a little bit longer.