Favre a Minnesota Viking in all but Contract Terms

This past week, the two most visible non-players in the Minnesota Vikings' organization made evident the direction that the Vikings hope to go at quarterback in 2009. On Wednesday, while delivering the off-season, time-filler known as the "State of the Vikings" address, Vikings' owner Zygi Wilf addressed the Brett Favre situation, stating that the "ball is in Brett's court."

On Friday, Vikings' head coach Brad Childress departed from his normal softball talk with KFAN's Minnesota Viking Pollyanna, Paul Allen, to field questions from the more insistent and persistent Dan Barreiro. Throughout the discussion, Childress spoke of Favre as though Favre already was on the Vikings' roster. Responding to comments that Vikings' defensive end Ray Edwards made regarding Favre's vacillation on whether to return to the NFL this season, Childress sounded like a head coach defending his own quarterback. "Ray kind of led himself off the bridge on that one--let his mouth flap," Childress said.

Childress continued, stating that he thinks Favre "will be a great lockerroom guy and an excellent teammate," suggesting that Favre's addition was a fait accompli.

At the end of the interview, rather than throw out Allen's obligatory "I've gotta ask but won't press you to answer" question, Barreiro did what he does best with local sports personalities--he baited his guest and let the interviewee talk. "If Sage or Tarvaris happened to be listening to this conversation--and it sounds like this [deal with Favre] will get done, what do you say to them?" Barreiro asked, tossing in an assumption as a secondary matter when it really was the point of the question.

"I'd say if he goes down, we'll need you," Childress replied, neither pointing out Barreiro's assumption nor resorting to his usual out with Allen that he does not "deal in hypotheticals."

Either Childress now deals in hypotheticals, or he's fairly confident that Favre will be a Minnesota Viking in 2009. And given the likely backlash from the fan base should the Vikings fail to lure Favre out of retirement after all of the PR that the team has unleashed on the Favre matter, there's far more reason to expect that that latter is true.

Up Next: Favre File.