Brett Favre wants to be released, the Packers want Aaron Rodgers to be their starting quarterback (or so we think) and Titletown, USA (Sorry ESPN) seems to be divided. It’s the perfect situation for a young quarterback to succeed a legend. Uh, not.

SCOTT JACOBS

Poor, poor Aaron Rodgers.

It’s not often I actually feel sorry for an athlete, but there’s an exception to every rule.

Succeeding a legend is hard enough.

Succeeding Brett Favre is damn near impossible.

Because, well, the guy never wants to retire!

With word breaking out that Favre wants to be released from the Packers, Green Bay is officially in a PR slaughterfest. They’re damned if they do. They’re damned if they don’t.

If the indication is that they want to move forward and officially END the Brett Favre era, then I commend them. Aaron Rodgers has been sitting down long enough, don’t you think the Pack should find out if he can be “the guy?”

Meanwhile, “The guy” that has quarterbacked Green Bay’s offense for 16 years is once again not sure what the heck he wants to do.

It’s as ugly as it is stupid.

Favre retired. He cried at the press conference. It looked as official as retirement press conferences go. A mere few months later, he wants to come back (we think).

This story is 90% speculation, and 10% truth. Do we know for a fact the Packers don’t want Favre back? No. Green Bay hasn’t come out and said that. Do we know for sure if Favre isn’t pulling a Dan Marino (aka: exploring options elsewhere, before ultimately saying no)? No.

So the details are scattered all over the place, like a Brett Favre play when the offensive line breaks down. Does Favre really want to play for someone other then Green Bay? Does he really think this late in the season a team that has committed to it’s starting quarterback for months is going to just bring him onboard just because he’s “Brett Favre?”

This we don’t know.

But I reiterate that if the Packers think Aaron Rodgers is the guy, and clearly they’ve groomed him to be just that, then they need to cut ties. The Packers are a good team. They won 13 games last year. They came one drive away from a Super Bowl appearance.

But, they can’t constantly throw the keys to their franchise on the ground, and wait months at a time to see if Favre wants to pick them up. The Packers have to move on. Yes, I understand your window of opportunity in the league to win a championship comes and goes, but the Packers have set themselves up for Life After Favre.

They seem to understand that Favre can’t toy them around like they’re some kid of puppet. Favre doesn’t understand the concept that there’s no “I” in team. He has been dynamic, spectacular, downright inspirational in his wonderful future Hall of Fame career with the Pack, but it’s time to move on.

The Packers don’t want to bring Favre back, give him another year, and then find out a few years later, that they totally destroyed Rodgers confidence, thus setting them back five years or so.

Confidence is the ultimate tool for a quarterback. Aaron Rodgers is in the ultimate confidence cruncher. Sandwiched between Favre rumors, will he or won’t he come back and take your job, stories of successors to legends that have failed, Rodgers has had a very un-smooth, unsettling transition this off season.

If Favre wants to play he has every right to.

But, he shouldn’t be the one to tie Green Bay’s hand behind their backs. If Favre still has the spark and still thinks he can win a Super Bowl then maybe Minnesota or Tampa Bay or wherever could be a good fit for him.

But he’s tugged the Packers around enough.

It’s been glorious. It’s been fun. But now the Packers need to come out and say we’re done.

Remember, they’re the team, Brett Favre is just one player.

But you wouldn’t know that from the annual tug of war Brett puts on the Pack.

And another thing: if Favre was anything but a quarterback this wouldn’t be that big of a deal. But the QB is the engine and the smarts that make a team go. He’s the brain and the heartbeat of a team’s offensive attack. It’s easier to let say, a defensive lineman come back a few weeks before the season out of retirement. But the QB is too important. Confidence is too fragile.

Aaron Rodgers is already against the odds.

Let’s not build that electric wall any higher then it needs to be.

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