Three away from 300 is tonight the night Brett Favre finally sits?

SCOTT JACOBS

Is tonight the night?

Is tonight the night where the NFL’s most famous streak dies?  Is tonight the night where the NFL’s most fascinating, over-talked about player finally sits?  Is tonight the night that Brett Favre doesn’t start?

It’s been an awful season for the gun slinging, Wrangler wearing, body breaking down more by the second Favre.  The Vikings have failed to come close to the high expectations that were rightfully bestowed upon them, after coming so close to the Super Bowl last season.  Favre’s stats have been horrendous, and his interceptions (18) are off the proverbial charts. The Vikings have suffered through a just as miserable season, including a coaching change and a weekly “will Favre play or won’t Favre play” debate that leaves Tavaris Jackson (an impending free agent at the end of the season) in the middle of one giant mess.

Minnesota’s playoff hopes are doomed, and a veteran laden team instead looks, well plain old.  Favre has already made it clear that the itch to play next season is non-existent and that this miserable, disappointing season will be his last.  He’s within three starts of reaching 300 in a row, an iron-man streak that may never be touched.

But tonight may be the end of an era.  Favre is hurting and reports have surfaced that he doesn’t think he can play tonight.  He said he definitely couldn’t have played yesterday.  But after a freak snowstorm literally ripped the cover off the ancient Metrodome (leading to more cries of “uh o, we need a new stadium or we’re moving to L.A.”) Minnesota’s tilt with the Giants was moved from the Great Lakes to Mowtown, where it will be broadcasted regionally tonight in those markets.

It’s the first NFL game to be moved since another Giants road game (odd coincidence) against the displaced Saints after Hurricane Katrina.  That game was moved to the Meadowlands.

This one will be played in the Lions Den, where thousands of fans scooped up free tickets to watch an NFL great potentially sit one out. I wrote a number of years ago that if Favre didn’t retire his career would end on a stretcher and not a podium.  All these injuries, all these hits have clearly taken it’s toll on not just Favre’s shoulder, but his body.

Favre has to look at life after football. Does he want to have trouble walking out of bed in the morning five years from now? Or is his long-term health enough to finally get him to sit?

Tonight could be the night that the NFL’s Cal Ripken calls it a streak. Or will number four muster just enough to get his broken, fading body out onto the grid-iron?

In the whacky wonderful world that is Brett Favre, maybe it would be fitting for his streak to end tonight. A home game played in a divisional opponent’s stadium, in front of a crowd that mostly hates him, against a team ready to rip him apart. Favre’s career was supposed to end with the Jets. Maybe tonight it unofficially ends against that other New York team: the Giants.

Feature: AP

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