Your moment is now. It is still May, and games are months away; but as an organization, the defining moment is right now—this instant. During the draft, you were booed. After the draft, the media and the public panned your efforts. Then, your star quarterback piled on and fanned those flames. His comments about the failure to get Randy Moss made you look stupid. His complaints about the offseason imply that you don’t want to win right now. Worse, his sentiments are garnering the full support of the team’s loyal fans. All the while, you stick to the plan: keep things in-house, close-to-the-vest, tight-lipped (some wiser observers may call it “the high road”).
That brings us to now; this moment. Brett Favre has announced that he will not be attending this weekend’s mandatory mini-camp just one week after Mike McCarthy stated that Favre was expected to attend. In doing so, Brett Favre is making you look weak, helpless—captive. If you are ever to lead this team to any real success, then the team must trust that you are leading them in the right direction; it must buy into the system of the head coach and the procedures of the general manager. That cannot happen when you appear to be weak and unable to do what is necessary to win. If the team has any hope for real success this season (and for the duration of Favre’s career if it extends beyond this year), then you must respond with power. Brett Favre must be fined for missing this mini-camp, and he should be publicly called out by the organization.
I understand the urge to be timid here; to play it safe and say the right things. Brett plays the most important position on your football team. Brett only plays well when he is happy. Calling him out and imposing a fine might not make him happy. However, Favre also is only happy when the team is winning. And the team will not win without the full commitment of Brett Favre. Thus, the team must demand nothing less than that.
For six years, under Mike Sherman, Brett Favre seemed completely without accountability. He received more and more time off during the offseasons, and his on-field mistakes were constantly excused or explained away—usually by placing somebody else at fault. Mike McCarthy has begun to bring accountability to the position of quarterback by publicly stating the need to improve. Now, you and McCarthy have to finish it.
Brett Favre—not you, Mike McCarthy or any other team representative—announced that Favre would not attend mini-camp. The team did not publicly excuse him. The team was not fully consulted in the decision. He made the decision on his own. And now, you should make your own announcement. It should include that the team has decided to fine Brett Favre because he has a responsibility to the team to report just like everyone else. It should include that the adjustments to the scheme and the direction of this team will be laid out during this camp and that it is important for the starting quarterback to take part. Furthermore, it should include that the best way for Favre to accomplish his stated goal of “just want[ing] to win,” is to put in the time to work with the team, and that his absence from the team facility is hurting the development of the offense far more than a lack of capable players. Say that he might have an idea of how well these guys can play if he took the time to stop into Green Bay from time to time.
Make this show of power to give your team faith in your leadership, while at the same time, delivering them the on-field leadership they deserve from their iconic quarterback. The alternative is that this young team will have to choose which to follow: a quarterback with little faith in their abilities and without the dedication to spend time with the team or a front office that lacks the urgency to win now and the strength to do what is necessary to put together a championship-caliber team. In that scenario, nobody wins. What future is there to look forward to if it becomes clear that the soon-to-be-retired quarterback holds the reigns?
The moment is now, Ted Thompson, to take control of this organization; to give the team someone to follow and something toward which they can aspire. The moment is now to give this team a chance.
Sincerely:
A Packers fan first
A Brett Favre fan second
