So Far, So Good

There are three types of quarterbacks in the NFL: those that can win you games, those that can let you win games, and those that can keep you from winning games.

With the league's best running back, one of its best offensive lines and an above-average defense, the Vikings were good enough to win the NFC North and challenge for a Super Bowl berth with a Type 2 QB. But until Brett Favre slunk out of retirement and into a purple jersey, Minnesota didn't even have that.

The Vikes had Tarvaris Jackson, a Type 3 if there ever was one, and Sage Rosenfels, a Type 3 who once, seasons ago, aspired to Type 2 status.

For all his faults -- there are several, and they are well-documented -- Favre has always been a Type 1 quarterback in temperament and ability. Late in his career, he's slipped into Type 3 at inopportune times, but in Arian Peterson, Minnesota has an ideal foil for that situation. Favre can save himself for those moments -- like the final seconds of the Vikings' stirring Week 3 victory over San Francisco -- when a gunslinging quarterback is all that will suffice.

Would Minnesota be 3-0 without Favre? Absolutely not. No way Jacskon or Rosenfels makes that play.

The key for the Vikings offense, and for head coach Brad Childress in particular, is to make sure Favre holsters his heroics. As we saw last year with the Jets and the year before in Green Bay, the well is no longer bottomless. Whether it was injury, or mental or physical fatigue, Favre was the worst kind of Type 3 when it counted most.

It would serve everyone best for Favre to channel his inner Trent Dilfer/Brad Johnson, ride Purple Jesus into the playoffs, and wait for that golden moment to unleash the fury.

So far, so good.

By Sean McCann  |  October 5, 2009; 12:49 PM ET  | Category:  Brett Favre , Green Bay Packers , Minnesota Vikings
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