And the old cowboy ambles in to dusty bar once more. Brett Favre is back and at this rate, I imagine he might actually play for all 32 franchises before it’s all said and done. Favre signed with the Vikings yesterday after months of the 3rd consecutive sold out Retirement Tour.

Favre is probably my favorite quarterback over the last 20 years; defying time and age, he plays the game with reckless abandon, has as much fun as a rookie, and all the other good cliché’s people say about Brett. They’re all true. The annual will he/won’t he saga has grown incredibly tiresome, but let’s say you could mow the grass really well—like cool patterns and perfect lines—and by the time you were 75 you might say, “I’ve had enough of this, I’m hiring a crew.”

But then spring rolls around. Beautiful green grass sprouts up. You see your neighbors with their shiny new riding mowers and what the heck, it’s just one more year, right? You can’t begrudge a man for wanting to hold onto his talent. You can however take issue if he holds a national press conference every time a thought comes into his head.

So Brett leaves Green Bay on a sour note and heads to the Jets. He leaves the Jets after one season and heads back to the NFC North. Was this all a part of his master plan to get back in the division and show the Pack what they let go? Does his addition to an already well stocked Vikings team secure Minnesota a playoff spot? These questions and more answered below in a quick peek at cold and blustery NFC North. Let’s reverse it for an incredibley exciting and potentially cliff hanger of an ending!!!

Detroit Lions—Oh Detroit, it has not been the best year in the sports world for you. The Red Wings lost the Cup. The Tigers are leading the division, but it’s a slim lead. And now the Lions are ready to take the field, and vanquish memories of the first 0-16 season in NFL history. And they will do just that, but probably only by a game or three. With franchise savior QB Matthew Stafford, the WR physical anomaly that is Calvin Johnson, and steady RB Kevin Smith, the offense will be much improved, but I called the commissioner and teams are still required to play offense and defense this season. Bummer.

Chicago Bears—My Bears friends are going to be honked off at me, but I’m serious. Jay Cutler is the best QB this city has seen since the invention of television, but they’re missing any semblance of a wide receiving core. Matt Forte is emerging as a great RB, Greg Olsen will likely be very good and Devin Hester can be a game changer, but the Bears are a grind it out type of team and unfortunately their defense isn’t able to keep them in the 17-14 range that they are accustomed to playing in during their Super Bowl season. If the coaching staff recognizes this early enough, maybe they’ll try to become a shootout kind of team, but that seems unlikely. I guess they could go 10-6, but that might not be enough this year.

Green Bay Packers—The Packers are the forgotten team in this division and I don’t get it. They have a very good quarterback in Aaron Rodgers, RB Ryan Grant has back to back impressive seasons, they have a talented core of WRs led by Greg Jennings and their defense can be good. I say CAN because sometimes the take a week off and allow 50 plus points, and look like this. In their defense however, they lost six games last year by 3 points or less. If even half of those games go the other way, they…well they still don’t win the division, but you see my point. Look for a better finish from the Cheddarmen this year. Is that a known term? Did I just make that up?

Minnesota Vikings—Let me just say that I have publicly stated that I thought the Vikings were the best team in the division before Favre signed. Even with Sage “Throw it away, Throw it away!” Rosenfels at QB, I thought they could win the division again. Adrian Peterson is one of the five best players in the game. Their offensive line is stacked. Their defense led by Jared Allen brings pressure from all sides and stuffs the run. Stopping the pass is a different story, but you can’t have it all. The Vikings are the kind of team the Bears used to be. Run the ball. Sack the quarterback. Stop the run. Now they’ve added a Hall of Fame quarterback. He’s like a rug that really ties the room together. Last year, before his right arm deteriorated into a mess of tangled tendons, Favre led the less talented Jets to an 8-3 start, defeating the rivaled Patriots and undefeated Tennessee Titans in back to back weeks on the road. There’s no reason to believe he can’t offer that same level of production in the Metrodome this season.

Vikings fans, I don’t know if you’re excited (you should be) or sickened. I don’t know what it would feel like if Tom Brady signed with the Jets. Weird is my guess. But if this little honeymoon in Minnesota works out, you can thank the Jets for drafting Mark Sanchez and handing Brett his walking papers with a plane ticket to Minnesota tucked neatly inside.

Lots to catch up on here. A bunch of baseball trades from a week or two ago. Football previews. The Health Care debate. Check back again soon as we try to catch up.

Item of the week is…you guessed it!

Tags: Aaron Rodgers, Adrian Peterson, Brett Favre, Calvin Johnson, Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Devin Hester, Green Bay Packers, Greg Jennings, Greg Olsen, Jared Allen, Jay Cutler, Mark Sanchez, Matt Forte, Matthew Stafford, Minnesota Vikings, New England Patriots, New York Jets, Ryan Grant, Tom Brady

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 19th, 2009 at 7:46 pm and is filed under NFL. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.