Bears Blitz

Published by Max Kienzler on June 19, 2009
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears

Please, please, please bring good ole’, wrangler wearing No. 4 back to the NFC North.

Sign him to a one-year, or better yet, a two-year deal. Pay him millions and millions of dollars.

Get your fans all excited because you finally, after years of toiling in the post-Culpepper era, have a “proven” quarterback.

Say goodbye to the likes of Tarvaris Jackson, John David Booty or Sage Rosenfels as your starter.

Let the blogs explode, give John Clayton, Len Pasquarelli, and every single ESPN anchor something to drool over for the next three months.

But most importantly, bring back an over-the-hill, stubborn, gun-slinging, hot shot quarterback to try and “lead” you to the Super Bowl.

I know the arguments…

• He had a poor second half of the season because of his shoulder troubles last year. 
• The expectations were to high for him to turn a 4-12 team into a Super Bowl contender in just one season.  
• He will have better receiver options in Minnesota.
• He will throw the ball less because he has a running game.
• Blah, blah, blah.

Do not get me wrong, some of these arguments do hold water. I will grant you that he did suffer through a shoulder injury last year and that certainly affected his capabilities.

But some of his numbers before his injury might be skewed. From Week Four through 10, he faced the following defenses: Cards (ranked 28th and in which he threw for six TDs), Bye week, Bengals (19th), Raiders (24), Chiefs (29th), Bills (14th), and the Rams (31st). He went 5-1 over that stretch.

At the end of Week 10, when he was still fully healthy, Favre had recorded 16 TD’s and 12 INTs. Solid numbers, but by no means spectacular.

What kills me though is that when Favre got hurt, he was still to proud to pull himself. He was injured, he was hurting, his team went 3-4 down the stretch and he tossed six TDs and 10 INTs. Yet he didn’t come out.

Some call this valiant, that he was trying to gut it out and will his team to victory. And that could be true, but only to a point.

Once your play starts negatively impacting your team AND your playoff chances, man up, swallow your pride and see what Kellen Clemens has.

In the last five games, the Jets went 1-4 and their one win was against the Bills, who lost in an epic manner with a fumble returned for a touchdown in the final two minutes.

Add to that, Brett Favre is 39 years old. He is an 18-year veteran in the NFL. Come on, he is reaching Vinny Testaverde status.

And you know what kills me, Favre would probably still be a capable QB with the Vikings because of their run game. However, the Jets ranked ninth in total rushing, a mere four places behind the vaunted Vikings, and Favre still threw 22 TDS and 22 INTs. So why expect him to play different wearing purple?

In terms of targets, the Jets had Laveranues Coles and Jericho Cotchery as their two go to options as receivers. The Vikings have Bernard Berrian and Bobby Wade.

I guess it is a toss up between which is better, but I do not believe he is coming into a better receiving corps in Minnesota, and if so, not by that much.

So what is so different about this team and season compared to last?

Sure he will get to face the Lions twice, the Rams, Bengals, and Browns. But he also goes against the improved 49ers, the Packers twice, the Bears twice, the Ravens, Steelers, Giants, and Panthers.

Favre could very well improve the Vikings and lead them to the NFC North Championship. But he also could torpedo the team with a mess of turnovers and poor decisions.

So bring back Favre.

Let him stand in the huddle and get frustrated that he can’t pass the ball more often.

Let him force throws into coverage when he does get the chance to try and make a play and get picked off.

Watch the turnovers mount.

Bring back Favre, and watch him get hurt again and then you can realize that you just wasted a ton of money on a “me first,” shell-of-his-former self QB and wait for the following off season so you can watch him retire, debate, and comeback…again.

Bring Brett back, so I can continue to enjoy watching the Bears hit him, chase him and beat him into a pulp.

I watched the man for a majority of my life beat my team. Bring him back so I can watch my team return the favor.