Is it time for the unthinkable in Green Bay?

As Green Bay head coach Mike McCarthy enters his second season with the team, the biggest question looming over the young head coach is; “What happens if Brett Favre struggles?”  The 37 year old, 16 year veteran once again returned after a year filled with retirement rumors to lead the youngest team in the NFL.  Favre returns to a team that unloaded veteran running backs Ahman Green and William Henderson in the off-season and now has a second year player and a rookie competing for the starting job.  With a young, developing QB in Aaron Rodgers waiting in the wings, when does McCarthy hand over the reins and build for the future?

I know this sounds sacrilegious to the legions of Packers fans that have watched Favre lead this team by making every start since three games into the 1992 season, but this team is unlikely to go very far with the amount of young players on the roster.  Favre will have to take on the burden of willing this team into the playoffs and his gunslinger’s mentality, though always fun to watch, will be largely wasted on the effort.  The sure-fire first ballot Hall of Famer has largely made the situation more difficult for himself by wavering over the last couple of seasons as to whether he will stay or hang up his pads and wait for Canton to call for his yellow blazer.  The team has been understandably reluctant to spend heavily on free agents in the off-season with the quarterback position as an unknown. 

Rodgers, fortunately for the team, continues to wait patiently.  Watching from the sidelines and learning the vagaries of the West Coast offense from one of the best quarterbacks to ever play in it and working to improve his game to be ready when the time comes.  The former first round pick endured some hazing from the player he was drafted to take over for early on in his career and has gained the confidence of both Favre and the coaching staff by the progress he continues to make.  Hampered by a broken foot suffered while filling in for the injured Favre last year, Rodgers committed himself to rehabbing the injury and focusing on improving his game for when he gets his shot to complete the Packers youth movement. 

McCarthy has a decision that would be difficult for any head coach to make.  With Favre so close to eclipsing nearly all of the NFL quarterback records, he has to feel some sense of loyalty to allow Favre to reach the pinnacles of NFL history, but Favre won’t be around forever and the future is waiting on the sidelines holding a clipboard.  Once again in the cycle of the NFL, the aging legend faces the challenge from the younger upstart and the drama of football continues to unfold.

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