Favre's timing just a bit suspicious

Brett Favre has always had impeccable timing, hasn't he? It makes perfect sense, then, that just as Bears fans were gearing up for Super Bowl weekend, Favre announced that he'll play again next season. Just in case anyone around here had forgotten about him.

''I am so excited about coming back,'' Favre, 37, told his hometown paper, the Sun Herald of Biloxi, Miss., on Friday. ''We have a good nucleus of young players. We were 8-8 last year, and that's encouraging.''

I'm sure all of Chicago is so excited that he's coming back. And I suppose we have the Bears to thank for his decision. Anyone who watched him whip the football around Soldier Field during the regular-season finale on New Year's Eve, throwing for 285 yards and a touchdown, had to know he'd return to play another season. Heck, on that night, he looked like he had a few more seasons left in him. At least.

Sure, he nearly cried during a postgame interview, sounding for all the world like he had played his final game. But we know Favre better than that. We knew he'd change his mind. We just didn't know he'd change his mind on Super Bowl Friday.

You don't think he was trying to upstage the Bears with the timing of his announcement, do you? Naw. No way. Although, come to think of it, the Packers themselves seemed a bit surprised at the timing.

''I don't know,'' general manager Ted Thompson said during a news conference Friday. ''I've tried to learn not to be surprised. We've been through this merry-go-round a couple of times.''

After all of last year's drama -- will he or won't he retire, should he or shouldn't he retire -- it's nice to see Favre make his mind up quickly this time around. I'm sure the Packers were happy he didn't keep them hanging until April again. But couldn't he have waited a few days to make the announcement? Why do I get the feel was sick of seeing the Bears all over ESPN and every other media outlet in Biloxi? Not only did the Bears win the division Favre's Packers once owned for the second straight season, they're playing in the Super Bowl. Favre couldn't help himself. He had to come back, and he couldn't wait to tell the world. Spoilsport.

''I think the timing of it, we wanted to give him three or four weeks, or something like that, just to kind of let the dust settle, and I purposely didn't call him or bother him during his time,'' Thompson said.

And then came Favre's surprise phone call.

''I think he said something about, 'I think I'm going to give it another shot,''' Thompson said. ''Something like that. And I said, 'That sounds good to me.'''

Favre, who's contemplating ankle surgery this offseason, is taking it one year at a time for now. But each year he plays is another year that heir apparent Aaron Rogers, a first-round pick in 2005, sits and waits. After hearing from Favre, the Packers made a point of ''checking on'' Rogers, who's still recuperating from a broken foot.

''Obviously, this affects [Rogers] and his immediate future and so forth,'' Thompson said. ''We just want him to know that he's a Packer and we're very happy to have both those guys.''

The future will arrive in Green Bay someday, and it will arrive when Favre says so. And if his 72.7 passer rating last season seems average, well, it was a tad higher than 2005's 70.9. The Packers aren't worried. At least not publicly.

''I think he's one of those rare birds that you see once in a generation that can play at a very, very high level for an extended amount of time,'' Thompson said. ''Now, when that time comes for him, not to be able to produce that way, I don't know when it's going to be, but I don't see any evidence of it [yet].''

Besides, as Bears fans know better than most folks, Favre's most telling statistic has always been victories. He has won 22 games and lost only eight against the Bears during his 16-year career. And all the New Year's Eve victory did was whet his appetite for more. It allowed the Packers to finish at .500 for the season. Favre believes they'll be contenders next season.

''In the locker room [after the game], he was happy as a clam, like he was in amongst the team and we won a game against an archrival, and he was pretty happy about everything,'' Thompson said.

Yep, credit the Bears with an assist on Favre's decision.

But the timing of his announcement? That's all Favre.

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