Could Favre Become a Viking?

In the middle of Peter King's informative look at what's going to happen with the Packers and Brett Favre, he dropped in this nugget which should frighten Packers fans and give Vikings fans plenty of reasons to hope for a Favre return.

Overwhelmingly the team that makes the most sense to sign Favre for a couple of years is Minnesota. The Vikings are training Tarvaris Jackson to be their quarterback of the future, but he's an unproven commodity with promise at best. Their offensive coordinator is Darrell Bevell, who was Favre's quarterback coach for three years, from 2003-05. They have a close relationship. Not Steve Mariucci-Favre close, but Favre has a lot of respect for him. Imagine Favre in purple. It's an absolutely vomitous scenario for the Packers, imagining Favre playing for their arch-rivals -- and imagining Favre charging out of the tunnel at Lambeau Field for the opening game of the 2008 season. Lambeau Field, Monday Night Football, the night Favre was supposed to have his number retired for the Packers.

Obviously, if the Packers decide to release Favre to get out from under his $12 million cap hit, the Vikings should be calling him immediately. Offensively, the only real questions with this team are whether Tarvaris Jackson is ready to lead them to the playoffs. Give Adrian Peterson, Chester Taylor and Bernard Berrian Brett Favre and watch the points pile up. Minnesota is a team that was on the cusp of the playoffs last year with horrendous quarterback play and a mediocre pass rush, adding Favre and Jared Allen would make the Vikes a legitimate Super Bowl contender.
Now there is some risk in picking up Favre. It would slow down Jackson's development, and while Favre was great last year, he was only OK in 2006. There's a chance that Favre would be a good, but not great quarterback, in 2008. However, a good NFL QB would still be a dramatic improvement over last year. And while the Packers would be running a risk of losing Aaron Rodgers if they bring Favre back, Favre seems like a perfect fit with the Vikings, where he could play a year before handing the team back to Jackson next year.

But that would explain one of the reasons that Green Bay can't cut Favre. Beyond the public relations nightmare, Favre's most likely landing spots would be either Minnesota or Chicago, both of which would dramatically improve a team within the Packers' division. It's hard to imagine Green Bay letting that happen. So it's still unlikely we'll see Favre wearing purple this year. But less than a month before training camp starts, the Packers have an ulcer-inducing problem to fix, which can't be bad news for the Vikes.