Mike Holmgren Having Second Thoughts; Turns His 'Retirement' Into a 'Sabbatical'

It would appear that Mike Holmgren taught Brett Favre everything he knows. Or, in the case of "how to retire", maybe it's the other way around. See, Holmgren announced his retirement following this season, primarily based on one of the league's top defenses, a [theoretically] revamped running game and Matt Hasselbeck finally winning a Super Bowl.

Or something enchanting like that. Whoops.

This season is business as usual. We made the decision, Kathy and I, to come back for one more year, and I'm at peace with that. Then, Jimmy (Mora) is going to be the head coach next year.

"I'm going to take some time off. And I made that promise to my family. And then I'm looking at it as a sabbatical leave. I'm going to take some time off and see how I feel. I don't know right now how I'm going to react to that. And make some decision after that.

"This season, it's business as usual and I coach like I coach and I act like I act, and I want to do well.

I generally find the Retirement Shuffle to be a tiresome, pointless parade, but in Holmgren's case, I kind of understand. We're just one week into the NFL season and he's already had his team essentially decimated.

So it's understandable that he looks at his career, in which he built two winning franchises, picked up a Super Bowl and became known as an offensive mastermind, and says: "I will NOT go out like ... like ... this." (/points at T.J. Duckett and Samie Parker)