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Green Bay, Wis. - The sparkling weather conditions at Green Bay's first preseason practice Monday morning belied the storm brewing on the horizon.
Heck, Wisconsin will issue its first hurricane warning should Brett Favre track north from Mississippi later this week and report to training camp ... all in hopes of being released.
(HAD ENOUGH? Hard to believe, but NFL does not stand for the "National Favre League" — there are actually other things going on around football. Non-Favre NFL News:
Chad Johnson out with ankle injury
RB Jackson continues Rams holdout
Goodell decides not to punish Lynch
Latest NFL training camp chatter)
Favre's threat to emerge from retirement has added to the dark clouds that will surround the 2008 Packers even after his NFL future is ultimately decided. Unless the Packers stage an about-face and reinstate a future Hall of Fame quarterback as their starter ahead of the unproven Aaron Rodgers — something that general manager Ted Thompson reaffirmed Monday isn't in the offing — Green Bay's handling of this situation will continue to generate a flood of controversy.
"I understand why there are people out there that think, 'Holy smokes! You're crazy,' " Thompson acknowledged.
But if the roughly 1,500 Cheeseheads attending Monday's practice had objections to Thompson's methods, they certainly weren't being loudly voiced. Even with Favre's pedigree, this scene wasn't like Cleveland in 1993 when coach Bill Belichick's in-season release of hometown quarterback Bernie Kosar sparked widespread outrage and ultimately contributed to his firing.
No protesters stood in front of Lambeau Field waving signs reading, "Beep for Brett." There were no chants calling for Favre's return or Thompson's head. Only two "Bring Back Brett" T-shirts were spotted along the long line of fans watching a Packers post-practice tradition: Players riding bicycles from the practice field to team headquarters as children ran behind carrying their helmets.
Maybe this group of Packers faithful, like team management, has grown tired of Favre's perpetual waffling on the retirement issue. Maybe they believe Favre's return to the first-team offense would emasculate Rodgers, ruining a player that Packers brass believes can become a standout replacement. Or they fear Favre's dreadful performance in last season's NFC Championship game is a harbinger of things to come at age 38.
Regardless, Packers coach Mike McCarthy's credo of "moving forward" — which he used 10 times alone during a Saturday news conference — has gained traction with fans like Charlie and Mickie Wyatt. The two Green Bay-area residents attended Monday's practice with their three children, including one (six-year-old Billy) who still idolizes Favre.
"We were expecting people to be yelling, 'We want Favre!' " Charlie Wyatt said. "I would say 90 percent of the people here would love to see Brett in uniform again, but it's a business when it comes down to it. I think it's over and he's going to be moving on. Let's just get it done with."
Said Mickie Wyatt: "A lot of us, as much as we like Favre, support the Packers as a team ... It's going to be terrible to see him in a different jersey, but I'll cheer for him and be a Packers fan."
There were still more No. 4 jerseys in the stands than for any other Packers player. One was worn by Tammy Cooper, who drove 2 ½ hours from Jefferson, Wis. to attend Monday's practice. She hopes Favre returns to the Packers — "He's Brett. There's nobody else like him." — yet also understands the team's stance.
"If you quit your job," Cooper said, "somebody's got to fill it."
That somebody is Rodgers. Like most of his teammates Monday, Rodgers seemed nonplussed by the Favre furor. After a sharp practice performance, Rodgers answered wave after wave of Favre questions from the 90-plus journalists that converged upon the Packers locker room.
"The things I can't control, I'm not going to worry about," said Rodgers, who has spent the past three seasons as Favre's understudy. "That's easier said than done. But when you realize things happen for a reason and you truly believe that, you just don't question the things that happen — as crazy as they may be."
"Crazy" is Favre requesting reinstatement from his March retirement and reporting for training camp. Knowing the Packers are refusing to open the starting competition, such a move would be designed to generate enough internal chaos and outside controversy that Thompson decides to sever ties. But any return would come at a heavy price: The tarnishing of Favre's stellar Packers legacy and the loss of respect from teammates upset about their preseason being undermined by a player clearly not in the club's plans.
Thompson also remains steadfast that Favre won't be traded within the NFC North — sorry, Minnesota — and said an outright release "doesn't make good business sense."
"I've not heard many people say that's a good option, even people that would like to hang me in effigy outside," Thompson said.
For now, the other options aren't much better. The Packers have been unable to strike a trade with potential partners in Tampa Bay and the New York Jets. Favre's release also could be inevitable. Even if the Packers tried freezing a returning Favre by only using him for individual practice drills during the preseason, Green Bay would be forced to swallow his $12 million salary for 2008 if he remained on the opening-day roster. And there's scant chance that the Packers would pay that sum for a player of Favre's stature to ride the pine.
During two telephone conversations Saturday with Favre, Thompson said there was one thing the two could agree upon: "This is a unique and at times difficult situation."
And it may only get worse.
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