Favre signing likely on vacation

Brad Childress is gone fishing in Alaska this week, making a Brett Favre signing highly unlikely in the coming days.

It’s one thing to put up a “Gone Fishin’” sign, but as the world of the Vikings fans ruminates on the potential of Brett Favre becoming the Vikings new quarterback, they were given a week off by Brad Childress.

Childress and Eagles head coach Andy Reid are off this week fishing in Alaska, which, given the recent media climate of chasing stories to Hattiesburg, Miss., could cause a mini-tourism boom in Alaska chasing down the story.

Reid and Childress have been close friends long before Childress served as offensive coordinator with the Eagles. The two coached together at Northern Arizona.

The trip is a welcome respite for both – Childress able to avoid the Favre questions for a few more days and Reid to wax nostalgic about Terrell Owens, who once claimed within the employ of the Eagles that he would prefer Brett Favre to Donovan McNabb.

Now that’s a fishing story.

WEDNESDAY NOTES

WCCO-TV’s Mark Rosen is quoting his own unnamed sources that agree the Vikings have reached an agreement to sign Favre barring any setback in his current rehab process. As earlier reports have also claimed, any contract between the Vikings and Favre would be loaded with incentives – both in games started and team accomplishments.

All week, ESPN is using the countdown to the start of training camp to spend this week honoring its choices for the All-Decade Team. On Tuesday, it unveiled its offensive unit and the Vikings Steve Hutchinson, along with Steelers and Jets guard Alan Faneca, were named the starting guards for the All-Decade Offense. No Vikings were named to the All-Decade Defense, which was announced Monday.

The Lions opened their full-squad minicamp Tuesday as the first all-defeated team in the 16-game era of the NFL (as opposed to undefeated). Former Vikings QB Daunte Culpepper, who area wonks claim has dropped 30-plus pounds and is still weighing in at 260 pounds, got most of the first-team snaps. If Pepp is ever going to have motivation to resurrect his career, having the first overall pick playing behind him might do it. Culpepper had to sit as a rookie. He can help make Matthew Stafford do the same.