Favre retirement watch begins

The Vikings came up short of their Super Bowl dreams, and now the waiting begins. Will Favre retire or not?

The Vikings’ season-ending overtime loss to New Orleans on Sunday means it’s now time for the team and its fan to turn their attention to the Brett Watch.

In other words, will quarterback Brett Favre decide to return for a 20th NFL season during which he will turn 41 years old? Favre was noncommittal after the loss at the Superdome and in all honesty it would have made little sense for him to attempt to make any decisions right then and there.

Favre was not sacked in the 31-28 loss, but he was beat up on a regular basis by New Orleans and suffered what appeared to be a sprained left ankle in the third quarter. Favre, who had a career-low seven interceptions during the regular season but was picked twice by New Orleans, continued to play.

Favre was asked if he would take a few months to make up his mind but said that won’t be the case. “I would not say months,” Favre said. “But I know people will roll their eyes. In a situation like this really I don’t want to make a decision right now based solely on what’s happened.

“I do know the year could not have gone any better aside from us not going to Miami (for the Super Bowl). I really enjoyed the guys. I wonder if I can hold up, especially after a day like (Sunday) physically and mentally. That was pretty draining. I am going to go home in a couple of days and talk it over with the family.”

Favre said many times over the course of this season that the only reason he returned and ended his second consecutive attempt at retirement was to get to the Super Bowl. But it is clear Favre does not feel he has to prove anything to anyone.

“I’d love to win the Super Bowl, who wouldn’t?” Favre said. “I can’t print anything for you guys but I’m going out on top one way or the other. I didn’t think I had anything to prove coming in, but if there were doubters out there maybe I sold notice to them. My goal was to get to Miami and obviously that is not going to happen. But if it is (my last game) no doubt I’m on top.”

Favre told ESPN that is was unlikely he would return, but Favre is notorious for changing his mind as the NFL season gets closer.

NOTES

LT Bryant McKinnie did not feel the crowd played a big role in Sunday’s game despite the fact the 71,276 in attendance made it deafening at times.

“I didn’t think the crowd noise was all that much of a factor,” McKinnie said. “But you can’t turn the ball over like we did (five times). Our guys fought hard and that’s something you can be proud of.”

RB Chester Taylor after the loss: “You know, even with all of those turnovers and fumbles we still had a real good chance to win. We beat ourselves on offense. Everybody’s feeling bad right now and it will hurt even more (on Monday). We feel like it just slipped through our hands.”

WR Sidney Rice on the performance of quarterback Brett Favre on Sunday: “Great job as usual. Great job of leading our offense and getting the ball out and hitting open guys. Unfortunately, we had a couple of turnovers that hurt us and also a penalty (on linebacker Ben Leber in overtime) that was huge.”

DE Ray Edwards played Sunday against New Orleans despite wearing a brace on his sprained right knee. Edwards was injured the previous week against Dallas.

CB Cedric Griffin reportedly has a torn anterior cruciate ligament after injuring his knee on the opening kickoff of overtime Sunday while playing special teams. The injury forced Griffin from the game.

WR Percy Harvin was able to play Sunday and caught five passes for 38 yards, despite having missed two practices last week because of recurring problems with migraine headaches.

DE Jayme Mitchell was active for only the fifth game this season on Sunday in part because the Vikings wanted to have depth behind Edwards.

CB Antoine Winfield continued to play in the slot on Sunday in part because his injured right foot made it difficult for him to play full time at his normal left corner spot. Winfield, who injured his foot in October against Baltimore, will now be able to let the injury fully recover.