In the whole unraveling of the Brett Favre saga, many questions were tangled together since his Vikings lost to the New Orleans Saints in the NFC Championship game. Despite all the speculations, there is only one important conundrum that will be haunting Favre since he announced his return.
Can Favre be better than last year and bring the Vince Lombardi Trophy to Minnesota?
There’s one important understanding to this question: Favre must do more than last year in order for his second stint in Minnesota to have value. That means there’s only one ending for the Vikings or else bringing him back was pointless: a Super Bowl title.
The first place to look at is comparing last season’s opponents with this season.
When looking back on the 2009 season, the Vikings schedule appears quite lax in obtaining a 12-4 record. The team only faced off against five opponents who went to the playoffs and eleven teams who couldn’t even qualify.
This year, the mountain to climb back into the postseason has a bit higher of an incline. Minnesota will have half of their sixteen games against opponents who participated in the postseason last year. In their first eight weeks alone, they have to face six teams who made the playoffs in 2009.
Here’s a look at each team the superstar from the college of Southern Mississippi will face in 2010:
Week One: New Orleans Saints
New Orleans might be one of the worst passing defenses in the league (26th last season in passing yards allowed), but they were third in the league in interceptions (exactly how they beat Favre on his last pass in the 2009 championship playoff game).
Week Two: Miami Dolphins
The Dolphins was one of the worst defenses in the league, allowing 24.4 points per game last season. Despite that, they do well at pressuring the quarterback (tied for third in the league with sacks at 44) and hitting Favre is one of the most important things a defense can key in on.
Week Three: Detroit Lions
The Lions gave up the most points per game on average by any team in 2009. On top of that, they gave up the most passing yards and got beat by the deep ball the most as well. The other way to look at it though; they can only get better in 2010.
Week Five: New York Jets
His former team from 2008 was the stingiest defense in 2009, allowing the league best 14.8 points per game. They hit, they cover, and they are nasty.
Favre will have a big challenge in this one.
Week Six: Dallas Cowboys
After going up against the best defensive team, the Vikings go one to face the second best defense. The Cowboys only allowed 15.6 ppg and is one of the best at getting to the quarterback (seventh in the league with 42).
Week Seven: Green Bay Packers
Probably the game Favre has circled on his calendar, his former team doesn’t allow many points (18.6 ppg) and was the best last season at picking off the other team’s quarterback (30 interceptions).
Favre has got to be careful to not be his usual trigger-happy self.
Week Eight: New England Patriots
For the fourth straight week, the Vikings face a team that allowed less than 20 points per game last season (New England allowed only 17.8). This is always a smart, veteran team that might be trouble for Favre and his Vikings.
Week Nine: Arizona Cardinals
Favre will go up against the 2009 NFC West Champions this week and has to deal with a team that ranked in the top ten last year in interceptions (seventh with 21) and sacks (sixth with 43).
This won’t be a cake walk for the Vikings to get through.
Week Ten: Chicago Bears
Although not one of the elite defensive or playoff teams that the Vikings will have faced from the earlier weeks, the Bears are still a middle of the pack team in terms of a variety of defensive statistical categories. Favre will still need to play well to get by Chi-town.
Week Eleven: Green Bay
*See Week Seven*
Week Twelve: Washington Redskins
The Redskins are another team comparable to the Bears that the Vikings cannot sleep on. Washington is good at giving up little in the passing game (tied for eighth with 207.2 passing yards per game) and can hit the quarterback hard (tied for eighth with 40 sacks in 2009).
Week Thirteen: Buffalo Bills
The Bills are a rebuilding team in 2010, but they can play a little bit of defense as well. They were ranked sixteenth in points allowed on average last season (20.4), but this is a team that can change momentum with interceptions (second in the league with 28 in 2009).
Week Fourteen: New York Giants
The Giants may not have been a playoff team last year, but this was the same injury riddled team in 2009 who upset the Patriots in the 2007 Super Bowl and made the playoffs in 2008. They will be back at full strength this season and that might be trouble for Favre.
Week Fifteen: Chicago Bears
*See Week Ten*
Week Sixteen: Philadelphia Eagles
Another playoff team last year that the Vikings will face, the Eagles are always dangerous with the ability to make defensive plays and inflicting pain on the quarterback. They ranked fourth in the league with 25 interceptions and was tied for third in the league in sacks with 44.
Week Seventeen: Detroit Lions
*See Week Three*
Despite the hard road ahead, Favre is one of the greatest players of all time when it comes to rising to the occasion. Minnesota fans are breathing a sigh of relief knowing he will be back to lead the way.
Now, all Vikings fans can do is chant: “I think Favre can…I think Favre can”.
