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Brett Favre says he couldn't give up on one more chance to win the Super Bowl with Vikings
Brett Favre couldn't get away from the "what ifs."
The Minnesota Vikings QB said Wednesday that the specter of the team's overtime loss in last season's NFC title game hung over him all offseason and helped drive his decision to return for a 20th NFL season on Tuesday.
"I couldn't help but think about football all the time, but I didn't want to think about it," Favre said after practicing with the Vikings for the first time since training camp opened.
"I was so close, so close to getting these guys to the Super Bowl."
Favre, wearing a gray t-shirt and a new Vikings hat, said winning the Super Bowl -- and the bond he feels with his Vikings teammates -- were the factors that drew him back to the NFL and helped him overcome "chronic" pain in his surgically repaired left ankle.
Favre described months of indecision that ended on Tuesday when teammates Jared Allen, Ryan Longwell and Steve Hutchinson arrived at his Mississippi home and convinced him to fly back and rejoin the team. But he said the questions about what would happen if he couldn't replicate the "magical season" of 2009 haunted him.
BRAD CHILDRESS: Coach says Vikings felt players could convince Favre to return in person
"I'd love to win the Super Bowl," he said, "but what happens if you don't?"
Last Thursday, Favre met with Dr. James Andrews to discuss the left ankle from which the doctor removed bone spurs in May. Favre said he's surprised his ankle has not recovered as much as he expected it to, and learned that new bone spurs have cropped up since the surgery.
"The fact is," he said, "it's just something you have to deal with."
Favre, 40, has started 285 straight games since 1992. He wouldn't predict if he would be able to maintain that string of health this season. "I can't promise you if I'll make it through the season," he said. "I couldn't tell you that if I was 21."
The "hoopla" that surrounded his decision-making and his return to the Vikings was over the top, Favre said. "No one is deserving of all he attention," he said. "Heck I'm not. But that's the way it is."
PHOTOS: Brett Favre in pictures
Other highlights from Favre's speech:
-- The QB said he "could make a case for both playing, not playing" but the Vikings' chances for winning the Super Bowl won him over. "I think had we gone 8-8 (in 2009), then (not coming back) would have been a no-brainer."
-- Favre did not address his contract. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported the Vikings would increase Favre's salary to as much as $20 million this season (from $13 million), and Favre told teammate Bryant McKinnie on Tuesday that money was not a factor in his decision. Vikings coach Brad Childress also declined to address it other than to say "we've got a great, great owner."
-- The Vikings next preseason game is on Sunday in San Francisco, and Favre said he wants to play. Childress said of the potential for Favre playing, "We've got to protect them from themselves sometimes."
-- Favre said the billboards that Vikings fans rented near his Mississippi home urging him to return had an effect on him. "Believe me when I left New Orleans (after NFC title game loss), a big part of me was ... I don't want to say done..." But Favre said the Vikings' chances for going to Super Bowl (which he called "much greater than other places") drew him back.
-- Adding to his records (Favre holds every significant passing mark in NFL history) was not a factor, the QB said. "I've done it all," the three-time NFL MVP said. "There's nothing left for me to prove."
-- Sean Leahy
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About Nate Davis
Nate Davis is a reporter, blogger and editor who's been at USA TODAY since 2000. He has covered the NFL since 2005. No, he did not play quarterback for Ball State. Davis' succession of our esteemed colleague Sean Leahy at The Huddle is considered a Brady-for-Bledsoe swap by most "insiders."More about Nate
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