With the Minnesota Vikings and their new nearly 40-year-old toy preparing to face the team with which he spent 16 seasons, the coaches who’ll preside over the Monday night game are facing questions regarding the efforts of Brett Favre to effect a transfer to Minnesota one year earlier than it happened.
Here’s a quick refresher. If the Packers didn’t want Favre playing for them, then Favre wanted to play for the Vikings. The Packers said no, ultimately filing tampering charges against the Vikings for allegedly trying to land him. Eventually, Favre was traded to the Jets -- and the Jets faced the forfeiture of three first-round picks if they later flipped Favre to one of the teams in the NFC North. (By releasing Favre, the Jets faced no consequence when he signed with Minnesota.)
On Monday, Vikings coach Brad Childress fielded a question regarding whether he hoped to secure Favre’s services in 2008.
And Childress went Biblical.
“Did I covet him?” Childress said, per the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “The good Lord tells us not to covet other people’s goods. No, I didn’t covet him because he was property of the Packers.”
Meanwhile, Packers coach Mike McCarthy denied that the term required the Jets to potentially cough up three first-round picks in order to avoid having to face Favre.
“That was not part of my thought process during that time,” McCarthy said, possibly with a straight face. “I was more focused on getting back coaching my team because of the amount of time that I was pulled away from the team during training camp dealing with that scenario.”
We’re not sure we see the connection, most likely because there isn’t one.
And so, with Childress paying lip service to the tenth commandment, our guess is that he and McCarthy have taken liberties with the ninth one.
Then again, we think that regularly bearing false witness is in the job description.