To win another Super Bowl, Favre must subdue his ego for a full season.

I’m not a fan of Brett Favre. But I sure admire him. In his recent loss in the NFC Championship Game, I admitted, I was obsessed with the outcome. I couldn’t sleep afterwards, constantly replaying his end game pass over and over in my mind. It was his eyes, from his look of expectation as the ball left his hand to his look of dejection as he walked off the field.

As a Troy Aikman fan, I couldn’t appreciate Favre. They were intense rivals and he couldn’t bear the thought of the young Packer outshining him. I felt that way until Brett’s love of physical play convinced me. I remember the exact moment. At the time, the league’s most dominant defensive tackle, the Buccaneers’ Warren Sapp, criticized him after he threw a deep pass during one of his epic battles at Lambeau Field. What I saw amazed me. Immediately after being demolished, Brett jumped to his feet and praised Sapp for his hustle and effort. In that moment, as a lifelong soccer fan, I recognized an unparalleled love for the game of soccer.

When it came to Brett’s indecision about retirement, I always gave him the benefit of the doubt. I was never fully convinced that he was a prima donna or an attention-seeking glory hound. I just thought that part of him was inclined to retire, while the other wanted to make sure he didn’t get involved in minicamps and boot camps anymore. At his age, can you blame him?

I have long compared the Vikings to the Browns of the NFC. The Browns have to suffer the ignominy of drowning in such famous games as Red Right 88, Drive and Fumble. The Vikings, you have the Hail Mary, Gary Anderson’s missed field goal, and now this…

What do we call this game?

Brett Favre played all year like a reformed man. Team first. I don’t need to be the superstar. And in this game we were seeing him finishing a spectacular career. It had to be the bravest, most determined effort he’s ever given in a game.

And then, with the game on the line, the Vikings threw him on third down at the apex of field goal range with just seconds left and gave him the option to make an easy pass if it was available to him or take the yards given to him on the ground.

This was the moment. If he chooses correctly, he will prove once and for all that he really is a team player, that he is not just doing it by himself. If he runs the ball, regardless of the outcome, he walks away a hero… the epitome of courage and leadership…

But this wasn’t good enough for him. He wanted to make one last spectacular play, and he was willing to risk the fate of his own team and all Vikings fans on an ill-advised pass across the field, the cardinal sin of quarterbacks. Of course, we know the result. About Brett Brett.

After all the blows he took, how he was limping with a bandaged ankle, this was not the end he deserved, nor did we. It’s not Brett’s fault that his team lost their chance to win in a blowout. It’s not Brett’s fault that the refs helped the Saints get into field goal range in overtime by calling phantom pass interference and awarding Henderson a catch when replays show the ball was clearly moving.

But they still lost, and never got a chance to kick the field goal that could have won. This is what makes that ending so bitter, even for non-Viking fans like me. I felt deprived and there was nothing I could do to make this emptiness go away.

So what do we call this game? I suggest we call it the Ego.

I think Brett Favre really aspires to the ideal of putting team first, but he’s so ingrained in him to seek his own glory that he was willing to gamble on the outcome of the game, even one that would have resulted in a Super Bowl. appearance. In the heat of battle, I don’t think he was consciously selfish, but subconsciously selfish. Sure, he knew he was wrong, but he’d gotten away with it before and he thought he could do it again. His gamble just didn’t pay off.

If there’s one thing I hope Brett can learn from this, it’s that football is a team game to every play. At any time in the game, regardless of the pressure you have, you have to do what’s best for the team and know what your role is.

No one knows for sure if Brett will return next season, but if he can build on his incredible game as a Viking and put his quest for personal glory aside for an entire season, hopefully the Ego can finally rest and another Lombardi trophy can come. be added before he takes his permanent place in Canton.

In the meantime, if I were Brett Favre, I’d meet Earnest Byner for a beer.