Do Minnesota Fans WANT Brett Favre to Play?

Everyone not living on the moon this week knows Brett Favre's consecutive starts streak is in jeopardy. He banged up the same ankle last week that he went under the knife for during the off-season, and it would apparently be a "miracle" if he played (according to ESPN's medical analyst. Who they had on hand, in the studio, by the way. Would that guy have a job at ESPN without Brett Favre?)

Let's get one thing straight: come on, he's going to start. He some how managed to practice today, after wearing a boot and taking it easy in the middle of the week. You don't play in 316 games (number includes playoffs) in a row and suddenly sit out when there is even the slightest chance you could go, and Favre has been living on those type of injury odds his entire career.

The real question is whether or not he SHOULD play. He is a first ballot Hall-of-Fame quarterback, without a question, but he's looked more like Scott Mitchell than Steve Young this season (little Lions shout-out, hope you appreciate it in the D). He only has six touchdowns compared to seven picks (the same amount of interceptions he had all last season) and he's looked like the Grandpa that he is whenever trouble comes his way. Sure, he's had his "How the hell does he do that?" moments from time to time, but they're coming less often than before and not nearly frequently enough to keep his offense churning.

With Favre, "All Day" Adrian Peterson and the newly acquired Randy Moss, the Vikings are still only averaging 318.5 yards per game (less than six yards better than the 1-6 49ers). Maybe not all of that blame should come back to Favre, but it does. And frankly, when you put yourself in the spotlight with the old "I'm not sure I can play football any more but I can send you my junk in a text" routine, you're going to gain a critic or two.

Unfortunately, all of these notions are moot: The Vikings have way too much invested in Favre to not let him start. Picture it like this--you have a beautiful 1970s muscle car. You've put a lot of sweat and bills into the beast, it's Sunday afternoon and you're ready to take your flavor of the week for a nice spin. You're driving along, everything seems ok, but then you start to hear a funny sound from under the hood. You know you should probably stop and check it out, your significant other does too but won't say anything, and you have way too much pride and dough sunk into this project. So you let it ride, outcome be damned.

Even if Brett Favre is significantly injured, he's going to run out of that tunnel and onto the field for at least the first series. Coach Brad Childress knows it, owner Zygi Wilf knows it, and every Minnesota Vikings fan knows it. He may only be in for three Peterson hand offs, but I guarantee Favre keeps his streak alive.

Whether or not he can keep Minnesota's hopes for an NFC title from sputtering out remains to be seen.