Niners, miraculously, pass their “gut check”

This one was part miracle, part courage. A football game that very well could have been lost, and maybe should have been lost but somehow, on a wet field, against an opponent who was a surprise, was a game that the 49ers won.  

Not as well played—full of mistakes and tension, rain falling to add to the scenario—but that was part of the reason the game was so enthralling and nerve-wracking. 

As the best sporting contests inevitably are.

And no less since the Niners, trailing most of the way, pulled out a  24-21 victory over the Green Bay Packers at Levi’s Stadium, rewarding…

Big plays, everywhere and anywhere, not the least which was the 6-yard touchdown burst by Christian McCaffrey with a mere 1:07 remaining that was the difference.

But that wouldn’t have meant much without Dre Greeenlaw’s interceptions or Jake Moody’s field goal in the falling rain or Brock Purdy’s leadership and completion on the final drive.

There was no Deebo Samuel, who was out most of the game with a shoulder bruise. There seemed no way to stop Packers quarterback Jordan Love, who kept finding ways to scramble for yards when he couldn’t find a receiver.

But among the Niners, players and coaches, there was a belief that somehow they, as good teams somehow do, would find a method to end up ahead, reach the NFC Championship and, yes, move one game from the Super Bowl.

“Everybody had a part,” said Kyle Shanahan, who was as relieved as he was delighted.

Purdy missed a few throws, but the cliché is when the weather is difficult and the opponent is stubborn, does a quarterback find a way to bring his team back on top? Purdy did. But obviously, he wasn’t alone.

Asked how he did what was required, completing six of seven passes down the stretch, Purdy, the last pick in the 2022 draft, was quick to credit others. “The defense and everyone.”

The 49ers were the No. 1 seed in the NFC, the Packers No. 17. But Green Bay beat the Dallas Cowboys a week ago in the wild-card round, and the success made them more confident. 

“I knew they were good,” said Shanahan of the Pack, “but not until we started getting ready for them did I realize how deep they were.”

Deep and determined. Packers quarterback Jordan Love kept finding ways to scramble for yards when he couldn’t find a receiver.

The idea of Green Bay coach Matt LaFleur was to keep the football away from the explosive 49er offense and for a while—well, well virtually the entire game—that worked. The Packers opted to receive the opening kickoff—many times teams defer—and thus deny the Niners their chances. 

In the first half Green Bay had the ball 16 minutes 55 seconds of the possible 30.

However, the Niners made some big plays, the Packers missed a big field goal and eventually the better team, off its season record, made it to a fourth NFC title in five years.

A statistic tossed about on television was a Shanahan-coached team trailing by five points or more entering the fourth quarter of any game had lost more than 30 straight. Well, that is no longer pertinent.  

“This was a mental challenge,” said Shanahan, “a gut check.”

The Niners passed. Although, like any big exam, it required a high degree of patience. Did someone just exhale?

49ers-Rams: Pure Hollywood — uh, Inglewood

Perfect stuff for Hollywood, well, Inglewood, 11.8 miles away, where the game will be played Sunday: Two teams from California coached by two guys who as assistants were on the same staff and now will face each other again, for a chance to get to the Super Bowl.

Niners vs. Rams: Once more into the breach.

So much history. And now, with the NFC Championship to the winner, so much of a possibility.

They each won an NFC divisional title over the weekend on a field goal, the Rams beating Tampa Bay 30-27 on Matt Gay’s 30-yarder as time expired Sunday.

That came less than 24 hours after the 49ers beat the Packers 13-10, in the snow of Green Bay, on Robbie Gould’s 45-yarder as time expired Saturday night.

The Niners post-game celebration was notably raucous. Maybe because they weren’t supposed to win, underdogs on the road.

Maybe because Jimmy Garoppolo would remain as quarterback for at least one last game.

Maybe because they trailed from the start, unable even to record a single first down or pass completion until the middle of the second quarter.

The Niners won their two regular season games against the Rams, and the rule of thumb in the NFL is that it’s rare to beat a team three times in one season. Then again, the 49ers have defeated the Rams six in a row.

“We’ve got an opportunity,” said Niners coach Kyle Shanahan.

They also would seem to have an advantage over the Rams, coached by Sean McVay, who not that long ago worked alongside Shanahan when they were assistants with Washington.

Shanahan was visibly excited about the victory over the Packers in what some would label Packers weather, 14 degrees at kickoff and dropping to a wind chill of zero. Brrr? Big deal.

San Francisco was 2-4 back in October, and there were people wondering if Kyle could handle the job — even if the Niners were in the Super Bowl a couple years earlier.

He could handle it. Check recent scores.

“Since week eight, our backs have been against the wall,” Shanahan said, ignoring any suggestion or not his neck could be on the chopping block.

As opposed to the blocks the Niner defense produced, becoming only the third team in the Super Bowl era, meaning from 1967, to block both a punt and a field goal in a playoff game.

“We stayed together,” he said. ”We worked hard.”

Garoppolo was efficient, playing with the sore right thumb that wasn’t disclosed until after the win in the previous game over the Cowboys. He did throw an interception, but a beautifully thrown pass to George Kittle that might have become a touchdown was dropped.

“Jimmy made some really good plays,” confirmed Shanahan.  

There’s a football saying that a quarterback’s performance should be judged by the final score. Does he bring the team home, especially in difficult conditions? Jimmy G. met that requirement.

The Niner defense was particularly responsible for this victory, not only with the two blocks, one by defensive end Jordan Willis blocking Corey Bojorquez’s punt with the 49ers trailing 10-3. That was turned into the tying touchdown with some five minutes left.

The Niners were out of it, or so we believed, and then they were all over it.

Defense is the side that makes the Niners go by keeping the other team stopped. End Nick Bosa was permitted to return from concussion protocol just before game time. He had two sacks. Fred Warner and Dontae Johnson each were involved in six tackles.

Niner fans can be as relentless in support of the team as the athletes are in their attempt to win, as Rams management effectively told everyone Sunday.  

For the conference championship at SoFi Stadium, it will not sell tickets to people who attempt to use credit cards registered outside the greater Los Angeles area.

Would you call that sound defense? Or defense against sounds?

Niners again face Rodgers, the man they should have drafted

For the 49ers, it wasn’t so much what might have been or could have been but what should have been. Yes, before yet another playoff game between the 49ers and Green Bay Packers, it’s time to recall the unfortunate tale of Aaron Rodgers.

Unfortunate if one is emotionally involved with the 49ers.      

It was a given that in the 2005 NFL draft San Francisco, with the No. 1 pick, would select Rodgers. He played at Cal across the bay; grew up a Niners fan; and in 2004 against USC completed the first 23 passes he threw, tying a record.

Such a certainty. Such a surprise. The Niners had a new coach, Mike Nolan, whose father had preceded him in that position years before.

Mike was going to show us what he knew — and so the Niners picked Alex Smith because, said Nolan, he was more athletic, virtually able to do everything except leap tall buildings in a single bound.

Nolan was relieved of his job before the new man in charge, Jim Harbaugh, replaced Alex with Colin Kaepernick, a quarterback famous — or infamous — for actions other than his play (although he did get the Niners to the Super Bowl).  

Because teams predetermine who they’ll draft, often becoming trapped by the choices, nobody else moved in on Rodgers, who dropped from a presumptive No. 1 down to an actual No. 24, by the Packers.

More than a decade later, in 2016, Mike Nolan, between jobs as an assistant coach, confessed to “NFL HQ” he was less than enthralled with Rodgers’ arrogance and his throwing motion.

With Rodgers having won three MVP awards, favored to win another and at least partially responsible for a Super Bowl triumph, one guesses those failings now appear less important — although Rodgers‘ current lack of honesty about Covid-19 vaccination remains inexcusable.

“Basically, we thought in the long term that Alex Smith would be the better choice than Aaron," Nolan said. "It was one of those, maybe, paralysis by analysis. We had so much time to think about it.

“We put a lot of stock in changing Aaron's throwing style. We also got caught up a little bit in that Alex was so mobile. That was a good thing. But in the end, we felt Alex would be the better long-time guy. Obviously, we were wrong in that thought process."

So again Rodgers, stubborn, cocky, successful, is the quarterback the Niners must confront instead of embrace, while perhaps for the last time they rely on Jimmy Garoppolo.

The draft is a process built on hope as much as it is on preparation. Tom Brady, labeled the GOAT, or “Greatest of All Time,” was not chosen until the sixth round of the 2000 draft, 199th overall.    

Garoppolo, the man the Patriots intended to take over for Brady, was picked in the second round of the 2014 draft, after Blake Bortles and Johnny Manziel. But ahead of Derek Carr. The 49ers traded for Jimmy G in 2017. Now they’re waiting for the ascension of Trey Lance.  

The inevitability of Lance becoming the Niners’ starter was presumed the moment they grabbed him with the third pick in last year’s draft. Yet who knows?

In Green Bay, according to Eric Edom of Yahoo! Sports, some suggest that Saturday night’s game at Lambeau Field, similar to the Niners and Garoppolo, will be Rodgers’ last for the Pack.

Over the last couple of off-seasons, Rodgers has avoided giving a direct answer to whether he wanted to remain with the team, figuratively dancing around when asked — like a quarterback evading the rush. And Green Bay did select a quarterback, Jordan Love, in the first round of the 2020 draft, which made Rodgers quite unhappy.

“There are a lot of guys’ futures that are uncertain, myself included,” Rodgers said a season ago after the Packers lost to Tampa Bay in the NFC championship game.

Wouldn’t it be ironic, then, if what turns out to be Aaron Rodgers’ last game for the Packers is against the team that should have drafted him when it had the chance, the 49ers?

You still wonder what could have been for Aaron Rodgers

By Art Spander

It’s hard to watch Aaron Rodgers play as efficiently and successfully as he did in the NFL playoff game Saturday and not think what could have been. Indeed, what should have been.

Rodgers threw for 296 yards, and the Green Bay Packers beat the Los Angeles Rams, 32-18, to advance to next week’s NFC championship game, where they’ve been before. Four times before.

And when it comes to Rodgers, who has won a Super Bowl, we’ve also been there before.

He seems to be everywhere; in those State Farm Insurance commercials; usually in the field for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (not this year, however — no amateurs) and in the opposition’s hair. Or end zone.

Where he isn’t is in a 49ers uniform. Even though he grew up in Chico hoping to be, and as an undergrad played for Cal, maybe 25 miles away from the Niners' facility.

An old story? Absolutely, but also an irritatingly unforgettable story.

The Niners had the No. 1 selection in the 2005 NFL draft. The presumption was they would choose Rodgers, who one Saturday against the previous No. 1 team in the land completed his first 23 passes, tying an NCAA record.

That wasn’t good enough for the new 49ers coach, Mike Nolan, who wanted someone more athletic and mobile than Rodgers. The pick was star-crossed Alex Smith of Utah, who now 15 years, several teams, many coaches and one serious injury later is with the Washington Football Team.

Nolan last was defensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys who, failing to qualify for to the postseason, fired him a week ago.

Nolan was hardly the only one not to put his faith and future in Rodgers. The quarterback remained untaken until the 24th pick by the Packers, whose QB at the time was Brett Favre.

“Quarterbacks need time to develop,” said Mike McCarthy, who in one of those all too typical sports mixtures was San Francisco's offensive coordinator when Nolan didn’t take Rodgers, became Rodgers' head coach with Green Bay and is now coaching the Dallas Cowboys, who just let Nolan go.

Rodgers has developed — into a star, a salesman and a celebrity. He’s 37, older than most NFL quarterbacks but younger than Tom Brady and Drew Brees, with whom he is ranked.

Asked about his performance Saturday, Rodgers was not quite as cool as he appears in the State Farm ads, like the one in which he launches a tee shot, wonders if the ball came down yet and then shrugs as it plops into the cup.

The victory Saturday at Lambeau Field in Green Bay (no frozen tundra on a 35-degree afternoon) set up Rodgers for his first home conference championship game. The other three, including last year’s loss at San Francisco, were on the road.

Unlike games in California during this Covid-19 crackdown, a few thousand fans were permitted to attend the win over the Rams.

“I’m definitely a little emotional, just thinking about what we’ve been through,” said Rodgers, who Saturday went 23 of 36. “It got me emotional with the crowd out there today.”

Rodgers threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to Davante Adams and a game-clinching 58-yarder to Allen Lazard with 6:52 remaining. Rodgers also had a 1-yard touchdown run, the first by a Packers quarterback in a playoff game at Lambeau since Bart Starr’s winning sneak in the Ice Bowl against Dallas on Dec. 31, 1967.

The Rams also had a Cal quarterback, Jared Goff, who was the first overall pick in the 2016 draft. He was in the Super Bowl his second season, but as of now he’s not Aaron Rodgers. His lone TV commercial is one of those ESPN promos.

O-Line is the 49ers' problem

By Art Spander

SANTA CLARA — Nobody wants to broach the subject, wants to come forward and explain exactly why the 49ers can’t run or pass the ball. Or win.

Nobody involved is willing to admit that the Niners no longer have capable players, especially where it matters most, in the offensive line, and thus it doesn’t matter who is coaching or playing quarterback.

The late Al Davis, the Raiders' chief for years, would grab a journalist and tell him football starts with the O-Line. That guys who can block and open holes enable a team to move the ball, even if the runners aren’t Jim Brown or Walter Payton. Enable a quarterback to have the time to find an open receiver.

Colin Kaepernick was sacked six more times Sunday. You can’t pass from your back. You can’t run on your back. You can’t win on your back. All you can do is lose, and that’s what the Niners did, 17-3, to the Green Bay Packers at Levi’s Stadium.

Three points this game. Seven points last game.

The Niners can’t move the ball. The defense was effective, when you consider the Packers, still unbeaten in four games, had the ball 13 minutes more than San Francisco, gained 166 more yards than San Francisco. This one could have been 40-3, if not for the defense.

The offense is bad, maybe awful, because the offensive line is bad. It wasn’t too swift last year, either. Colin Kaepernick was sacked 52 times in the 2014 season. And then Mike Iupati left as a free agent and Anthony Davis retired. In four games this season, Kaepernick, taking heat as well as feeling pressure, has been sacked 14 times, or more than three a game.

Is that Kaep’s fault? Is that the fault of new coach Jim Tomsula, as uninspiring as Tomsula seems to be? Is that the fault of GM Trent Baalke, who failed to bring in the linemen?  “The responsibility (for pass protection) goes to me,” said Tomsula. OK, but if you don’t have the players, all the schemes in creation don’t mean a thing.

The Niners, the franchise of Frankie Albert and John Brodie, Joe Montana and Steve Young, the team that could always get points even if it couldn’t get victories, were simply embarrassing Sunday. With some six minutes left in the game, they had only 72 yards rushing and 72 yards passing. Balanced, but sad. At the same time, the Packers had 131 yards rushing and 200 passing.

“The Green Bay Packers played a heck of a football game,” said Tomsula, as if anyone would be surprised about a team favored to make the Super Bowl — which will be played right where the Pack played Sunday, Levi’s, and where the entire southeast section of the stands was filled with green-jerseyed fans chanting, “Let’s go Packers.”

As for the 1-3 Niners, who in the last three weeks have scored 28 points and allowed 107? “We felt,” said Tomsula, “like defensively the guys took a step. Offensively, obviously we’ve got to get some things ironed out.”

What they’ve got to get is an offensive line to give Kaepernick enough time to throw or Carlos Hyde or Reggie Bush the space to run. Hyde gained 20 yards on eight carries, Bush no yards on one carry. Kaepernick, as normal, was the leading rusher, 57 yards on 10 carries, and he completed 13 passes of 25 for 160 yards.

You want a comparison? The Packers’ Aaron Rodgers — yes, sigh, he could have been drafted out of Cal by the Niners, but he also would have needed a line — completed 22 of 32 for 224 yards and a touchdown.

“I’ll study as much as I can, work as much as I can,” said Kaepernick. “That’s only way I know how to fix it.” What he didn’t say was that improved protection would be the best way to fix it.

Three years ago, ironically, Kaep was sprinting through and around the Packers in the playoffs. Now he’s scrambling for his existence, and someone wondered of the QB if the Niner offense ever felt so out of synch.

“We have to find our rhythm,” said Kaepernick. “We have to get back on track and string plays together. When we do that, we have produced successful drives. It’s getting those plays to string together where we’ve struggled so far.

“To me, we have to get the ball out quick. We have to be able to get it into our playmakers’ hands as soon as we can. But I’m not going to throw the ball into traffic and risk this offense and this team and put them in a bad situation.”

Without a strong offensive line, the situation always will be bad.

Newsday (N.Y.): Colin Kaepernick leads 49ers over Packers, 45-31

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

SAN FRANCISCO -- The San Francisco 49ers -- with Colin Kaepernick rushing for 181 yards, an NFL postseason record for quarterbacks -- crushed the Green Bay Packers, 45-31, Saturday night at Candlestick Park in an NFC divisional playoff game.

The 49ers will face the winner of Sunday's Atlanta-Seattle game in the NFC Championship Game. For the second straight year, both 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh and his brother, Ravens coach John Harbaugh, will be coaching in the conference championship games.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2013 Newsday. All rights reserved.

Newsday (N.Y.): Packers, Niners have a lot in common

By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

SAN FRANCISCO -- The quarterback who wanted to be with the San Francisco 49ers is playing against them. In perfect symmetry, the quarterback who wanted to be with the Green Bay Packers is playing against them.

Aaron Rodgers, who grew up three hours north of San Francisco and was a 49ers fan but was ignored by them in the draft after a great career at Cal, leads the Packers against the 49ers Saturday night in an NFC divisional playoff game at Candlestick Park.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2013 Newsday. All rights reserved.

SF Examiner: Rodgers still breaking hearts of NFL fans in the Bay Area

By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

The question arose again on an afternoon when the Niners once more had trouble scoring touchdowns and the Raiders simply had trouble playing football: What if San Francisco had selected Aaron Rodgers with the first pick in the 2005 NFL draft?

Growing up in Chico, playing for Cal — where he once completed 23 straight passes against USC — Rodgers was a 49er fan. That the 49ers — specifically coach Mike Nolan — chose Alex Smith and Rodgers slipped to 24th, taken by Green Bay, always may haunt San Francisco.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

SF Examiner: A perfect finish to Super Bowl XLV for Packers

By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

Bumbling Christina Aguilera forgot the words to the national anthem, the bumbling NFL forgot to make sure all the people who had tickets had seats, and the bumbling Pittsburgh Steelers forgot what to do with the football, which is not turn it over.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Of Late Nights and Super Bowl Victories

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

DALLAS -- Saw a story that Ben Roethlisberger and a couple of Steelers teammates had been witnessed post-midnight at a Fort Worth bar. Then a few hours later saw in person Dick Vermeil, now in the wine business but previously a coach of football champions.

Such a perfect link.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: Despite off-field issues, Big Ben back in big game

By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

It’s not as if nothing happened. The suspension was imposed, for a reason which if it doesn’t beg the truth is hardly specific.

Ben Roethlisberger missed the first month of the season for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

SF Examiner: Northern California native Aaron Rodgers is leader of the Pack

By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

In the end, sport is about results, not possibilities. Sure, football, the 49ers and  the Green Bay Packers would have been different if San Francisco had drafted the man who as a kid always wanted to play in The City — Aaron Rodgers. But they did not, and in retrospect, Rodgers is better off, if indeed the Niners are not.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Madness From Another Media Day

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

ARLINGTON, Texas -- These spikes were not done by a wide receiver who had just scored. They were the four-inch heels of the reporter -- need it be pointed out a woman reporter? -- from some TV station as intent on getting herself noticed as she was getting the answer to a preposterous question.

Stilettos on artificial turf are about as nonsensical as on icy thoroughfares in Dallas, and if this is supposed to be a test case of the 2014 (brrr) New York game we are (chattering teeth) forewarned.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

SF Examiner: Green Bay Packers cornerback Charles Woodson jumping on second chance

By Art Spander
Special to The Examiner

He was on the podium, talking about another time. Charles Woodson was with the Raiders then, in another Super Bowl. So was Rich Gannon, out of the game now, but standing a dozen yards away, working as a commentator for Sirius radio.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2011 SF Newspaper Company

RealClearSports: Marcus Allen Likes Packers, Steelers, Birdies

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

LA QUINTA, Calif. -- Not a bad team, Marcus Allen and Eric Dickerson. Allen a Heisman Trophy winner, both Pro Football Hall of Famers. They could carry the ball. Now they are concerned with how the ball carries.

The subject is golf. They are partners in the Bob Hope Classic, that marathon event in the California desert, five days -- four for the amateurs such as Allen and Dickerson -- 90 holes, a $5 million purse for the pros.

Read the full story here.

© RealClearSports 2011

RealClearSports: Favre's Too Old? Too Spectacular

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

So do you still think Brett Favre should have retired?

Not a bad evening for the man. Too old? Too spectacular.

We worry about others more than about ourselves. We're always giving advice but rarely listening to advice. Maybe we should just shut up.

That goes for sports journalists, writers, announcers, former players. The whole lot of us virtually demanded Favre give it up. Insisted he was making a fool of himself, was embarrassing the NFL.

Favre didn't hurt anyone. If you don't include the Green Bay Packers.

He's a football player who wants to play football. Disingenuous? Flip-flopping? That's trivial stuff. The way he passed against Green Bay is not.

There's a lyric from "South Pacific,'' a show that even predates Brett Favre: "...So suppose a dame ain't bright or completely free from flaws, or as faithful as bird dog or as kind as Santa Claus. It's a waste of time to worry over things that they have not; be thankful for the things they've got.''

Be thankful for what Brett Favre still has, which is a remarkable ability to throw a football, an unfulfilled passion for competing at football.

He will be 40 before this week is finished. The term "graybeard'' is descriptive, not only a cliché reference. But he's young as springtime when he's given time in the pocket. When he can thread a ball through defenders.

The Packers didn't want him after the 2007 season, not under his terms. It was a painful separation. But once he took his leave, Favre was under no obligation to walk away from the game.

We carry images in our mind. We hated to see Joe Namath stumble when he spent that season with the Rams, winced when Johnny Unitas tried to hold on after he joined the Chargers. It's not so much what the veterans do to themselves, but what they do to us.

We want to remember the homecoming queen when she was 21, not when she was 61.

Yet Favre at 39 is as memorable as Favre at 29. A father could poke his 7-year-old Monday night, assuming the kid hadn't gone to sleep, and tell him, "You're watching history, son.'' Because Brett Favre indeed is history.

An athlete is only what he can produce, only what his body allows. It was Joe Montana, the great 49ers quarterback, the winner of four Super Bowls, who had a ready answer when someone asked why he didn't quit. "What do you have to prove?'' was what someone wanted to know from Joe.

Nothing, in effect. Except for himself, to himself.

"When I retire, I won't be coming back,'' Montana had explained. "I'm not like an accountant who can take a sabbatical. So I'm going to keep going as long as I feel like I can play and I enjoy it.''

No regrets. That's the essence. No wondering what might have been. Just do it until you no longer can do it. And then don't look back.

You know there are individuals who wanted Brett Favre to make a mess of things. Individuals who were aching to say, "I told you so.'' What are they saying now?

That despite their misgivings, their disenchantment, Brett Favre is a champion, a player who makes other players better, a player who makes teams better.

The Vikings knew all about Brett Favre. They had lost to him more than enough. They saw him as the one who could be the leader, be the winner. So far, they are correct in their assessment.

We can never be sure when an athlete is done. A change of scenery, a new outlook, a revised dedication may resuscitate a career. We're too eager to write an ending. There, it's over, so go about your business and get away from us.

A Sports Illustrated article by the wordsmith Selena Roberts questioned Tiger Woods' future. In a year when Tiger came back from knee surgery, a year when he won six tournaments but not a major, he suddenly was on the downside and probably never would catch Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 majors. What?

Tiger is only 33, and to conclude his golf had reached a plateau is wild thinking. Maybe Selena is right. Most likely she's wrong. Nicklaus himself went three years without a major and then started winning them again with great frequency.

Tiger's going to be around a long while. So is Brett Favre -- he looked brilliant against Green Bay, looked like someone who deserved to be given the chance to work his magic.

Tiger Woods didn't suddenly lose his touch. Brett Favre never may lose his touch.

The great ones need listen only to themselves.

As a reporter since 1960, Art Spander is a living treasure of sports history. A recipient of the Dick McCann Memorial Award -- given for his long and distinguished career covering professional football -- he has earned himself a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was recently honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the PGA of America for 2009.

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http://www1.realclearsports.com/articles/2009/10/07/favres_too_old_too_spectacular_96495.html
© RealClearSports 2009

RealClearSports: Why So Outraged? Favre's Entitled to Do What He Wants

By Art Spander
For RealClearSports.com

If we are to interpret this correctly, Brett Favre is to be condemned because he decided to get out of football and then, while a lot of people were ruminating about his career, decided to return to football. After a lot of vacillating and momentum shifts.

This business disturbed a lot of people, many of them sporting journalists, who thought Favre was being disingenuous and, even worse, using them to stay in a spotlight he not only hesitates to leave but in truth deserves a hell of a lot more than most other quarterbacks.

To which one must scream, who cares? What's with us? Brett Favre hasn't shot himself in the hip, hasn't been convicted of running down a pedestrian while intoxicated. But we're making a bigger issue of Favre's indecisiveness than of people guilty of felonies.

If it bothers you that Favre doesn't know how to exit gracefully, tough beans. Sure he's like the Packer who cried wolf, or cried literally if you remember those scenes from a couple of years back. Unless you've been there, you'll never understand.

Joe Montana, who knew a thing or two about quarterbacking, and about winning Super Bowls, having led the San Francisco 49ers to victories in four of them, kept trying to stay on when some thought he ought to depart.

Hey, the columnist said to Joe in more of a statement than a question, what do you have to prove? Go out play some golf.

"Easy for you to say,'' Montana responded. "You can retire and come back in two years. I can't. When I'm done, I'm done. So I want to stay as long as I can. I know someday I'll have to leave.''

Favre left. Then returned. Then left. Now is returning. He's 39, and one of these times, he won't be coming back. When a man has played football since the age of 8 or 10, or thereabouts, the end is traumatic. One day your life has changed forever. Favre is fighting against that change as long as possible.

A man who's been involved with the NFL for 40 years or so told me that Favre was being urged to play by those around him, especially the Minnesota Vikings. Come on, Brett, they said in so many words. This is where you belong. You're a football player, aren't you?

He's a football player and an actor, as we've seen in the Wrangler commercials, and a self-promoter. None of the above is an indictable offense. If Favre has troubles making a decision and sticking to it, that's a victimless crime. Why are we so outraged?

If you want to argue that, at age 39 and after a torn biceps, Favre no longer is either the competent leader or the presence he used to be in those glory days with the Packers, that's legitimate. But the Vikings obviously believe he's better than anyone else they have, and until proven differently, he is.

The critics complain Favre is selfish. As if that trait makes him different from any other athletic star. To be great, you have to think you're great, think you're special, have to ignore the skeptics or, in a quarterback's case, the defensive ends.

Brett Favre and Joe Montana and John Elway don't think the way we do. They just wanted the ball and enough time on the clock to get the job done. If it was the rush and self-gratification they needed, it was also the chance to do what was required of them.

It's always difficult for the fans when a longtime favorite ends up on another team, especially -- as the Vikings are for Favre's original club, the Packers -- a rival team. No, they're not overly pleased these days in Green Bay, and Brett is being referred to in terms as traitor and turncoat. Mercenary is more accurate.

All athletes in team sports are mercenaries. They get paid to play, but not without an affiliation. If the Packers don't want you, then maybe the Jets. And if not the Jets, then now the Vikes.

Too many headlines about sports figures allude to jail time and arrests. Plaxico Burress is off to the clink. Only Thursday, Tampa Bay cornerback Aqib Talib was jailed on charges of simple battery after he punched a cab driver.

All Brett Favre can be accused of is making statements that perhaps had no basis of fact. Politicians do that all the time and nobody seems to mind.

"The guys know I'm in it for the right reasons,'' Favre said on his return. Right or wrong, it isn't important. He doesn't know how to quit. The only issue is whether he still knows how to play football.

As a reporter since 1960, Art Spander is a living treasure of sports history. A recipient of the Dick McCann Memorial Award -- given for his long and distinguished career covering professional football -- he has earned himself a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was recently honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the PGA of America for 2009.

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