MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — The Minnesota Vikings never told Brett Favre to make up his mind by this week if he wants to play, according to coach Brad Childress.
In fact, Childress said Wednesday, the team has no timetable for Favre to decide about coming out of retirement again to quarterback the Vikings.
“I’m not into predicting the future, you know?” the coach said. “We’ll just have to see what’s around the corner tomorrow.”
Childress called into local radio station KFAN during his drive to work and refuted an earlier ESPN report that he had mandated Favre determine his status for the 2009 season this week. Asked if there was a deadline, Childress said “absolutely not” — unless it came from Favre’s wife, Deanna, or “somebody like that.”
Childress added: “Certainly not from me. Not even close. Don’t know where that would’ve dropped out of the sky from.”
He was unavailable for further comment Wednesday. Favre’s agent, Bus Cook, didn’t return messages left by The Associated Press. Childress is scheduled to take questions from reporters Thursday following practice.
The Vikings have a handful of organized team activities — the NFL’s term for optional offseason workouts — remaining over the next week, but that’s it until training camp formally begins July 31. Childress has often called himself a “mother hen” when it comes to wanting the whole team present throughout the summer, and it’s surely not his preference to add an important player long after preparations have begun.
As for Favre?
Well, it sounds like he’s a special case.
The 39-year-old Favre, according to reports, had surgery on the partially torn biceps in his right shoulder last month and has not yet returned to full strength. Favre blamed the injury for his poor performance last December and pinned his retirement from the New York Jets in February on the subpar condition of his throwing arm.
But Childress said he’s eager to “see just exactly what he’s got left in that cannon.” The coach also said he’s not concerned about the will-he-or-won’t-he saga souring the outlook of Vikings quarterbacks Tarvaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels.
“I talked with Sage and Tarvaris. They are competitors. Do they like any of the conversation? Absolutely not,” Childress said. “But they know this. I’m charged with adding and subtracting players from this team to make us better. Every day when I walk in this office there’s not a day that I don’t try to look and see if we can get better at some position.
“And if this is going to make us better down the road and it’s got a chance to happen I’m going to take care of the Minnesota Vikings.”
Childress also poked fun at some of the inaccurate reports about the Vikings-Favre story, including the suggestion he went to visit the three-time NFL MVP in Mississippi last month. Childress said he was at his desk that day.
“David Copperfield was a great magician, but I haven’t been able to do that one yet,” Childress said.
Asked why he hasn’t made more of an effort to set the record straight on the back and forth of this story over the past month, Childress said he’s too busy.
“It’s really not my job to comment on erroneous things,” he said. “I can sit and laugh at it and wonder how responsible that is, but I simply don’t have time to do that.”
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