News & Info/Headlines

As Minneapolis Star-Tribune beat writer Judd Zulgad first reported moments ago, he received a phone call from Vikings head coach Brad Childress, who said he talked to Brett Favre and that he was informed Favre is staying retired.

Childress cited the daily grind both mentally and physically as part of the reason why Favre remained retired.

"I just think it was a rare opportunity to explore a Hall of Fame quarterback who had background in the NFC and in this division," Childress said of his interest in Favre. "He knows our system inside out. ..."

And what now?

"This doesn't change anything about how I feel about our football team," Childress told Zulgad.

It may not change the way Childress feels about the team, but it's bound to change the way the team feels about itself.

And now the coach now faces what has to be at least the somewhat daunting task of convincing his team he's confident that Tarvaris Jackson or Sage Rosenfels is capable of leading them to success -- no mean feat given the months-long pursuit of Favre.

It won't be any easier given a report by the NFL Network's Scott Hanson, who posted on NFL.com a short time before this news broke that Childress was willing to let Favre push his decision back even past Friday, when the Vikings begin training camp practices.

Also worth noting, Vikings players -- with Jared Allen and Adrian Peterson leading the way -- and coaches have lobbied Favre to play in Minnesota.

Assuming Favre doesn't have yet another change of heart in the next few days(/weeks/month), the competition between Rosenfels and Jackson is back on.

As I've reported in the past, if that's the case, ESPN analyst Tim Hasselbeck, a former NFL quarterback, believes Rosenfels would be an upgrade on Jackson. Hasselbeck recently said doesn't think Jackson "is a top-32 quarterback in the NFL," and added: "I'm not so sure he's a top-42 quarterback in the NFL."

While I might not go as far as Hasselbeck, if Rosenfels is the guy, it means the team is hitching its wagon to a journeyman who has thrown nearly as many interceptions (29) as touchdown passes (30) in eight NFL seasons.

Or, as Star-Tribune staffer Mark Craig recently argued, until Rosenfels proves otherwise, he's a ninth-year man with no track record.

Craig summed his stance up as follows: "More likely, [Rosenfels is] the next mediocre career backup selected by a team that's still paying for that draft day in April 2006, when it chose Jackson as its quarterback of the future. Three seasons later, Jackson is that dangerous commodity: A quarterback who isn't good enough to trust, nor bad enough to unload and forget."

And that's why Favre's decision to re-re-re-retire is going to be an issue that comes back to haunt the Vikings before all is said and done.

Unless, as Profootballtalk.com's Mike Florio just suggested, "the Vikings do the really smart thing and pursue Mike Vick."

Stay tuned. I'll undoubtedly be following up on this one in coming days.