Brett Favre has been a Viking for about a month now. He won over a fair number of fans immediately because, when healthy, he offers a Super Bowl caliber team the best chance to win. He won over another segment slowly, by looking fairly sharp in his final preseason tuneup and playing a very efficient first game in a victory over Cleveland.
But there is still a segment of Vikings fans that neither likes nor trusts No. 4 in purple. They think his ego outweighs his value, or they think his Packers past outweighs any dedication he might have to the present and his new team. Favre, however, has a chance to win over a good number of those folks with one sweeping gesture Sunday.
Favre, who is tied with legendary Viking Jim Marshall for most consecutive NFL starts at 270, has a chance to break the record against the Lions. Or, he could let another QB -- probably Tarvaris Jackson -- take the first snap and hand the ball to Adrian Peterson, thus remaining hand-in-hand with Marshall and keeping both in the record book.
It would put the Vikings at a slight competitive disadvantage on that first play, since the free world would know a run play is almost assuredly coming. But to see Favre jog out for 2nd-and-7, having performed a selfless act to preserve a piece of Vikings history? It seems like one play of predictability would be a small price to pay.
Favre laid down in 2001 to gift Michael Strahan the sack that broke the single-season NFL record. Let's see him sit out a play Sunday with his record on the line.
