Report: Vikings temporarily suspend their pursuit of Favre

The Vikings' pursuit of Brett Favre apparently is about to take a hiatus -- at least according to ESPN.

The all-sports network reported Tuesday evening that the Vikings have temporarily suspended their pursuit of the retired quarterback after he failed to report to organized team activities that began Tuesday, as coach Brad Childress had mandated. ESPN's Ed Werder cited team and league sources in his story.

This came a day after the network reported Childress had imposed a deadline of this week for Favre to decide whether he would play for the Vikings in 2009. Pat Kirwan, a former NFL executive who now works for Sirius NFL Radio, later refuted that information, saying there was no deadline and that Favre would join the Vikings around July 15 or earlier.

The deadline made little sense considering Favre recently had arthroscopic surgery to repair a partially torn biceps in his throwing arm and wants time to see how the arm responds before making any type of commitment.

According to ESPN, Vikings vice president of football operations Rob Brzezinski told Favre's agent, Bus Cook, of the organization's decision Tuesday in a phone call. Brzezinski and Cook were believed to have been negotiating a multi-year contract for Favre in recent days.

Cook has not returned calls this week and Childress did not return an e-mail Tuesday evening. Childress will not be available to the media until Thursday morning after the Vikings' OTA practice.

The leak of this cool-down period very well could have been orchestrated by both sides in an attempt to buy time for Favre to see how his arm feels in the upcoming weeks. In fact, ESPN's report stated that an eventual agreement that would put Favre in a Vikings uniform for a 19th NFL season remains possible and that he was encouraged to continue his rehabilitation. No timetable was put on when either side might reconsider their position.

Defensive tackles Kevin and Pat Williams are being improperly singled out for extra testing for steroids, attorney Peter Ginsberg alleged. Ginsberg said he has filed papers in Hennepin County District Court asking Judge Gary Larson to say the NFL can't treat the players differently from others while the court battle over their four-game suspensions continues. NFL spokesman Greg Aiello denied that the league is retaliating against the Williamses, but declined to comment on how often they have been tested.

• In a separate case, The NFLPA asked the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to speed up the appellate process regarding the suspensions of the Williamses and three other NFL players and consider the issue before the Sept. 13 season opener.

The Associated Press contributed to this notebook.