NFL Betting Update – Brett Favre Plans To Retire?!

Here we go again.

We’ve all largely assumed the Brett Favre would return for another run at a Super Bowl with the Minnesota Vikings during the 2010 NFL betting season.

However, according to a report in the Minnesota Star-Tribune, Favre has told Brad Childress and the rest of the team that he plans on retiring.

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Will the third time be a charm for Brett?

We’ve been down this road before. Brett retired for the first time in 2007 after 16 season with the Green Bay Packers.

He did so again in 2008 after a failed run with the New York Jets left him and the team out of the playoffs.

Still, before you get your panties in a bunch, Favre played this cat-and-mouse game last year as well.

Before training camp, Favre informed Minnesota that he would not strap on the pads for a 20th NFL season, and then showed up right after training camp to steal the job away from apparent starter, Tavaris Jackson.

Age has nothing to do with Favre’s decision.

During the 2009 NFL betting season, Favre posted one of his best seasons ever with 4,202 yards, 33 touchdowns and just 7 interceptions.

That ranked him as one of the best quarterbacks in the league, and earned him his eleventh trip to the Pro Bowl.

Following Favre’s lead, Minnesota went 12-4 SU and 9-6-1 ATS and finished second in the NFC.

They were on the verge last year of kicking their way in to the Super Bowl during a thrilling NFC Championship bout with the Saints, who were first in the conference last season.

Then Brett through another interception and the rest, as they say, is history.

The lynchpin in Favre’s decision is his health. He had surgery on his ankle earlier this summer, and it’s likely that the bum joint hasn’t healed as fast as he would’ve preferred.

Yet here we’ve stood, guessing that Favre would come back for his 21st NFL season and another run at glory. That’s why the Vikings have been the leading bet in NFL Betting Futures up until now.

With Favre supposedly out of the mix (and I won’t believe it until kick off in Week 1), Tavaris Jackson naturally inherits the position that was rightfully his in 2008. Jackson ended that season with 742 yards, 8 touchdowns and just 1 interception in the final four games.

He had just 164 passing yards and 1 interception in the Wild Card playoff game against the Eagles, a game the Vikings lost 26-14.

The problem with Jackson is that we don’t know much about him. He’s 6-foot-2 and just 225 pounds, extremely mobile and has a mediocre arm.

He’s been in the league for 5 years and has never been a full-time starter in the NFL, so if he’s going to have a breakout year then this is the year to do it.

The Vikings still have an all-world defense led by Jared Allen, and plenty of offensive weapons like Percy Harvin, Sidney Rice and Adrian Peterson.

We can’t deny that Favre was the motor for the 2009 Minnesota Vikings.

It’s just that now, instead of a reliable, American muscle car like Favre, the team is being handed to a newer model, that’s sleeker and maybe a little bit faster.

It’s also a model that is very untested.

Whether we can accept this as truth or not remains to be seen, but if Favre is merely trying to avoid training camp then he will vilify himself in the eyes of many.

Let’s just hope that he wasn’t premature in his announcement.

Like always, I hope Brett does what he’s done best in a long and memorable career.

I hope he sticks to his guns.

(Seriously. I can’t take this anymore.)

Bet on Week 1 Lines where Minnesota will hope to overcome the loss of Favre against the defending Super Bowl Champion New Orleans Saints, here!