Favre’s fourth-quarter magic back — for now

Associated Press

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn.

Brett Favre sauntered out to the huddle with 4:39 left to play, his Minnesota Vikings down 14 points, his head coach in danger of being fired and his 20th NFL season on the brink of disaster.

He’d been in this situation four times already this season, with his team needing a touchdown late in the game, and had fallen short each time.

But even at 41 years old, with a bad ankle, sore elbow and 10 stitches in his chin, Favre has never been better than he was late in the game Sunday as he rallied his team for a 27-24 win over Arizona. And the Vikings have rarely needed him more.

Even after the game was over, Favre kept throwing darts at his teammates.

The team captain acknowledged again that he doesn’t always see eye-to-eye with embattled coach Brad Childress, who faced questions about his job security all week following his decision to cut Randy Moss and a heated confrontation with Percy Harvin during practice on Friday.

But he challenged the rest of his team to put aside any personal differences they have with the coach and take some personal pride in their performances as they try to turn this season around.

“Those younger guys in there, they want new contracts, they want to be in the Pro Bowl and the best player at their position,” Favre said. “They can’t look at it from, ’Who’s my coach?’ It’s still football. You have to run routes, you have to block, you have to tackle, you have to make the right reads; you have to overcome adversity.

“A head coach is a head coach. Individually, that’s the way it should be and that’s the way I approach it.”

He continued to preach to his teammates to play for themselves, first and foremost.

“To say the coach, coordinator, running back or quarterback is at fault is being a coward,” Favre said. “You’ve got to look at the mirror and say, ’What can I do to make this team better?”’

Players throughout the locker room said they were doing just that, which was music to Childress’ ears.

“The big thing is I preach that to them, you play for each other, for your brother on your right and your brother on your left,” Childress said Monday. “That’s the way it is. That you’re doing the right thing, that you’re competing, that you’re doing everything for the guy on your right and the guy on your left.”