EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. – For Brad Childress, it was just another day at the office. And, for now, Brett Favre is not wearing purple.
The Minnesota Vikings’ dalliance with the supposedly retired quarterback didn’t reach the stage of face-to-face, close-the-deal talks Thursday – and maybe they never will.
Yahoo! Sports reported that Favre called Childress sometime Wednesday or early Thursday and told the coach he wants to stay retired. Favre’s longtime agent, Bus Cook, reiterated for the second straight day that his famously fickle client hadn’t changed his plan to stay out of the game.
ESPN and USA TODAY said Cook told reporters in Mississippi, where Favre lives, that the former MVP was still retired – though the agent added that Favre could always change his mind in the future.
One certainty was Childress spent office hours at work in Minnesota.
After reports the coach was to travel south for discussions with Favre, Twin Cities television station KMSP broadcast video of his early-morning arrival at Winter Park.
The coach’s black sports utility vehicle was still parked at the team’s facility in suburban Minneapolis into the evening, and through a team spokesman he declined comment to a handful of media across the street.
Yahoo cited an unidentified source close to the team in reporting that the Vikings won’t sign the 39-year-old quarterback.
If Favre doesn’t come back to fill the only glaring hole on an otherwise Super Bowl-ready roster, the Vikings will have to go with the original plan of trying to win with quarterbacks Tarvaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels.