Is the Favre "will he/won't he" melodrama coming to a close?

I've carefully not been following this story too closely, as I don't think it's anything more than a "doldrums of summer" timewaster for the sports press. Brett Favre is under contract to Green Bay, and there is no way that Green Bay's management wants to upset their plans for the coming season by entertaining Brett's public desire to come back. I can't see any reason for Green Bay giving Favre his release, as that would allow either Chicago or Minnesota to sign him — whether as a mutually beneficial arrangement or just as a way to spite the Packers.

Even if the Pack traded Favre, they'd still be cautious about the potential trading partner. It'd be very unlikely they'd trade with any other team in the division, possibly even the conference. Favre is still a good quarterback, and he clearly feels he has some gas left in the tank.

I'm still hopeful that current Vikings quarterback Tarvaris Jackson will be the player the team hoped he'd be when they traded up in the draft to take him. He's shown some positive developments over the past season, and (if he can avoid some of the more obvious mistakes this year) he has the skills to take the team to the playoffs. With the power running capabilities of the Vikings, the quarterback doesn't have to carry the entire offense on his shoulders, so minimizing dumb mistakes will be enough to win a bunch of games.

Bringing in Favre would be the worst thing the Vikings could do for the long term . . . with all the good will in the world, Favre won't be starting for any team in the NFL two years from now, and it would indicate that the coaching staff do not have the confidence in Jackson (and would pretty much force them to spend their first round pick next year on a quarterback).

Anthony Hall covers the latest developments:

For those who are deathly tired of constantly seeing Brett Favre in the news, check this out: As The Favre Turns may be nearing a conclusion. Pro Football Talk reports that the man who has dominated the headlines for the Packers and Vikings alike over the past few weeks may have decided to end his comeback attempt:

Per the tipster, Favre is abandoning his attempt to return to the NFL. We're told the Packers presented him with a list of three teams to which they'd attempt to trade him, and that Favre refused each one.

Of course, even if this report ultimately turns out to be accurate, tampergate will still continue — although with Brett out of the picture, the tampering charges will become a considerably less significant storyline as we head into the season.

More importantly, though, I couldn't be happier with even the mere possibility that Favre will finally be going away. This whole thing has been exhausting — and that's coming from a Vikings fan who typically can't get enough of turmoil occurring in Green Bay.

Anthony correctly points out that Favre missed a great opportunity to shore up his support during the Fox interview with Greta Van Susteren: his fans have been deserting steadily since that appearance:

As it is, public opinion continues to rapidly turn against Favre. Indeed, hoards of sympathetic fans will not storm Lambeau Field if Thompson refuses to cave into the quarterback’s demand for a release, and they will not storm Lambeau Field if Favre cannot leverage a trade to a team not among the three that Thompson selected as potential destinations for Brett.

His only remaining options are to accept a trade to one of the three teams that the Packers front office has picked, or simply abandon his comeback attempt. I wish he’d choose the former option — it'd be interesting to see the media compare Favre's performance to Aaron Rodgers' on a weekly basis — but for Brett, the latter option is clearly the best.