Joe Montana to Jerry Rice. 80-yard touchdown.

Joe Montana to… oh, come on. You remember as well as I do.

Punter Jeff Feagles re-signed with the New York Giants Thursday, meaning there’s still one active player left from the original Tecmo Super Bowl, released on NES in 1991. Feagles, 44 years old now, was in his third NFL season when the game came out.

I was eight.

Unless you’re very old or very young, you probably already know that Tecmo Super Bowl was an important part of plenty of young boys’ growing up. It regularly gets rated among the top 100 video games of all time, including as high as #22 by Jadedgamer.net. If I made a personal list, I have to imagine Tecmo Super Bowl would make my top 10.

It wasn’t the first football video game to use real NFL rosters (and neither was its predecessor, Tecmo Bowl), but the real team and player names sure helped to capture the imagination of every Hammer-pants-wearing 90′s boy.

The Tecmo franchise also pioneered the concept of a single player dominating the other team’s eleven, to the extent that he needs no teammates. Bo Jackson can score every time he touches the ball, for example. Lawrence Taylor can, and should, get 15+ sacks a game. And if you’re playing as Montana’s San Francisco 49ers or Dan Marino’s Miami Dolphins, you should be ashamed of anything less than 400 yards passing per game. You might not get the win with such a poor performance.

As recently as last season, there were three players still in the NFL from Tecmo Super Bowl. Junior Seau was active for seven games as a reserve linebacker for the New England Patriots, and placekicker John Carney miraculously got a Super Bowl ring with the New Orleans Saints—his first and only in a 20+ year career.

There’s still a chance one of these guys will re-sign and play this coming year (Seau seems to come out of the woodwork whenever Bill Belichick needs LB depth), but as of now it’s just Feagles.

Feagles also holds the NFL’s record, incidentally, for consecutive games played. If you thought that record was held by Brett Favre, you were both close and way, way off. Favre is second, having played in 287 straight games. Feagles has played in an unbelievable 352 consecutive games without missing a single one—literally every NFL game possible since Ronald Reagan was president.

On top of being Tecmo’s last man standing, Feagles is the only active player to have played in the NFL in the 1980′s. If Carney signs again, he’ll be the only other. Carney would also trump Feagles as the NFL’s oldest player, being almost two full years older—he turns a mind-bending 47 years old later this month.

It’s amazing. Feagles’ longevity—this will be his 23rd season—is remarkable, even for a punter. The boys that originally played Tecmo have pubesced, grown up, gone to college, gotten married, and now have children of their own.

At least I do.

Jeff Feagles, I salute you. Keep on puntin’.

It's like a man-crush buffet.

The man-crush.

We all have one—it’s okay.

Developing and maintaining the man-crush is an art form—not unlike turning clay into a sculpture or a blank canvas into a masterpiece.

Some may showcase their man-crushes by declaring allegiance to “Team Edward” or “Team Jacob.” Others may celebrate the release of any George Clooney, Matt Damon or Brad Pitt movie—not too mention the three instances in which all three actors appeared in the same “Ocean’s” movies.

Some men are comfortable admitting their celebrity man-crushes, while others continue to remain in the man-crush closet.

Many man-crushes are those on the silver-screen, but for a large majority of men, their man-crushes may come in the form of a professional athlete. So please, let’s put aside all egos and bashfulness as we discuss the five steps of picking a professional athlete man-crush.

1. You only get one

Sorry, but multiple man-crushes are not permitted. You get one man-crush across the professional sports board. More than one man-crush can lead to confusion and conflicts of interest.

This intensifies the decision making process and requires deep thought and effort when choosing. Say you are an Atlanta Hawks fan and you choose Joe Johnson as your man-crush (with his 21.5 points per game and electrifying skills, not a bad choice). If you then decide to choose Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan as another man-crush, you run the risk of having to decide between the two on certain days of the year–due to the crossover of the NFL and the NBA seasons.

And just like women, you can’t be having to decide between two man-crushes.

Keep it to one.

2. He must be from your favorite team

What’s the point of having a man-crush from another team? An obvious part of the man-crush is rooting for the athlete to succeed.

Along with being on your favorite team, he must also be a current player on your team. If I’m a Green Bay Packers fan and my man-crush was at one time Brett Favre, as of three years ago, I would be required to change my man-crush.

A Yankees fan can not utilize any Red Sox player as a man-crush candidate. Likewise, if you are not a fan of the Cavs or the Lakers, you can not play the man-crush card on LeBron or Kobe.

Say I were a Utah Jazz fan (I am); my obvious man-crush choice would be All-Star Deron Williams (he is). Williams is averaging 18.6 points and 10.3 assists per game, and has been the face of a Jazz franchise that currently sits just 4.5 games back of the West number one seed.

But by utilizing the man-crush card on Williams, I would then be prohibited from using it on other players on other teams—sorry Chris Paul.

In journalism, reporters look to avoid topics and events that may cause a conflict of interest. Likewise, in choosing a man-crush, you must avoid conflicts of interest.

Keep it to your team.

3. He must be good

Only one of the players in this picture is a legitimate man-crush candidate.

Don’t waste your man-crush on someone who can’t hit the broad side of a barn. There’s a reason Gary Coleman is nobody’s celebrity man-crush.

“But he’s so nice.”

So what? Nice doesn’t equate a worthy man-crush. Niceness can certainly enhance a man-crush’s appeal, but it should in no wise be the foundation.

Your man-crush must possess all-star or near all-star statistics and capabilities. Nothing against Josh McRoberts of the Indiana Pacers, but 3.7 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 0.8 assists in just over 10 minutes per game aren’t exactly man-crush-worthy statistics.

Your man-crush must be at least a viable part of the team.

4. Don’t be shy

Be proud of your man-crush. Don’t shy away from the chance to let others know your feelings. Feel free to let your sensitivity towards your man-crush be a major part in your attempts to pick up women.

Buy the merchandise and cheer louder when your player jukes a defender and drives the lane for a dunk. Go crazy when your man-crush leaves a linebacker in the dust en route to a touchdown. Let loose when your guy strikes out the side or leaves the yard in a June regular season MLB game.

The Jazz’s Kyle Korver may seem like more of a ladies’ man-crush. But don’t think there aren’t men who employ Korver as their man-crush. Don’t hesitate to wear his jersey and taunt opposing players with it after a long-range three.

Stay proud.

5. Don’t be creepy

That said, there’s a fine line between not being shy and being creepy. Stay away from creeping out those close to you or the athlete himself when cheering and supporting your man-crush. A jersey or a player t-shirt is completely acceptable. But longing to have their actual jersey or used sweatbands crosses over to the creepy side.

Just because Kevin Durant has Oklahoma City in the playoff mix and dropped in 29 points in the Thunder’s recent win over the New Orleans Hornets doesn’t mean you can hack his Blackberry or poke him on Facebook. Play it cool. Be proud, but don’t be creepy.

Keep it friendly.

There’s the rules. By adhering to these suggestions and steps, you won’t have to find your man-crush. He’ll find you.

So, get to work on developing the craft, Michelangelo.

Now that Super Bowl XLIV is officially in the books, the first decade of the 2000s is over and done with. Nice round years tend to make people want to compile “best of” lists, so let’s go ahead and look back on the last decade of the NFL. There are really only two choices for team of the decade, but the top five teams make for an interesting debate.

I could have delved into complicated and detailed statistics to come up with this list, but I thought it would be easier to stick with simple figures. I focused on average wins per season, Super Bowl wins and appearances, and playoff appearances. I also took into account division titles and MVP winners. It probably won’t reflect your thoughts and opinions perfectly, but bear in mind that anything like this has to be subjective. With that in mind, let’s take a look at the top five. (I doubt many people will be interested in a complete ranking, and there’s not a lot of difference between #24 Kansas City and #25 Washington anyway.)

5. Baltimore Ravens (average wins per season: 9.2, 1 Super Bowl win (2000), 1 Super Bowl appearance, 6 playoff appearances)

The Ravens found themselves in a virtual tie with the Green Bay Packers and the Denver Broncos in terms of average wins per season, but their Super Bowl win put them up in the top five. The Ravens’ commitment to defense keeps them in the contending teams discussion year after year. But the Ravens aren’t just about defense. QB Joe Flacco and RB Ray Rice do their part to keep the offense moving.  If those two live up to their potential and the defense holds up, they could find themselves at the top of next decade’s list, too.

4. Philadelphia Eagles (average wins per season: 10.3, no Super Bowl wins, 1 Super Bowl appearance, 8 playoff appearances)

Philadelphia doesn’t have any championship rings, as any devoted Giants fan will tell you, but they’ve been so consistently good this decade that it’s impossible to keep them off this list. They’ve only had one losing season in the last ten years (6-10 in 2005) and have won the divisional title in the vicious NFC East five times. For comparison, only two teams in the entire NFL have won more divisional championships over the last decade, and they occupy spots 1 and 2 on this list. They also played in the NFC Championship Game a staggering five times, more than twice as many as any other NFC team (New York, Minnesota, Carolina, and New Orleans all have two appearances). A tendency to lose in big games certainly hurts them here, but you have to admire the consistency they’ve shown in at least repeatedly getting there.

3. Pittsburgh Steelers (average wins per season: 10.3, 2 Super Bowl wins (2005, 2008), 2 Super Bowl appearances, 6 playoff appearances)

The Steelers won the same amount of games on average as their Pennsylvanian brethren, but two championships easily propel them to the top three. There’s no question Ben Roethlisberger’s appearance in 2004 ushered in a new era (two titles and no losing seasons since), but it’s not as though they were struggling beforehand. Pittsburgh has been a model of consistency ever since the NFL’s creation. After all, there’s only one franchise that has a ring for the thumb. Their two titles this decade make them a tempting choice to put in the top two, but I feel like these last two teams were a cut above everyone else. Still, two titles are nothing to be ashamed of, and the future certainly looks bright in Pittsburgh.

2. Indianapolis Colts (average wins per season: 11.5, 1 Super Bowl wins (2006), 2 Super Bowl appearances, 9 playoff appearances, 4 MVP awards (Peyton Manning, 2003, 2004, 2008, 2009))

Here’s a fun exercise. Try to think of the last time the Colts failed to qualify for the playoffs.

Give up? It was 2001, when they went just 6-10 and inspired Jim Mora’s famous “playoffs?!?” rant. Mora was fired after that season, the Colts hired Tony Dungy, and they haven’t won fewer than 10 games since. Incredibly, they’ve won at least 12 games every season since 2003, and since that time, they’ve been in a rivalry with the New England Patriots for supremacy in the AFC. The Patriots initially had the upper hand, but lately the tables have turned in favor of the Colts. In fact, had the Colts won Super Bowl XLIV, I was prepared to list them above the Patriots. It might seem crazy, but the Colts have remained an elite team for longer than the Patriots, despite the championship gap. Peyton Manning’s incredible four MVP awards (more than Brett Favre, Jim Brown, or Johnny Unitas) can’t be ignored, either. But Manning’s interception to Tracy Porter sealed it, in my mind. The Colts are a great team. In fact, they’re an excellent team. But they’ve shown a lack of ability to get it done in big games, and so they’ll have to settle for number two here.

1. New England Patriots (average wins per season: 11.2, 3 Super Bowl wins (2001, 2003, 2004), 4 Super Bowl appearances, 7 playoff appearances, 1 MVP award (Tom Brady, 2007))

The numbers don’t lie. Since Tom Brady took over after Drew Bledsoe’s injury in 2001, the Patriots have won three Super Bowls, at least 10 games every season (except for 2002, when they went 9-7), and came inches from winning a fourth championship and a 19-0 season. For the most part, the glory days for this franchise are behind them, since Brady isn’t quite the same as he was before Bernard Pollard knocked him out for the 2008 season, but that doesn’t diminish how incredible those glory days were. At one point, New England had won 21 consecutive games, including a Super Bowl. And at their peak, no one was more intimidating than the Patriots. The Colts consistently inspire fear into their opponents’ hearts. But the Patriots inspired terror. Put it this way. Over the last ten years, the Patriots have had three seasons in which they won at least 14 games (14-2 in 2003 and 2004 and 16-0 in 2007). The rest of the NFL combines for five (2001 Rams, 2004 Steelers, 2006 Chargers, and 2005 and 2009 Colts). The Colts have been consistently great, but for a few years, the Patriots were virtually invincible. It’s a matter of personal opinion which you prefer, but as for me, I’d take the three rings and the 16-0 season any day of the week. Say what you will about New England’s future, but the 2000s were the decade of the Patriots.

It’s an interesting question. While the New Orleans Saints played a tremendous game, there wasn’t really one person that stood out above the rest. Should it be Marques Colston, who led the Saints with 7 receptions for 83 yards? Or should it be Drew Brees, who posted a QB rating of 114.5 while throwing for 288 yards? And what about Tracy Porter, who came up with a game-changing interception for the second straight game?

These are all worthy choices, and I think Brees certainly deserved to win the award. But I think there was someone more deserving. Five people, actually.

Why not give the award to the New Orleans offensive line?

Obviously, the Super Bowl MVP award is only given to a single person, so the entire offensive line wouldn’t be able to split the honor. Usually, when there isn’t a clearly deserving player, the award is given to the quarterback. But I think the offensive linemen were the most deserving of anyone on the field.

Sure, you know Drew Brees, but can you name any of the other guys in this picture?

Think about it. Brees was magnificent, completing 32 of 39 passes to tie the Super Bowl record for completions (also held by one Tom Brady, who isn’t too bad a quarterback himself). But how many times do you remember Brees being hit, or even hurried?

The answer? Just one, when Dwight Freeney muscled his way through the line to sack Brees early in the second quarter. Other than that, Brees had all the time he needed to throw the ball.

The New Orleans line, most of whom I doubt many fans could name, were the single biggest reason Brees looked so good tonight. And yet they won’t receive much, if any credit at all.

That’s typical of the position, though. In the history of the Super Bowl, exactly zero offensive lineman have been honored as the MVP. Meanwhile, six wide receivers, seven running backs, and a whopping 23 quarterbacks have received the award.

It’s easy to overlook the offensive line. They rarely make exciting, highlight reel-type plays. Instead, they do all the grunt work. They block the defensive line and create a pocket for the quarterback to work in. They push the defense aside to create a hole for the running back to run through. And they handle any pass rushers that try to disrupt the quarterback. Yawn.

It’s not often that an offensive lineman is chosen high in the NFL Draft. While there are exceptions, such as Miami Dolphins OT Jake Long, most high draft picks are quarterbacks, running backs, and wide receivers. Teams want their high-profile picks to become faces of the franchise. Picks like John Elway, Peyton Manning, and Matt Ryan.

Except too often you get stuck with high picks like Tim Couch, Joey Harrington, and Akili Smith. These players excelled in college, but suddenly struggled when they reached the pros. Certainly some of that has to be because they had difficulty adjusting to the higher level of play, but it’s also worth pointing out that the Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions, and Cincinnati Bengals all had terrible offensive lines when they were drafted. It’s hard to pass effectively when defenders are rushing through the tackle nearly every play.

That’s not to say that Drew Brees isn’t a spectacular quarterback. He certainly is, and he showed it on football’s biggest stage. But it’s worth pointing out that as good as he is, his offensive line made him look even better.

So here’s to you, Jermon Bushrod, Carl Nicks, Jonathan Goodwin, Jahri Evans, and Jonathan Stinchcomb. You may not have won the award last night, but in my book, you’re all MVPs.

Brett Favre walks off the field, muttering, "3.23%."

3.23%.

Over his 19 year career, that’s the chance of Brett Favre throwing an interception every time he steps back to pass.

Granted, that means you can expect a reception, or at least an incompletion, the other 96.77% of the time, but when you’re dealing with the all-time interception leader in NFL history, that 3.23% tends to weigh on your mind in pressure situations.

You know, like the last few seconds of Sunday’s NFC Championship game.

It’s easy to forget that Favre had a tremendous game. He did, after all, throw for 310 yards and a touchdown. Despite six (six!) fumbles, the Minnesota Vikings were in position to win the game with just seconds remaining, and a large part of the credit has to go to Favre.

Except they didn’t end up winning. If you didn’t see it (and you might be the only one who hasn’t if you haven’t), Favre rolled out to the right on the Vikings’ last possession and saw Sidney Rice. Unfortunately, he didn’t see Tracy Porter, who ran in front of Rice and picked off the pass, effectively ending the game.

When I saw this play, I probably shouted the same thing you did at your screen. “Favre! Why didn’t you run?!” It’s a fair question. Favre had about ten yards of empty field in front of him, and had he been able to pick up even half of that, the Vikings would have been within field goal range. So why did he try to thread the needle instead of going for what seemed like a sure thing?

The answer is pretty simple when you think about it: it’s Brett Favre. Favre has long had a reputation as a gunslinger. He loves throwing difficult passes into tight coverage, because while it sometimes ends in an interception (that 3.23% again), it more often ends in a spectacular catch. Favre is extremely good at making that kind of pass, and I bet he felt absolutely sure he could make just one more.

Something else to think about, though – Favre is definitely not a scrambling quarterback. This is hardly QB Eagles from Tecmo Super Bowl we’re talking about here. (That’s Randall Cunningham, for those of you who haven’t had the pleasure of playing Tecmo.) Favre averaged over 200 yards rushing each of his first three seasons with the Green Bay Packers, but hasn’t approached that level of production since. He hasn’t run for over 100 in a season since 2000, and hasn’t run for over 50 since 2005.

This year, he had nine rushing attempts for a total of seven yards. Seven.

Let’s face it. He’s 40 years old, and on top of that, the Saints defense had been pressuring him and hitting him all night. He took a hard hit to the ankle in the third quarter. The fact that he was standing under his own power was incredible enough. Was anyone really expecting him to run for ten yards into the New Orleans secondary?

No, Brett Favre was who we thought he was. He was who the Vikings thought he was, too. When Minnesota signed him this past summer, they signed a guy who was going to pass, and pass often. He wasn’t going to be able to run in tight situations. And he was going to gamble with passes from time to time.

The Vikings knew all of that, and that’s why they signed him. Because the rewards were much higher than the risks. Without Favre, there’s no chance they would have been in the NFC Championship game.

And yet, if you live by the sword, you die by the sword. Favre was having perhaps the greatest season of his career, statistically speaking, with only seven interceptions in the regular season, his fewest since his short stint with the Atlanta Falcons, when he threw two interceptions on four attempts. But somewhere in the back of their minds, the Vikings knew it wasn’t going to last forever. And with seconds to go in the biggest game of the season, it all came crashing down.

3.23%.

Nothing lasts forever, though.

The Spurs and Patriots have been on top for a while, but all things must come to an end.

Despite an impressive run of greatness from both teams, their time on top looks to be at an end. In fact, one could argue that both teams’ runs have been done for three years now.

I’m not trying to say that neither team has been great since 2007 (although I’m sure you’ll let me hear about just that in the comments), but I am trying to say that neither team has been a serious championship contender since that time, and really, isn’t that what a dynasty is all about? Winning championships?

Both teams’ title runs are well-documented. New England started their reign by pulling off a miracle upset in Super Bowl XXXVI over the heavily favored St. Louis Rams. Led by quarterback Tom Brady, they proceeded to steamroll the league for the next several seasons, at one point winning 21 straight games. The Patriots juggernaut, masterminded by head coach Bill Belichick, was feared throughout the NFL.

San Antonio, led by twin towers Tim Duncan and David Robinson, notched their first title of the decade in 2003. They too held a stranglehold over the league for the next few seasons, winning at least 56 games every season until 2008-09 (and they won 54 that year). Duncan and head coach Gregg Popovich seemed to have a mind meld, understanding each other perfectly and forming an unstoppable duo.

Both teams followed parallel arcs. Anchored by a superstar and a genius coach, each rose from the dominant conference in their league (the AFC and Western Conference, respectively). Each had determined rivals that they met every year in the playoffs (the Colts and Steelers for the Patriots, and the Mavericks, Suns, and Lakers for the Spurs). Each had an air of invincibility at their peak.

And for both, 2007 would be the year that would end it all, although we didn’t know it at the time. The Spurs cruised to a 58-24 record, dropping only three games in the postseason en route to their NBA Finals sweep over LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Brady’s Patriots found their swagger in the wake of the Spygate controversy, rolling to a perfect 16-0 2007 season and blowing apart scoring records in the process.

And then came the bombshell.

The Patriots, despite being two touchdown favorites, lost Super Bowl XLII that year in one of the greatest upsets in sports history, thanks to David Tyree’s famous circus catch for the New York Giants. The Pats came back hungry for revenge in 2008, but Brady tore his ACL and MCL in the opening quarter of the opening game. New England fought valiantly, winning 11 games, but missed the playoffs for the first time since 2002.

The Spurs, meanwhile, looked as strong as ever, posting a record of 56-26. However, they fell in the playoffs to the burgeoning Lakers juggernaut. A lingering injury to star sixth man Manu Ginobili didn’t help, either. The Spurs fell to the Lakers in that year’s Western Conference Finals, 4-1.

Here’s the kicker, though – while both teams were impressive in 2008, neither was particularly seen as a serious title threat in the end.

Don’t believe me? Try to find someone outside of the greater Boston area who seriously believes that the ’08 Patriots could have won a Super Bowl with Matt Cassel at QB. Try to find someone outside of San Antonio who believes that Duncan’s creaky kness and an injured Ginobili could have beaten the talent-heavy Lakers in the WCF, let alone the near-invincible Boston Celtics in the Finals.

2009 wasn’t any better for either of these teams. New England got back to the playoffs with a healthy Brady (and a 10-6 record), but was ambushed by the Baltimore Ravens in the opening round, losing 33-14. San Antonio kept their playoff streak alive but were thumped by the 6th seeded Dallas Mavericks in the first round, bowing out 4-1.

For the Patriots, this was the beginning of the end.

When you thought of title threats in those years, you thought of Los Angeles, Boston, Cleveland, Indianapolis, New Orleans, and Minnesota. Not San Antonio or New England.

Again, that doesn’t take away from what they’ve accomplished, or what they’re still accomplishing. The Spurs’ win percentage over the past decade was an impressive .705, for an average season of 58-24. The Patriots were equally impressive, posting an average season of 11-5, and if you exclude their horrific 5-11 season in 2000, their average season goes up to 12-4.

Take just a moment to wrap your head around that.

In the last ten years, we’ve only seen 41 NFL teams post seasons of at least 12-4 (out of a possible 510), and only 20 have done better. Four of those teams were the New England Patriots (2003, 2004, 2006, 2007).

In the last ten years, we’ve only seen 22 NBA teams post records of at least 58-24 (out of a possible 480), and only 16 have done better. Six of those teams were the San Antonio Spurs (2001, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007).

Holy mackerel.

Both teams remain among their sports’ elite, no questions about it. But there’s a price to sustained greatness. For the last ten years, both the Patriots and the Spurs have had consistently low draft picks, making rebuilding difficult. While there are gems to be found buried in the draft (DeJuan Blair and Laurence Maroney come to mind; Tom Brady himself was an improbable 6th round pick), they are the exceptions rather than the rule.

Without an influx of young talent, teams rely on their established talent to continue to produce. Duncan and Brady have proven durable, but each are showing signs of wear and tear. Duncan still puts up All-Star level numbers, but he no longer plays back-to-back games. Brady still carves up opposing secondaries, but doesn’t inspire the same level of fear as he did before his knee injury.

Interestingly enough, both teams are set to be surpassed by the same rivals they dominated at their peaks. The Lakers won the 2009 NBA Finals, and look likely to win another this year. The Colts won Super Bowl XLI, and are on track to win Super Bowl XLIV.

Together, the Spurs and Patriots dominated the nameless decade of the 2000s. Their ascension and peaks coincided nearly perfectly. It only seems fitting that their falls should come at the same time, too.

Kurt Warner’s words, nearly a year ago. He was talking about Super Bowls; he won one with the St. Louis Rams in 2000, but it’s the Super Bowl loss to the New England Patriots in 2002 that dwells on his mind. They were the favorites, he explains, they were supposed to win and they didn’t. He left some history on the table because they didn’t seal the deal. The deed was left undone.

The quote comes from an interview just days before Super Bowl XLIII (that was last year, in 2009), where Warner dropped another one. He fell to 1-2 in Super Bowls as Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers took home the trophy, winning 27-23. Warner could absorb the blame for that one too, if he chose, as James Harrison’s 100-yard interception return to end the first half gave Pittsburgh the winning margin they’d need. But as a quarterback, you can take both the credit and blame in most situations, and ascribing too much blame to one’s self will only do harm.

And none of this should dampen the gleam of Warner’s Hall-of-Fame-worthy career. Despite only having one Super Bowl ring, he simply must be recognized as one of the greatest postseason quarterbacks of all time. He boasts a 9-3 playoff record, with two of those losses coming in Super Bowls. With his superlative performance on Sunday against the Green Bay Packers (his passer rating was 154.1), he joins Peyton Manning and Joe Montana as the only quarterbacks with six 300-yard passing games in the playoffs.

Now, even before the Cardinals’ season comes to a close, we face the annual question of whether he’ll take the field next year.

It’s not like he has nothing to go home to. Here’s a 38-year-old guy with a wife and seven kids. He and his wife Brenda are both strong Christians, and have been through the kind of hard times that bring a family together—two miscarriages, and a time when the undrafted Kurt was still trying to simply get tryouts with NFL teams and a professional career on football’s biggest stage was still just a dream.

Those times are past, now, and the Warners’ oldest daughter (Jesse, 17) has just been accepted to college in New York. The picket fences and chicken dinners of life are still there for Kurt, not lost with age or due to life-changing injury. While his life may never be normal by our pedestrian standards, he has all the trimmings of family life calling his name.

But professional sports are the kind of occupation—unlike say, accounting—where its highest accomplishments are easily measurable. David Robinson, Michael Strahan and John Wooden must have felt tremendous closure in ending their respective careers with championships; the desire and opportunity to do it again have merit, for sure, but it’s hard to feel that anything is left undone when you go out on top.

It’s what they come out every week, every month and every year to try for, right? Each season is just a lengthy shot at a Super Bowl ring. That’s why every player takes the field. You can argue that they’re there for the love of the game, but loving the game is loving the competition. Undeniably, the Super Bowl is the goal, the end-all, the summit of football accomplishment.

With that in mind, if the Arizona Cardinals take home the Super Bowl trophy on February 7th then I’m giving you a guarantee that Warner retires. He’s obviously thought about it plenty before, especially after being benched in favor of starting the rookie Eli Manning, while with the Giants—then two years later being benched in favor of Matt Leinart, then still a rookie with the Cardinals. He’s reinvented his career since retaking the Cards’ helm, but with recent reports it’s sounds like retirement is on his mind again, and with more conviction than ever.

But will regret catch up with Kurt if the Cardinals don’t get past the New Orleans Saints on Sunday? At this point it seems like he retires either way, but you never know when someone’s going to get a case of the Favres.

And it’s often unfortunate when they do. Michael Jordan’s time with the Washington Wizards is a letdown to think about. Joe Montana’s career should have ended where it began, in San Francisco, instead of heading to the Chiefs to die. Brett Favre’s own career has been revived this year with the Vikings, but it would have been an ignominious close had it ended after his ill-fated time with the Jets.

It will be a realization of the inevitable if Kurt Warner holds a slightly-teary-eyed-but-overall-positively-vibed press conference after a Cardinals’ loss in the next week or two. We’ll all feel good about Warner’s tremendous accomplishments (5 Pro Bowls, and a Super Bowl trophy paired with a Super Bowl MVP). We’ll remember him as one of history’s most accurate quarterbacks, and one who delivered big in the playoffs. It will be an appropriate end to almost certainly a Hall of Fame career.

And if he decides to come back, after an early playoff exit? Well, we won’t need any explanation why.

History, however, is not on his side.

There is a long tradition of successful college coaches making the leap to the NFL, only to find themselves not enjoying the same level of success. Recently, Louisville coach Bobby Petrino left the college ranks to coach the Atlanta Falcons. As coach of the Cardinals, he put up a 41-9 record and a BCS bowl victory (2007 Orange Bowl).

As coach of the Falcons? He lasted just 16 games before fleeing town with a 3-13 record.

Nick Saban, who just won a national championship with Alabama, left his old school, LSU, to coach the Miami Dolphins. His record with the Tigers was 48-16; his record with the Dolphins, just 15-17.

Pete Carroll has had tremendous success at USC. But will it follow him to Seattle?

In fact, the last six college coaches to make the leap (Petrino, Saban, Dennis Erickson, Steve Spurrier, Butch Davis, and Mike Riley) combined to post an NFL record of 108-172 (.385).

Their combined college record beforehand? 301-103-1 (.743).

In fact, Carroll is no stranger to the NFL game. He has been the head coach of two NFL franchises (New York Jets and New England Patriots), posting a combined record of 33-31 in four seasons.

So what gives? Why have so many successful coaches found nothing but mediocrity and failure in the NFL?

Simply put? It’s a very different game. The formations are different, the competition is higher, and the players themselves are different. Tactics that work without a hitch at the college level might not work in the pros. In fact, they might make the situation even worse.

At the college level, the spread offense is common. Teams at the level of USC are generally unafraid to run plays with four or five wide receivers because they know that they have more talent on offense than they are likely to see on defense. Even if they end up turning over the ball, they know that their defense is potent enough to make up for any mistakes.

In the NFL, such is not the case. The spread offense is uncommon because although the potential for scoring is high, the potential for a turnover is also high. Turnovers in the high-scoring college game, while undesirable, are far from devastating. In the NFL, where low-scoring contests are the norm, losing the ball can mean the difference between victory and defeat.

NFL teams can’t simply rely on superior talent, either. A team like Alabama faces difficult competition during the year, but they also play teams like Chattanooga and Coastal Carolina. In the NFL, even when a team like the Colts plays a team like the Lions, the talent gap isn’t as high as you might think. Both teams have numerous players that have won all-conference and all-American honors. If you aren’t one of the best players in the nation in college, you don’t make the NFL.

The fact that there are only 32 NFL teams as compared to 119 FBS schools helps to concentrate talent, too. There aren’t any guaranteed wins in the NFL, even when you play against the 1-15 St. Louis Rams.

The players themselves are a significant difference. In college, players are generally between 18-22 years old. They’re still young, so they respond to older authority figures (well, usually).

Screaming at a 30 year-old multimillionaire isn’t likely to have much impact, especially when they make more than you do. In college, coaches are the franchise; in the NFL, players are.

That leads into my next point: coaches are treated like near-deities at the college level, which is nearly unheard of in the NFL.

Sure, there are exceptions (Bill Belichick and Tony Dungy come to mind), but coaches usually tend to stay on the sidelines and let their star players do their thing. Teams like the Colts and Saints have excelled this year, and Peyton Manning and Drew Brees receive the lion’s share of the credit.

On the other hand, teams like Alabama and Florida have excelled at the college level, but despite a wealth of star players, coaches Nick Saban and Urban Meyer receive the credit.

Essentially, a larger-than-life personality can be a huge success in college (think Mike Leach), but a huge flop in the pros (think Bobby Petrino). Which brings us back to Pete Carroll.

Carroll knows what it takes to succeed in college. He also knows what doesn’t work in the pros. Will his success translate over to the Seahawks?

There’s a chance it will. Carroll has a better NFL record than any of the past six college-to-pro coaches. His teams qualified for the playoffs in two of his four seasons. And while he’s a colorful personality, he’s done a good job of holding his ego in check in favor of the program he’s built.

So it’s possible we could see a resurgent Seahawks team. But is it likely?

Let me put it this way: if I lived in Seattle, I wouldn’t be buying playoff tickets just yet.

But what’s done is done, I suppose.

The bigger question that’s floating around the league, however, is whether or not the Indianapolis Colts’ brass will allow Peyton Manning and the rest of the Colts’ starters to play in the final two games of the season.

The rationale for sitting the team’s stars seems decent at first. Putting them on the pine saves them from freak injuries (think Tom Brady’s season-ender last year), allows any of those lingering pains to finally go away, and rests all muscles for the upcoming playoffs.

On top of that, the season-closing competition is anything but stiff: next Sunday’s game is at home against the 7-7 New York Jets, following which they head to Buffalo to take on the 5-9 Bills. It’s likely that the Colts could win both games, continuing their unbeaten streak—or at least put up a fight—with Curtis Painter taking snaps instead of Peyton Manning, and with Joseph Addai resting his feet on the sideline.

Momentum is at least as important as talent in the NFL—just ask the Tennessee Titans. It’s entirely possible for a mediocre team to get hot at the right time and advance all the way to the Super Bowl—just ask last year’s Arizona Cardinals. And when a quarterback sits long enough to get out of sync with his receivers, a team can exit the playoffs more quickly than expected—just ask last year’s Titans, who rested Kerry Collins for a couple weeks and then fell to the Baltimore Ravens in the first round, 13-10.

Remember that in this case sitting two games is more than just a two week rest—as the Colts have already lined up a first round bye, that’s three weeks of being removed from a game situation. While resting Peyton sounds nice, he’s a player in his prime—he’s in top physical condition, and doesn’t need rest because of his age (he’s only 33).

Which brings us back to Brett Favre.

It’s too early to say that the 40-year-old Favre is worn out, and that he’ll be ineffective in moving the Vikings through the playoffs. The point, rather, is that Minnesota signed him, in effect, FOR the playoffs—they made the playoffs last year, with Tarvaris Jackson taking the snaps, and so the acquisition of Favre was to take them to the next, Super Bowl-flavored level.

His 2008 collapse with the New York Jets, however, is so well-documented that it’s become colloquial. He threw seven picks over the last three games, and his passer rating dwindled down to the 40′s as the Jets lost four of their last five.

There are still two games to play in 2009, but the descent has begun. Favre’s passer rating, which peaked at a stellar 141.8 this season, has settled into the 70′s for the past three games (in which he’s thrown four picks). The Vikings’ next game, even more regrettably, is a cold-weather affair against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field—and Favre’s performances in the cold in recent years have been hardly worth bragging about.

Bringing all this up makes me come across as a tremendous Favre nay-sayer, when the opposite is mostly true. I’d rather see Brett sit a few, so that when he’s on the field he can be the gunslinging, playmaking Brett who wins games with sheer will. If the only other alternative is the creaky-joints, game-bumbling Brett we’ve tended to see at the end of seasons, then I’m choosing the former.

And is it too late for Brett this season? It’s certainly not too late to have #4 on the bench for most of this week’s Monday Night Blizzard against the Bears. And since the Vikes have already clinched the division, it wouldn’t hurt to have him only play one half against the New York Giants in their season closer.

It seems that with Favre, the benefits of the rest outweigh the negatives. Sure, he might come out a little out of sync with his receiver corps, but having Brett at full strength to make plays is more important than his rhythm. Favre’s system has never been a west-coast, three-step-drop timing-based system, either—he seems to have much less to lose by resting than, say, Manning or Drew Brees.

In the end? Play Peyton and sit Brett as the season wraps up. I’d love for Brett to prove me wrong, but his track record doesn’t instill a lot of hope.

After all, the one-time Green Bay Packer and more recently New York Jet Brett Favre kept fans in several NFL cities on the edge of their seats.

With the Packers settled with Aaron Rogers, it was clear that if Favre came back at all, it wouldn’t be with the Packers.

But that didn’t mean the Packers weren’t willing to pay. In fact, the team from the frozen tundra reportedly offered Mississippi’s pride and joy a staggering 20 million dollars to just stay away from the NFL entirely. I would love a former employer to call and offer me money to not work anywhere else.

But Favre didn’t stay away.

Instead, he opted for less money and the chance to play with the Packers’ Division rival, the Minnesota Vikings. Minnesota’s home dome stadium offered Brett a chance to get out of the cold for at least half of the team’s games.

And now, through 11 games, Favre has taken the Vikings from a 10-6 team that exited in the first round of the playoffs last year to a team that sits atop the Division, has a 10-1 record and finds themselves just a couple wins away from clinching a playoff spot.

Add the mindboggling statistics from the 40-year-old to the wins he has compiled this season, and it is no wonder why Favre is atop my NFL Most Valuable Player list.

That’s right. I choose Favre over Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and even the perfect Drew Brees.

Sure, Manning’s killer instinct has led the Colts to an 11-0 record—through which he has compiled 3,171 yards and 21 touchdowns.

I get that Brady is everybody’s little darling and has bounced back from last season’s devastating knee injury to pick up 20 touchdowns and rack up 3,049 yards.

Brees and the perfect Saints have been impressive and Brees’ 22 scores and 2,746 yards are quite impressive, but they don’t do it for me (and bear in mind that he is my fantasy football quarterback).

Even Chris Johnson’s eight touchdowns and 1,242 yards, that have been a huge driving force during the Tennessee Titans’ current five game winning streak, don’t equal MVP for me.

Nope, my MVP comes in the form of a 40-year-old, good ol’ boy from the South who wears Wranglers, a cut off t-shirt and a raggedy ball cap to a post-game press conference. A guy who loves taking the field so much that he can’t drag himself away from it. A guy who put his reputation on the line by choosing to play again following a drama-filled summer.

A guy who ran into Lambeau Field in Green Bay as an opposing player and took it to his former team in the form of a 38-26 score that saw him rack up 244 yards and four touchdowns.

But it was while standing in my bedroom Sunday afternoon watching Favre and the Vikings that I made my decision.

Favres’ 392 yards and three touchdowns in Sunday’s 36-10 victory over the visiting Chicago Bears spoke loud. His patience in the pocket, willingness to take a hit, and his accuracy and control this season have sealed the deal in my book.

Through 11 games, Favre has racked up 2,482 yards and has thrown 21 touchdowns. But even more impressive than his usual offensive output is the fact that Favre has put the ball in the opponent’s hands just three times this season.

Three times!

Favre, the NFL’s all-time leader in being intercepted, entered the 2009 season having averaged 17.2 interceptions a season throughout his career. Last season with the Jets he threw 22 picks—the most since his career high 29 picks in 2005. In his last year in Green Bay, 2007, he tossed 15 balls to the other team.

But get this:

Even when Favre became the only NFL player to win the MVP award three consecutive times in 1995, ’96, and ’97 he tossed 13, 13, and 16 interceptions respectively.

That’s right, when the 19 year NFL veteran was in his “prime”, leading the Packers to the Super Bowl and being a constant in the playoffs, he was prone to the interception.

Sure, there are still six games this season, but I haven’t seen anything that would indicate Favre would catch the interception bug this late in the season. In fact, ESPN.com is projecting Favre to finish with just five interceptions on the season—by far a career low (with the exception of his rookie season in 1991 in which he threw two interceptions in just two games and four passing attempts).

I don’t get a vote, but when the NFL season is complete, I see no reason why jersey number four doesn’t add MVP number four to his Mississippi mantle.