Former Minnesota Vikings linebacker Ben Leber ripped into Brett Favre on Minnesota's KFAN-FM on Thursday, taking the future Hall of Famer to task for his recent statement on NFL Network that the biggest reason he returned for his final season in 2010 was the money.
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"He clearly wasn't mentally and emotionally into it, and that's the thing that kind of bugged me," Leber said, according to ProFootballTalk.com. "I get it, you've got to make the money when you can make it, even though he has made hundreds of millions of dollars. When he says it's about the money, it just means that he wasn't committed to us. So that irritated me a little bit, not for him taking the money, but for what it really meant."
Leber, who retierd in June after 10 seasons in the league, pegged Favre's attitude thusly: "You know, I'll kind of stagger back in here, and I'll give you guys what I've got, but I just know wholeheartedly I don't have it in me, and the money's too good to pass up."
The numbers -- and Favre's decision at age 40 to skip training camp -- would seem to back up Leber's bitterness. After leading the Vikings to the NFC Championship Game in 2009 with perhaps his greatest passing season (107.2 passer rating, 4,202 yards, 33 TDs, 7 INTs), Favre slipped to a 69.9 rating, with 2,509 yards, 11 TDs and 19 INTs in 2010, when the Vikings fell to 6-10.
Perhaps Favre's next gig as offensive coordinator for a high school team in Mississippi can offer a better example of his legendary love of the game.
