It's a knee-jerk reaction innately ingrained in humans, similar to flinching at a punch or screaming during a frightening movie. Deeply embedded in every sports fan's DNA is the desire to press the panic button, to throw up one's arms if problems arise and abandon all hope when feces and fan collide.
It's no one's fault, really; hate and anger are much easier — and apparently much more socially acceptable — to express on a whim than happiness and glee. Championships are won thanks to season-long success. Compare that to failure, which can occur at any moment, triggering the furious button-mashing of every fan desperate to avoid another year of heartbreak.
This tradition occurs especially in leagues with short slates, such as the NFL. So it's not surprising if Vikings fans are slightly upset with the way their elderly savior performed on Sunday.
Going through a full season with Tarvaris Jackson under center was unfathomable for Minnesota, and going through the rest of 2010 without getting a million-dollar paycheck was equally unsettling for Brett Favre, so he came back to the Twin Cities for yet another go-around. All was well for Vikings fans; they had hope once again and a Super Bowl trip — which, seven months ago, seemed realistic until Favre had one of his now-patented senior playoff moments — appeared in sights.
All Favre had to do was hand the ball off to Adrian Peterson, avoid making mistakes and win games.
But the second and third requirements seem to become increasingly more difficult with age.
In a 14-10 loss at home to Miami this weekend, Favre threw three interceptions — his first such game since Dec. 12, 2008, a loss to the Dolphins when Favre was with the Jets. He coughed up a fumble, accounting for four total turnovers after throwing just two picks in the Metrodome in all of '09.
His final line read like this: a 44.3 QB rating, two interceptions at the Miami goal line and zero touchdowns. Infinite embarrassment, immediate question marks.
Obviously, it makes little sense for Vikings fans to start panicking or media pundits to begin writing Minnesota off. Peterson (28 carries for 145 yards, one touchdown) is still one of the top two running backs in the league, and the Vikings defense has Jared Allen, a player whose number is 69 because he finds the number hilarious. Karma has a way of rewarding teams with players like these.
For all intents and purposes, though, this situation, at least on paper, would be disconcerting for any team — regardless of which future Hall of Famer is under center.
A stagnant 14-9 season-opening loss to the New Orleans Saints in a rematch of the NFC Championship revealed surprisingly little other than that the two sides were equally horrible or equally powerful. And then there was this stinker against the Dolphins, an abomination in front of 63,846 Metrodome fans who downed their beers while simultaneously pressing their panic buttons.
The problem is that there's no plan B if things go south for the Vikings, nor would Brad Childress ever dream of benching the Minnesotan Messiah. A home date with Detroit before a Week 4 bye should remedy most of the problems, but this team was supposed to take care of business against Miami on Sunday.
Aligning expectations with reality becomes difficult when the expectations are clouded by memories of former glory. The situation becomes even more complicated if reality enters the realm of negativity.
When things turn sour, it's that much harder to face facts. With Favre, the facts may be that it's no longer realistic to hope for a repeat of his 107.2 passer's rating or 4,000-plus yards over the course of last season.
Perhaps he's finally slowing down. Perhaps, this time, the end for Brett Favre is near.
But then again, it's not like he hasn't made a career out of performing with unparalleled greatness at unexpected times. Maybe this game was an aberration, and we should pull our fingers off the panic button.
At least for the time being.
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Alex Prewitt is a Junior majoring in English and Religion. He can be reached on his blog at http://livefrommudville.blogspot.com or followed on Twitter @Alex_Prewitt.
