Philadelphia, PA -- (Sports Network) - This has to be a joke, right?

The reports that the Green Bay Packers brain trust of general manager Ted Thompson and head coach Mike McCarthy are not interested in scratching Brett Favre's "itch to play" in 2008 is not funny-ha-ha, though it is funny-weird.

The Packers haven't said anything officially yet (nor has Favre, for that matter), but the whispers suggesting the team would prefer to move on without the certain Hall-of-Famer are clear and audible.

And that makes no sense.

This is being played up in some circles as another matchup between a player who doesn't know how to hang up the spikes and a team, though appreciative of his past efforts, that would like to put its aging star out to pasture.

Sports Illustrated, in a piece about would-be successor Aaron Rodgers that ran last week, compared Favre by association with the likes of Johnny Unitas, Joe Namath, and John Elway, among others.

If Favre's skills had eroded toward the end of his career like all three of the players above (including Elway, who did a lot of handing off to Terrell Davis during those two Super Bowl years), the comparison would be apt. The Packers' seeming standoffish attitude would be, too.

But the simple fact of the matter is that Favre can still play, as evidenced by his Pro Bowl campaign of 2007. Even at the age of 38, Favre threw for 4,155 yards with 28 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. Favre's 66.5 completion percentage was the highest of his career, the 95.7 passer rating his best since 1996. Oh, and Green Bay went 13-3 in '07, won the NFC North, and was a break away from playing for a Super Bowl title.

From an on-field standpoint, the only possible mark the Packers can hold against Favre is his middling performance against the Giants in the NFC Championship, but given the elements that night, anyone other than talk radio blowhards should be willing to show some leniency.

Off the field, there are suggestions that Thompson, McCarthy, and company are less-than-enamored with Favre's annual indecisiveness when it comes to returning or retiring, an approach that held the Packers hostage for part of each of the past two offseasons. The organization has apparently reached its breaking point in respect to reinforcing Favre's wavering ways.

That frustration on the part of the Packers is more than understandable. At the same time, Thompson and McCarthy need to wake up and get over it.

No disrespect to Rodgers, who might develop into a fine quarterback someday, but Green Bay's chances at sniffing the Super Bowl drop drastically with him at the helm. Expecting a player who has thrown 59 career NFL passes to be consistent over his first season as a starter is a scenario straight out of dreamland.

That Thompson and McCarthy would expect the team to be as good with Rodgers as it was with Favre is an assumption that smacks of hubris. It shows that Thompson wants to show the world how great he is at putting together a roster, and that McCarthy thinks his offensive scheme is so brilliant that anyone can run it.

Sure, both men have spent considerable hours, since being hired midway through the current decade, in planning for life after Favre. As professionals, both are undoubtedly eager to see that plan executed. At the same time, both are failing miserably at seeing the forest for the trees.

If Green Bay, with a talented young roster that looks highly capable of making a Super Bowl run this season, fails to meet expectations with Rodgers at the controls and Favre no longer a member of the club, Thompson and McCarthy had better deploy interns to start their cars every day. Packers fans are going to be so hot, those blocks of cheese on their heads are going to turn to Whiz.

The world will always wonder how good the team might have been if Thompson and McCarthy had made what seems to most of the world to be the natural move, welcoming Favre back with open arms.

You have to believe a healthy number of players on the 2008 Packers will begin wondering the same if things begin to go south, a situation that will not help the standing of Thompson, McCarthy, or Rodgers within the locker room.

The risk in allowing Favre to return as the starter is far less than it is in rebuffing his efforts to come back.

The chance at a reward, i.e. Rodgers leading Green Bay to a Super Bowl title in year one, is one of Powerball-like proportions.

The issue is not about disgracing a legend, it's about giving yourself the best possible chance to win.

Or, in the case of Ted Thompson and Mike McCarthy, it could be about blowing that chance.