Tom E. Curran • E-mail

GREEN BAY, Wis. - Anyone thinking Brett Favre won his slapfight with Packers management better check the scorecards a little closer.

The Packers – CEO Mark Murphy, GM Ted Thompson, head coach Mike McCarthy, the players and the people who support this franchise with alarming fervor – they win.

“Why? How? Favre got his way, didn’t he? He’ll win his job back?”

Viewed narrowly, yes. But putting the whole thing in context, the Packers front office wins because – in the end – there was no stopping Favre’s return.

And that left the Packers with three options.

1) Trade him.

And with the only real interested parties seeming to be QB-poor Chicago and Minnesota, making a division rival appreciably better while torturing your fanbase was a losing proposition.

2) Sit him.

It’s more than likely that Brett Favre will be a better quarterback in 2008 than Aaron Rodgers will be (2011? We’ll see). The Packers could have blithely pretended that wasn’t the case and let Rodgers run the show. Meanwhile, Favre would have been on the sidelines as a healthy scratch getting his consecutive games steak snapped while every incompletion, batted pass and pick would have brought the obligatory extreme close-up of Favre on the sidelines in a baseball cap.

3) Play him.

There is now an open competition for the quarterback position and — unless Favre shows up fat and out of football shape (which he could) — Rodgers will be beaten out. And the Packers are giving themselves their best chance to win.

The Packers were honorable enough to respect the system throughout this process. They put the program first.

“Are you with us or not?” they demanded to know from Favre. “Bus for 2008 is leaving, what’s it gonna be?”

Favre dealt himself out in March – with tears. The bus left without him.

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“We invested considerably in a new and different future without Brett and we were obviously moving in that direction,” Murphy said in a Sunday statement. “That’s why this wasn’t easy. Having crossed the Rubicon once when Brett decided to retire, it’s very difficult to reorient our plans and cross it again in the opposite direction – but we’ll put this to our advantage.

Favre deserved having to go through what he did in order to rejoin the Packers. He jerked THEM around. And the fans. And his teammates. And the NFL. And he’d done it before with his previous handwringing about whether he’d bless the NFL with his presence.

All the good he’d done, highlights provided, charities helped out, money made and ratings helped he needed to be reminded the game was here before him and will be here after.

As Mike McCarthy told me Saturday, “When you hit times like this and reflect back (you realize) the NFL is bigger than everybody. This situation is bigger than everybody. It's about the National Football League, then it's about the Green Bay Packers and finally it's about the individuals. I think that’s very important. And when that gets out of balance, problems occur.”

Slide show Fabulous Favre Top moments from quarterback’s record-breaking career.

Favre let it get out of balance because he believed himself bigger than the Packers. And believe me, he’s not alone in that belief. Plenty of people up here in the Land of Lombardi and Lambeau will swallow whatever No. 4 sees fit to do.

Ironic because, if you ask me, Lombardi and/or Lambeau would have kicked Favre’s ass back to Kiln a long time ago.

But Favre kicked. Favre screamed. And Favre got his way. Now Favre better play out of his mind. If he does, the Packers win. And that’s what McCarthy, Murphy and Thompson are in it for. To make sure the franchise succeeds, not – as Favre-ians believe – to stick it to Brett.

Slide show   Week in Sports Pictures Flying on the hardwood, racing on the rink, getting physical on the gridiron, and much more. more photos

The collateral damage in this is Aaron Rodgers, probably. He said and did the right thing for months on end and now has had his face pushed in it. He may still beat Favre out based on reps and conditioning but Favre really has to faceplant for that to happen. Rodgers may make it to the end of his deal (after 2009) without ever becoming the Packers starter. Maybe Brian Brohm will have better luck.

But this much is clear, Favre pushed his beloved team as far as he could. Yet when the time came for face-saving – the time to make a a selfish, loser’s exit – the Packers couldn’t bring themselves to do it. They did the right thing for the Packers in 2008.

They were right before Favre got reinstated. And they’re right now that he’ll be their quarterback too. At least one side showed some honor.

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