It seemed like such a great idea at the time. After spending the offseason stocking a 4-12 team with high-priced veterans and a top-ten draft pick who was poised to become the town's second coming of the first L.T., the New York Jets received a gift from the Lord.

Lord Favre, to be precise.

Unwilling to call the Packers' bluff by showing up for training-camp practices (and, possibly, receiving $12 million to sit on the bench) in the hopes of securing an outright release, Favre decided to grant unto the citizens of New York his unparalleled football skills.

The move triggered praise and excitement. Of course, the absorption of Favre's $12 million salary required the Jets to jettison quarterback Chad Pennington.

But what's the downside of cutting a long-time starting quarterback a month before the start of the regular season?

It all started well for the Jets. In Week 1, they knocked off the Dolphins and their new quarterback. You know, the one they found in the dumpster outside the Jets' facility.

And the first day of the season otherwise couldn't have gone any better for the Jets and Brett Favre, as the Patriots lost their franchise quarterback, Tom Brady, for the entire year.

So the table was set. Week 2, at the Meadowlands. The Jets had a chance to knock off their archrivals from New England, with the generation's greatest signal-caller not named Favre not in the building.

Four quarters later, the new-look New Yorkers couldn't overcome the Brady-less Patriots.

In hindsight, the Jets' ultimate inability to make it to the postseason should have been apparent at that point. Really, if they couldn't beat the Patriots without Brady, how could the Jets win enough games to qualify for the playoffs?

But the bigger picture clouded considerably once Favre threw for six touchdown passes in a rousing 56-35 win over the Cardinals. Though the Jets entered their bye week at 2-2, a buzz was building.

Especially since the schedule was about to get softer than Kris Jenkins abdomen.

Never mind an inexplicable loss to the Raiders or a near-miss at home against the Chiefs. The Jets got hot in October and November, reeling off five straight wins capped by rousing victories at New England and Tennessee.

Somehow, the Jets had made it to 8-3. Favre became the subject of MVP chatter. With the Giants dominating the NFC, pundits pondered the logistical challenges of both conference title games being played at the Meadowlands.

But then it happened. The team disintegrated. It imploded. It became, as Emmitt Smith would say, debacled.

The Jets lost four of their final five games -- an outcome that easily could have been five of five if the Bills hadn't bungled a slim lead via poor play-calling in Week 15. And Favre did his part by throwing nine interceptions and only two touchdown passes over the final five-game span.

Nine interceptions. Two touchdowns.

But now we know why. In the hopes of preserving his streak of consecutive starts, Favre played through a torn biceps tendon in his arm.

A torn biceps tendon.

Though there's no reason to believe that Kellen Clemens could have done any better than two touchdown passes and nine interceptions in the last five games, the fact that Favre toughed it out presumably to avoid exiting the spotlight doomed the season and, ultimately, got the head coach fired.

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Favre's reported griping that (God forbid) Eric Mangini treated him like the other 52 guys on the team probably didn't help secure a fourth season for the head coach, especially if the powers-that-be hoped that Favre would play for the Jets again in 2009.

So after parking a dark cloud over the Green Bay Packers by trying to muscle his way out of town, he helped create unreachable expectations in New York, and then contributed to the termination of the man who famously named a newborn son after his newest player.

It was, in all, a failure. Nine wins. Seven losses. Twenty-two touchdown passes. Twenty-two interceptions. One fired coach. Plenty of personal seat licenses still available.

Maybe next year will be even better. Especially after that quarterback the Jets dumped to make room for Favre has an entire offseason to get more familiar with his teammates in Miami.

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