Michael Ventre

One of the most daunting challenges for any family involves what to do when an elderly member begins to slip. It's a sensitive issue, and inevitably every family has to deal with it. The situation needs to be handled with dignity, because that old person you put out to pasture will be you someday.

The Minnesota Vikings aren’t quite at that stage yet. They have some time. But as sociologists and family counselors will tell you, it's never too soon to plan.

Anyone who watched Brett Favre play in the season’s first two games has noticed the tell-tale signs: the fumbling of objects, a failure to navigate in traffic, having trouble reading what’s right in front of him, a difficulty getting back up after falling down.

It’s sad to see, because after all, this is the person who once helped us get dressed and brush our teeth, or in Favre’s case, urged us to buy Wrangler jeans and Sensodyne toothpaste.

The Vikings, one of the preseason favorites to reach the Super Bowl out of the NFC, are 0-2. It isn't fair to 'blame the old guy' for the feeble start. Shortly after they helped him off his front porch and onto the playing field for the start of the season, star receiver Sidney Rice went out after hip surgery, and Percy Harvin suffered migraine headaches and hip problems. If your grandfather suddenly had to play shuffleboard with a whole new group of people, he'd struggle, too.

In the low-scoring opener, won by the Saints, 14-9, Favre wasn’t terrible, but he was rusty, creaky and shaky. “There’s three or four throws I just missed. I have no excuse. I just missed,” Favre said.

Then Sunday, Favre threw three interceptions and fumbled once in a 14-10 defeat at home against Miami. It was Favre’s worst day as a Viking, with a quarterback rating of 44.3. In another context, one might simply adjust the prescription on his glasses, or up the dosage on his meds. In Favre’s case, however, what he needs is a 6-foot-5 caregiver with sure hands who runs the 40 in 4.4, and unfortunately they’re attending to others.

Last season, the Vikings averaged 29.4 points a game, second in the NFL. But this season the team’s offense under Favre has moved like an octogenarian in mud. After two games, the Vikings rank 31st out of 32 teams in scoring, with an average of 9.5 points per contest; only the Buffalo Bills (8.5) are worse. Of course, Favre isn’t the first aged individual who has had trouble driving. But at a reported salary of $16.5 million this year, plus incentives that could put him over the $20 million mark, he could be the highest paid.

Video   Vikings off to 0-2 start Sept. 19, 2010: Vikings QB Brett Favre and head coach Brad Childress talk about Minnesota's 0-2 start.

Sadder still is his appearance. In the life of every man and woman — and again, it will happen to us all, so let’s tread lightly here — there is that moment in time when the aging process seems to have accelerated overnight.

As a man off the field, Favre is still distinguished-looking and ruggedly handsome, and remains in high demand as a pitchman. Yet in football terms, he suddenly looks like Yoda, right before he died at age 900. Favre’s facial expressions seem like a tapestry of gray, and crow’s feet, and gray crow’s feet. His body language is saying “You kids get off my &*%$!! lawn!”

"I came back to give this team a chance to win, to be a part of it," Favre said after the loss to the Dolphins, the AP reported. "My hope is that we still do that. I knew it was going to be tough to begin with. All I can ask of myself and this team is give great effort."

Video   PFTV: Time to panic? Sept. 22, 2010: Mike Florio breaks down the surprising 0-2 teams, including the Vikings and their lack of talent at WR.

Compounding the problem are the rigors of the NFL. In society, if you beat up an old person, you are a scoundrel of the lowest degree. If you do it in the NFL, it might trigger an incentive clause in your contract.

Favre hasn’t been pulverized in two games as much as he was in last year’s NFC championship game against the Saints. But he seems a lot older than he was then. He moves older. He throws older. He speaks older. I hear he even eats more soup. When he takes a shot now from an opposing defensive player, distant relatives prepare to contest his will.

After two games of the 2010 season, it appears as though Favre is not focused on this week’s game plan for the Detroit Lions, but rather daydreaming about golf outings, bass fishing boats and mending that broken fence along the north 40. He isn’t a candidate for a rocking chair, because a rocking chair moves too much.

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If his heart is in this, he’s doing a fabulous job of hiding it. He was convinced to return to the Vikings by a group of teammates who made a visit to his Mississippi ranch and told him how much they wanted him back. This wouldn’t be the first time younger people coaxed older folks into doing something they really didn’t want to do. The entire timeshare industry is based on that. But when it involves a 40-year-old chronic flip-flopper returning to the most violent team sport in America, perhaps social services should have sent someone out to intervene.

Then again, Sunday’s game at home against the 0-2 Lions might be just the elixir that Favre needs. Detroit’s defense is rated No. 30 overall. He could shred the Lions’ secondary, then shave his salt-and-pepper growth, dye his hair, and look 20 years younger. Or he could get flattened by Ndamukong Suh and find himself eating pureed prunes through a straw and calling out “Jeopardy!” answers that are completely unrelated to the questions.

The transition to one’s golden years should be a time of reward and relaxation. It is an opportunity to savor the gifts of life, and to better appreciate loved ones.

I just hope Brett Favre gets to see it someday without the need for smelling salts.