Brett Favre briefly considered retiring last spring before committing himself to his 16th season as the leader of the Green Bay Packers. Today, he may be having second thoughts.

With the season nearly half gone, the Packers are all but done, even in the lowly NFC North. Green Bay stands a lopsided 1-6 after last Sunday's miserable 21-14 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. It was a loss that came on a day when the Packers' defense played brilliantly and resolutely but could not overcome the five interceptions Favre threw. It has become that kind of season for Favre, the Packers and head coach Mike Sherman.

Sherman has grown so disgruntled that he stormed out of a Wednesday press conference when a cell phone belonging to someone in the media went off after he had asked they be shut off. Later in the day, the Packers announced Favre would not be available for his weekly press conference until the culprit came forward.

If a coach whose team is 1-6 finds his greatest concern to be the media's misuse of its cell phones, he's a guy who's coming unhinged. You may feel it's rude for some reporter or TV cameraman to have his cell phone on at a press conference, but their employers may not. Sherman would be wiser to concentrate on his offense, which has now turned the ball over 16 times in seven games.

Recently, Sherman was the subject of a opinion poll on his future in Green Bay and he did not fair well. This was hardly a news bulletin because when the Packers started 1-4 a year ago, many people in Wisconsin were calling for his firing. In the end he had much of his power over personnel stripped away, but he kept his job. He even got an extension. Now people are wondering why.

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When Sherman was asked if he as concerned about the poll's outcome he said, "Why would I worry about that? I worry about the approval rating of my family.''

Good line but when your offense is ranked 14th in the NFL and your defense 15th yet you've won as many games as the Houston Texans and less than the Cleveland Browns, a good line or a firm stance on cell phone usage won't help you. What will help is finding some way to stop turning the ball over, which brings us back to Favre.

He is one of the greatest quarterbacks of his time, but he's always been a risk taker. When Favre was younger he won most of those gambles, but the last few years he has not. Circumstances certainly aren't in his favor either, especially this season. He has been saddled with a running game that has lost its top two backs Ahman Green and Najeh Davenport and a depleted receiving corps that has a lineup of fourth receivers on the field with reliable Donald Driver mixed in.