FanHouse GusFrerotte

Brett Favre isn't going away. Just accept it, cope, and try to move on. Last week, Yahoo! Sports reported that the ole gunslinger was done. A day later, speculation suggested otherwise.

And now it's like every other offseason: Favre doesn't know what his NFL future holds, we'll spend months talking about it, and, ultimately, he'll return for one more season. Good times.

We're a month into the Broncos-Cutler standoff, and here's what we know: Jay Cutler is a sensitive sort, and new head coach Josh McDaniels might be in over his head, at least when it comes to dealing with moody Pro Bowl quarterbacks. Yet through it all, public opinion seems to be firmly behind the organization.

I have no idea how this turns out, and at this point, I don't care; I just want it to end so we can get back to the important stuff: Terrell Owens, Michael Vick and Brett Favre's impending return to the sport he loves so much. But before moving on, I just want to point out that Jeff George, perpetually on the comeback trail, has weighed in on the situation and, shockingly, supports Cutler:

Tarvaris Jackson can't even catch a break during the offseason when he's seven months away from the nearest interception. The Vikings sometimes-starting quarterback has struggled with consistency during his three-year career, which explains why he's had to share the gig with Gus Frerotte, and why the team recently traded for Sage Rosenfels.

But according to a reader email ESPN.com's Kevin Seifert posted on his blog, T.J. Houshmandzadeh, who was seriously considering signing with the Vikings, decided against it after meeting T-Jack.

The Vikings are making noise that they would be happy to go into the 2009 season with Tarvaris Jackson and Gus Frerotte as the team's top two options at quarterback, which means Brad Childress likes to juggle hand grenades with the pins pulled.

Even after Jackson fell apart in a playoff loss to the Eagles, Childress is ready to give his long-term project another chance to lead the team for a third straight year. Considering that Donovan McNabb seems likely to stay in Philadelphia and Brett Farve seems to really mean it (this time) when he says he's retiring, maybe the Vikings don't like the other remaining options: Jeff Garcia hasn't stayed healthy for a full season in six years, Matt Cassell's trade price may be too expensive and Kerry Collins may not be more than a caretaker for a great running game.

But there is another alternative.

Depending on who you ask, Matt Cassel is either a franchise quarterback or just a guy who benefited greatly from playing with Randy Moss and Wes Welker. It's sort of an important question for teams in need of a quarterback, particularly given how much it's going to cost to acquire Cassel.

NFL Films Greg Cosell writes that Cassel is best when the offense is built around his strengths, while ESPN's Mel Kiper declares that he'd take Cassel over Aaron Rodgers or Jay Cutler.

After a surprisingly successful 2008 season -- one in which he amassed an 8-3 record -- Gus Frerotte, 37 years young, thinks he deserves a shot at the Vikings' starting quarterback gig.

Maybe he has, particularly if you assume Tarvaris Jackson won't improve and he's the only other viable option on the roster come training camp. I don't expect either to be the case. Not only that, but just because Minnesota won eight of 11 with Frerotte under center doesn't mean a whole lot out of context. Via Pacifist Viking:

In an announcement that is pretty much only confirming the obvious, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers have decided to officially part ways with quarterback Jeff Garcia. The 39-year-old started 12 games for Tampa in 2008 and completed nearly 65 percent of his passes for a Buccaneers team that finished a disappointing 9-7.

After Luke McCown was re-signed to a two-year contract extension earlier in the offseason, it was a pretty good indication that Garcia's time in Tampa Bay was coming to an end.

Former University of Tennessee star and Redskins first-round draft bust Heath Shuler might now be a Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives, but that doesn't mean he's regurgitating the party's talking points just because Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid think he should.

In fact, he's pretty upset with the stimulus package (Shuler was one of a few Dems to oppose the plan) and happily points the finger at Democratic leaders on the Hill, telling the AP: "In order for us to get the confidence of America, [the stimulus bill] has to be done in a bipartisan way ... I truly feel that's where maybe House leadership and Senate leadership have really failed."

The Minnesota Vikings have a huge decision to make this offseason. Should they beg veteran Gus Frerotte to come back? Is it time to sink or swim with Tarvaris Jackson (though I think they already did this)? Do they find another veteran, perhaps one who wants to throw interceptions to the Packers twice before he figures out that it's time to retire?

Complicating matters is Jackson's tendency to play well in spurts and randomly implode, while Frerotte did manage to win games despite a large number of interceptions. As he gets ready for his fourth year, Jackson is willing to try some unorthodox measures to improve.

If you keep up with sports media, and by "keep up" I mean read anything, you have heard the claims over the last two days that the Vikings would have won their playoff game against Philadelphia with anyone behind center not named Tarvaris Jackson.

Jackson went 15-35 for only 164 yards, no touchdowns and one interception, which was so badly thrown it almost looked like he thought Asante Samuel was a wide receiver. The Eagles won and the Vikings are headed to a long off-season and it appears nobody in Minnesota can smile.

Now even backup quarterback Gus Frerotte, who played in 11 games this season and would have continued to start had he not hurt his back against the Lions in Week 14, is complaining about what happened, saying he may have been the answer.

"I just don't know what to think right now," Frerotte told Michael Silver of Yahoo! Sports. "It was a very frustrating experience, because I felt like I should've been the one playing. That might sound selfish, but I think I would've given us the best chance to win. I'm going home to St. Louis [on Monday] to be with my family and figure out where things stand, but the way things played out at the end really makes me question things."