A vision in burgundy

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By David Elfin

Brett Favre wants to end his four-month retirement. The Green Bay Packers, who handed the starting job to three-year quarterback-in-waiting Aaron Rodgers in March, have told the NFL's all-time leading passer he can return but only as a backup.

In response, Packers fans are demanding No. 4's return to the No. 1 job.

How to resolve this mess surrounding the NFL's only publicly owned franchise and its longtime icon?

How about a trade to a team that has gone eight seasons without a Pro Bowl quarterback, has an inexperienced starter who grew up idolizing his fellow Mississippian and has an owner with an expansive checkbook?

Yes, the Washington Redskins. Envisioning Brett in burgundy yet?

Redskins owner Dan Snyder just might be, though NFL sources believe it is highly unlikely to happen.

While Washington traded up to draft quarterback Jason Campbell in 2005, his 20 starts so far have produced solid but not scintillating results: 22 touchdowns, 17 interceptions, a 77.3 rating and an 8-12 record. In fact, the Redskins went 3-0 last year with 36-year-old Todd Collins starting in placed of the injured Campbell.

Joe Gibbs, the coach who was building the offense around Campbell, is gone. New coach Jim Zorn is reshaping the 26-year-old's game as he teaches him a new offense. Ah yes, the West Coast offense, a system Zorn learned from one of its masters, Seattle coach Mike Holmgren, who taught the scheme to Favre as Packers coach from 1992 to 1998.

Favre is less than three months from his 39th birthday, but the NFL's career leader in touchdowns, passing yards and completions was better in 2007 than he had been since his three-year MVP run from 1995 to 1997. Last season, Favre posted 28 touchdowns, 15 interceptions, 4,155 yards and a 95.7 rating while leading the surprising Packers to a 13-3 record and a berth in the NFC Championship game.

The Redskins haven't advanced that far since 1991, when Favre was a rookie backup for the Atlanta Falcons and Campbell was a 9-year-old in Taylorsville, Miss., about two hours north of Favre's hometown of Kiln. In the 16 seasons since, while Favre started a record 275 consecutive games (including playoffs), the Redskins have started 17 quarterbacks. That list includes Jeff George, whom Snyder forced on coach Norv Turner in 2000 even though Brad Johnson had led the Redskins to the 1999 NFC East title.