Favre and Namath know about self-inflicted pressure …

I’ll say one thing for Brett Favre: I can’t recall another professional athlete in my lifetime putting himself into a bigger pressure cooker situation and then still managing to deliver the goods in a fashion that makes it difficult even for his most aggrieved detractors to find something to complain about.

I gotta admit, I hadn’t figured he’d be able to adapt so quickly to a new team, though it naturally helped that he is so familiar with the Vikings’ offensive scheme.

I was also surprised that the game itself managed to virtually live up to all of its hype, which was about as pronounced and protracted as I can recall for a regular-season NFL game. It crossed my mind that it might end up like a Super Bowl where the expectations often prove impossibly grandiose, but this was a really exciting football game from start to finish.

I suppose one of the few people who might understand the kind of self-inflicted pressure that Favre faced would be Broadway Joe Namath, he of brash prediction of a New York Jets victory in Super Bowl III over the heavily favored Colts.

Of course, all of this means that a certain Nov. 1 rematch at Lambeau Field. I took a flyer and offered a prediction on last nights game, but I think I’ll wait a few weeks before offering an prognostications about that one.

Heck, we may even be thoroughly fed up with the hype by the time that contest actually rolls around.