Disbelief made the purple turn pale.

Brett Favre could be a Minnesota Viking. Brett Favre? The face of the Packers for years? The man who bedeviled my team for game after game while wearing the green and gold?

The next thing you know, we'll discover that George Washington would have approved a trade to the Redcoats. Tarzan will swing out of the lush African jungle in favor of a condo in Tucson. Eric Clapton might smash his guitar and play the oboe at the next concert.

OK, none of that is likely to happen. And Favre probably won't tug on a purple Vikings jersey and hand the ball to Adrian Peterson this season, relationship with Minnesota offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell notwithstanding.

Just the discussion, just the notion that Favre might come out of retirement to play in Minnesota seemed insane a few weeks ago. Then again, the Viking subplot, complete with tampering charges filed by Green Bay, made the situation grayer than the old Packer quarterback's beard.

Who's right? Is Favre being selfish? Did Packer general manager Ted Thompson and head coach Mike McCarthy mislead the quarterback and the public? Did the Vikes really try to exploit the Favre-Bevell friendship and lure him back to the playing field?

Finally, if the improbable happens and the Vikings land him, could Favre deliver? Could he match 2007, when he led Green Bay to the NFC championship game? Or might he suddenly and permanently become an old quarterback, prone to injury and mediocrity at 38?

The answers, my friend, are blowing in the Lambeau Field wind.

Meanwhile, football fans are re-learning another lesson of the game. Retirement for a star athlete can be a difficult proposition.

At an age when most working people are entering their prime, a quarterback like Favre faces abandoning his life's work. He's mastered a difficult position, survived ups and downs and savored the applause time after time.

Finding a new world to conquer may not be easy. Some of the NFL's best suffered through a difficult end game.

Johnny Unitas spent part of an ugly 1973 in San Diego before leaving. Dan Marino and Jimmy Johnson didn't look like drinking buddies in Miami before Marino departed. Late in his career, Joe Montana was traded by San Francisco after he helped the 49ers win four Super Bowls.

Favre may face an unhappy ending. Or he might sneak in another season or two and scramble into the sunset. Or maybe he simply stays right where he is - retired.

Viking fans and others who don't follow the Packers will watch Favre and ask ourselves one question:

When on God's green earth is this going to end?

It's not true, of course, but it seems like Favre first talked about retirement with Vince Lombardi. It's a myth that he used Morse Code to communicate with Ted Thompson.

Nonetheless, Favre's road to the easy chair has been a long one. And it may be merely a warm-up act for all the ESPN and CBS and FOX analysts. After all, in a few years, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady are in line to face the same questions. Talk will never be cheaper.

It's enough to make a fan of the purple turn pale.

Contact Jim Sullivan at (319) 291-1434 or jim.sullivan@wcfcourier.com