Dear Brett

Dear Brett,

Remember that we love you dearly. We hope this kafuffle passes quickly.

As you said when you retired in March, you were having difficulty psyching up for the preparations to play. You were clear that Sundays would be something you could get excited about. And you said you expected to get the urge to return as the season approached. You and Deana talked at length. In March, you knew that to be the player you have been, it would take more than you could give.

You brought the rest of the country along with the pain of having to admit you were no longer able to do the whole job. You knew that on Sundays, you would miss the excitement, the camaraderie, the challenge. We saw the old fire horse raring to go when the bell rang, but whose will might not be counted upon the rest of the time. We wanted the best for you and retirement seemed like it was the best for you and for your family. We cried when you gave us your final word. We hoped you’d find something satisfying to be your new vocation.

Now you are telling us you really wanted to play all along and that you were pressured to retire,

If you were serious about coming back, you as a pro would have been working out very hard for the last two months, not just going over to the high school once in awhile. Think about what the other players have been doing. To do less would be to let them down.

If you were serious about coming back, you and your agent would have done the paperwork to retire to end your contractual ties to the Packers or to seek reinstatement through the commissioner’s office.

I wish it didn’t look this way but blaming the Packer organization for pressuring you, grousing about decisions the Packers made that went against your opinions, and asking for release sound more like sour grapes than a reality-based decision.

Here’s what I wished you’d have done:

1. Come back to Wisconsin for the charity softball game and golf outing.

2. Hung around during the voluntary training activities, working out with the guys.

3. Sat in on meetings with the new quarterbacks.

4. Accepted the role as elder statesman and accepted Aaron Rodgers in the number one role.

5. Asked for reinstatement if you felt at home doing the above.

6. Been willing to accept the possibility that the team might not need you unless there was a catastrophic injury to Aaron and accept returning to whatever status the team could pull you off of quickly in case of emergency.

7. Faced the fact that your iron-man record is ended and that you no longer bear the load of central player.

8. Faced the fact that Randy Moss gamed you into thinking he’d come to Green Bay but was really planning to get as much out of the Patriots as he could.

Here’s what would have happened:

All fans would be glad to have you around again along with the few who can’t get it through their heads that you have gotten older.

You’d have the fellowship of being a part of the team.

Because the life of a quarterback is so tenuous in light of the sophisticated defenses and athletic players, you would be on the field for those times Aaron goes down.

You would still have some moments when you make plays (I’m 73 and I can still shoot baskets and defend players bigger than me . . . though full court play is not possible yet as I recuperate from my latest physical setback!).

But there will be days when you wished you had stayed retired. The cold gets colder as we age (we moved to the south to get away from it!).

And you might find a new role to play as Rob Davis did. You might make the transition from player to coach or administrator over time.

We know you can thrive under coaching as you showed since Mike McCarthy came, even if you found it harder work than you had during the period between Mike Holmgren and McCarthy. Maybe another coach and another team will not push you the way the two Mikes did but you would never play as well, either.

Finally, you’ve told us that your dad insisted that you be a team player. If you want to be around the team and if you are willing to be a role player, good things will happen. But if you forget that, the chances are you will not regain your full potential ever again, no matter how pumped you are right now, no matter where you’d get to play.

We hope you find your way through this that is a credit to you and your family.

Respectfully,

Jerry