Brett Favre isn’t your ordinary 40-year-old football legend. What he is is the NFL MVP-in-waiting. Long before Sunday’s game against Seattle, there was little doubt that he’d dramatically changed the Vikings. After Sunday’s game, lifetime Vikings fans like myself can only shake our heads in amazement at the high level he’s playing at.

After starting slowly in the first quarter, Favre the maestro orchestrator took control of the game. Once he got things rolling, Seattle was toast and Favre was the toast of his new hometown. Going 22-for-25 for 213 yards will do that for a legend’s image. That he had more TD passes than incompletions, 4 TDs to 4 different receivers vs. 3 incompletions, says just how accurate Mr. Favre is.

Last year at this time, Favre still had the ‘zip on his fastball’ just like this year. The difference is that Favre’s significantly more accurate this year than last, thanks to offseason surgery by Dr. James Andrews.

Sunday’s performance was Favre’s personal best in terms of completion percentage. His 88% completion percentage is also a Vikings franchise record.

What’s making the Vikings a dominant team is the number of weapons they have. It also starts with Favre as triggerman & maestro. Favre’s job is made easier because he can hand the ball off to Adrian Peterson and Chester Taylor or throw it to Sidney Rice, Percy Harvin, Visanthe Shiancoe and Bernard Berrian. It doesn’t take Sherlock Holmes to figure out that Mssrs. Rice & Harvin are future superstars. Larry Holmes could figure that out.

The last 3 seasons, the Vikings offensive line was decent but they suffered from Ryan Cook’s troubles at right tackle. After last season, they were left with a gaping hole at center when Matt Birk signed with Baltimore. John Sullivan has taken over for Birk & rookie Phil Laodholt has shown signs of being a budding star in this league.

Though they aren’t the best in the league at protecting their QB, they’ve kept Favre upright most of the time, especially when the game moves into the 4th quarter. When Favre was in the Pack, their offensive line was pretty good alot of the years but they didn’t have the weapons that this Vikings team has. As good as some of those Paker teams were, they weren’t as explosive or as balanced as this Vikings team.

That’s why longtime Vikings fans think of this team as the 1998 Vikings team that set the NFL season scoring record. With Favre at QB, they’ve become a pick your poison type of team. Shut down Adrian? Fine. He’ll kill you with Sidney & Percy. Doubling Sidney & Percy, are ya? Fine, he’ll kill you with Adrian running & Visanthe Shiancoe running free between the hashmarks.

Indianapolis and the Saints both have perfect 10-0 records. They’ve earned the top rankings in the various power ranking polls. They are elite teams, especially until they’re beaten. The Vikings are the other elite team in the NFL this year.

If Favre keeps playing like this, it’ll be fun watching in January.

Technorati: Brett Favre, QB Ratings, Percy Harvin, Sidney Rice, Adrian Peterson, Vikings, Indianapolis, Saints, Playoffs, Power Rankings