From KFAN.com

With the fanfare and chaos that ensued earlier in the week, it was almost impossible for Friday night to live up to the excitement. And, unfortunately, Favre’s preseason Viking debut was nothing short of anti-climactic.

The night began with Favre coming out of the tunnel for pregame warm-ups to a huge ovation. We’ve seen the Photoshop jobs of this future Hall of Famer clad in purple, but seeing him throwing passes in an actual Vikings jersey for the first time was like being stuck in some surreal, abstract dream.

Even the pre-game introductions fell short of expectations. Rather than introducing the offense – and Brett Favre – the organization chose to have the entire team run out of the tunnel together. The crowd still went nuts when Favre came into sight, but the team missed a golden opportunity for an historic ovation.

That historic ovation eventually took place after the Chiefs turned the ball over near midfield on the game’s opening possession. Favre trotted out to the huddle to a deafening roar accompanied by a flurry of flashbulbs.

After a 4-yard handoff to Adrian Peterson on the drive’s first play, Favre dropped back for his first pass attempt – a short, dump-off over the middle to FB Naufahu Tahi, which, if you poll fans, is possibly the most maligned play in Brad Childress’ playbook. Tahi was screened by an official, and the pass fell incomplete.

On third down, Favre fired a 5-yard bullet to Percy Harvin, who made his first catch as a professional. Instead of punting on 4th-and-1 from midfield, Childress elected to go for it, possibly feeding off the energy from these frothing Favre fans, but Peterson was stuffed behind the line of scrimmage.

The second drive didn’t turn out much better. Peterson ran for six yards on first down, and Favre fired an incomplete missile that whizzed by the ear of Jaymar Johnson on second down. After Visanthe Shiancoe jumped early to make it 3rd-and-9, the Chiefs sent their entire roster on a blitz, and Favre threw incomplete over the middle after being drilled in the ribs.

The final stats: 1-for-4, 4 yards, 0 turnovers, 0 touchdowns, 0 first downs.

After the game, Favre sounded like a man who was just happy to have this first game under his belt.

“Today, sitting in the meetings in the hotel… all of the sudden I started having butterflies,” Favre said. “I’m like, ‘Man I haven’t felt this in a long time,’ which was probably the oddest thing today.

“I didn’t expect much today. [I] practiced two and a half days. I just didn’t want to fumble a snap. I wanted to make sure I got the handoffs, and if you complete passes, great. But I was nervous about that.”

The Vikings wound up beating the Chiefs 17-13, thanks to a fantastic goal line stand by 2nd and 3rd string defenders. When Favre left the game, the Vikings trailed 3-0. But even though Favre has a strong command of the playbook, the fact that he only practiced 2 ½ days with his new teammates made it almost impossible for him to be on the same page as everybody, thus the miscues to Johnson and Harvin.

The important things Viking fans can take from Favre’s debut on Friday night:

1.) His presence in Purple is indeed a reality.

2.) He didn’t hurt himself.

The Vikings have a long week of practice, starting early next week, before a Monday night game at Houston on August 31st. By then, the butterflies will likely have floated away, and Favre will have had more time to gel with his offense.

Jackson’s Redemption?

Tarvaris Jackson’s miserable performance against the Indianapolis Colts in last Friday’s first preseason game may or may not have contributed to the signing of Brett Favre (we may never know), but Brad Childress lived up to his end of the bargain this week, allowing Jackson to take reps with the first team offense.

Jackson relieved Favre late in the first quarter to a chorus of boos, although fans may have simply been voicing their displeasure with Childress not sending Number Four back out. Jackson didn’t exactly help his cause on the second play when he, for whatever reason, fired a pass to Jaymar Johnson while running five yards beyond the line of scrimmage. This was just one play after he awkwardly scrambled and pump-faked before lobbing a ball toward Sidney Rice down the right sideline.

But Jackson made up for his shaky start by finding a groove in the second quarter. With the Vikings stuck inside their own 5-yardline, he 4th-year quarterback strung together multiple completions and eventually scrambled right to find TE Visanthe Shiancoe on a 13-yard touchdown pass to cut the Chiefs’ lead to 10-7.

“The first team, those guys have more continuity, and they’ve been through it before,” Jackson said. “I’ve been there with those guys before, and it was nothing new.”

It appeared Jackson’s night was complete after a 9-for-11 first half, but rather than sending John David Booty out to play the entire second half, Childress gave his former “project” a few more snaps in the third quarter.

Jackson responded by hitting WR Darius Reynaud up the seam for a 64-yard touchdown strike.

“He played extremely well, as expected,” said Bobby Wade. “We all have a lot of confidence in him, regardless of the situation. He’s a guy who’s going to be able to stand up for this team and win a lot of games if need be, and he really showed that today.”

Jackson ended up completing 12-of-15 passes for 202 yards and two touchdowns, and he seemed to gain confidence as the game progressed.

“I would hate to say that, ‘OK, I’ve got it in my head I’m going to be the backup,’” Jackson said. “I’d be cheating myself if I settled for being the backup. So I’m just trying to go out here and get better and try to improve myself.”

In reality, Jackson knows full-well that he is battling for the backup job. He has been given plenty of chances over the past three years to take full control of this offense, and he could never climb over the hump.

He deserves credit for a solid preseason performance, but be careful putting any stock into it. This is the preseason, and many of the players the Chiefs had on defense in the 2nd and 3rd quarters will likely be looking for other employment opportunities within three weeks.

And really, hasn’t this been the knock on Jackson all along? Inconsistency? Bad against the Colts last week, fantastic against the Chiefs this week. Bad at the start of last year, good when called in from the bullpen. Good against Arizona, bad against Philadelphia in the playoffs.

If nothing else, Jackson may have helped increase his stock and trade value after Friday night’s performance.

News and Notes

- Favre provided some interesting insight on his final snap of the night. Facing 3rd-and-long, Favre dropped back to pass only to see an all-out blitz by Kansas City. The Vikings called a double post, which Favre said is a decent call when a defense sends the farm, but he threw incomplete over the middle to Harvin.

“I thought Percy would go inside the safety, and he actually stuck the guy and went around the top, which is what he had been coached to do,” Favre said. “I didn’t know that. So that’s where I need to catch up.”

Knowing the system is one thing, but knowing the hot routes and wrinkles takes time.

Favre also took a pretty big hit to the ribs on that same play. When asked if he and Childress talked about playing a third series, Favre smiled and said, “After that hit, I thought maybe I’d wait until next week.”

- What about the arm? And the rest of Favre’s body?

“My arm’s not in game shape. It’s hard to simulate. I’ve been throwing, but not dropping back and rolling out, and doing things like that. I feel real good about where my arm is right now. Not that I wanted to get hit, but there’s only one way to get your body physically in condition, and that is to get out and fall, get banged around, get elbowed whatever. Helmet in the chest. But I’ve always felt I could handle that side of it. Not that I won’t be sore tomorrow.”

- Some other comments from teammates regarding Number Four:

“It’s what you’d expect it to be,” said Steve Hutchinson when asked about Favre’s presence in the huddle. “[He's] a veteran quarterback that’s seen it all, knows how to handle every situation.”

“It’s special,” said Adrian Peterson, regarding playing with his new QB. “I’ve been watching the guy since I was in elementary school. To be able to be on the same team with him and for him to bring that passion that he plays with, he’s just a good guy, a funny guy. He’s a good teammate.”

“Really poised, a lot of confidence, really focused,” said Bobby Wade, “and gives you an opportunity to want to play hard.”

- Jared Allen, Pat Williams, Sage Rosenfels, Marcus McCauley and Jim Kleinsasser all sat out with various injuries. All of the above except for Kleinsasser are expected to play next week.