From KFAN.com

One of the main questions lingering, both before and after the Brett Favre signing, is whether or not the Vikings locker room has suffered a divide. Are some players ticked off about this addition? And what will it take to make sure everybody is on the same page come week one?

Well, during halftime of Monday night’s preseason game between the New York Jets and Baltimore Ravens, ESPN’s Adam Schefter said there are players in the Vikings locker room who still aren’t 100% on board with the decision to bring Brett Favre in. These players are “TJack Backers,” if you will.

This is a storyline that simply won’t go away until the Vikings start winning games with Favre at the helm.

Jackson played out of his mind against the Chiefs last Friday (12-of-15, 202 yards, 2 TDs), and Favre came out looking like a rusted statue. Because of this (whether valid or not), TJack Backers both inside and outside the Vikings locker room have a few rounds of ammo. For now.

But ponder these points:

1.) A large chunk of Jackson’s performance on Friday night came against the Chiefs’ second-team defense. The entire chunk of Jackson’s performance on Friday night came in the preseason (i.e. no pressure).

2.) Jackson has been given numerous chances to grab the starting job by the proverbial horns, but here we are in Jackson’s 4th year, still wondering if he’s capable of holding up when the pressure mounts. And, believe it or not, preseason games do not provide enough pressure…

3.) There are literally 80 players in the Vikings locker room right now, and 53 will remain when the season starts. How often, in any given scenario, do 53 people see eye-to-eye on the same issue? How often do 53 people nod their heads in agreement? Of course some of the players will be skeptical of Favre. He’s only been in town for a week. But if and when Favre begins to integrate and mesh with this offense, the Vikings will score points, win games, and any semblance of drama or ill feelings will drift away.

The main point? Even though Jackson showed signs of life down the stretch last year, and even though he tallied a perfect QB rating in Friday night’s preseason game, his credentials simply aren’t anywhere near the radar in a conversation that includes Favre.

Regardless, is it such a big deal that a few players may still be stuck in “wait-and-see” mode? Last week, it sounded like Favre had a feeling he may have to slowly work his way in.

“Even though I have played for a long time and have been around, played against a lot of guys with a lot of coaches, you still have to earn respect from this team,” Favre said at his introductory press conference last week. “What you have done in the past is great, but it means nothing here. I like to play and carry myself a certain way. I feel like you don’t do that the first day, second day; I don’t know when that happens. You pick your spots. You earn respect with these guys and that is what I intend to do.”

After practice on Tuesday, key figures in the Vikings locker room also chimed in on locker room gelling.

“You can already see Brett being comfortable with the guys in our locker room,” said WR Bobby Wade, who for the last two years has also preached about how Jackson is and will be a solid NFL quarterback. “Now, as far as the learning in the classroom and things like that, that’s much different from building a camaraderie in the locker room. But that’ll all play itself out as the more opportunities you get a chance to actually play in a live game, and I think that’s what builds real camaraderie on a football team.”

When asked if he senses that camaraderie building between Favre and teammates after one week, Wade said, “Absolutely.”

CB Antoine Winfield echoed similar thoughts, basically saying the Vikings have too many experienced players to allow any drama-filled distractions to creep in.

“Brett’s been in this league a long time,” Winfield said. “We have a very solid locker room. A lot of core players a lot of veteran players. We all enjoy each other. We’ll be here every day it seems like for the next six months, so we’ll all get to know each other.”

Former NFL head coach and current NFL Network analyst Steve Mariucci visited Winter Park last week, and he spent 15 minutes talking with reporters. “Mooch” was Favre’s quarterback coach for a chunk of the mid-90′s, and he had a logical explanation regarding rumblings of malcontent in the Jets locker room at the end of last season.

“Let’s be real here. Brett Favre has a daughter that’s the same age as the rookies and some of those young guys that come out early,” Mariucci said. “He’s just simply not going to hang out with guys that age after practice or at night. When practice is over and his meetings are over — he studies film as much as anybody if not more — he goes home because he has a wife and he has a daughter at home. His oldest daughter is graduated from college.

“He’s not going to be one of the guys like he used to be as a younger guy. This is a different generation. As far as being a teammate in practice, in meetings, in the games, during the time at the facility, he’s terrific. He may choose now to be a little distant at times because of his age and his other responsibilities, which I hope is understandable with everybody.”

Not to mention, if the Jets hadn’t melted down in the final six weeks of the season (much of which had to do with Favre’s biceps), would the rumblings and grumblings have gone public? If the Jets had finished the season 11-5 and earned a playoff berth, would players have griped to the media?

It’s all relative. Wins cure almost everything in the NFL. If Favre leads the Vikings to victories, his teammates will love him. If not, he’s an obvious scapegoat. That’s now the NFL works.

Until Antoine Winfield, Steve Hutchinson, Ben Leber, Jared Allen, E.J. Henderson, Pat Williams, and some of the other veterans speak negatively about Favre – an unlikely occurrence – let’s put the locker room divide talk to bed.

Practice Notes

- Bernard Berrian (hamstring) and Jim Kleinsasser (hand) stood on the sidelines, but did not participate much in practice. Sage Rosenfels (ankle) and Jared Allen (ankle) did return to practice, and both are expected to play on Monday night.

When asked about his status for Monday, Berrian said, “If I can go, I’m going.”

- TE Visanthe Shiancoe and WR Sidney Rice stayed 30 minutes after practice to work on pass-catching drills. One of the drills involved a trainer firing passes as hard as he could from 10 yards away. Preparing for Favre.

- Speaking of Favre, he stayed after practice talking with offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell and goofing around with a few teammates. Favre also did extra conditioning after practice.

- Sage Rosenfels isn’t sure if or how often he’ll play on Monday, but he’s looking forward to returning to Houston to face his former mates.

“It’s going to be neat. We had a great group of guys on offense. We really jelled and got along great together. I think that was a lot of the reason we had pretty good success offensively there. It’s going to be different being on the other sideline. I spent three great years of my life working and fighting with those guys.”