Brett Favre

A novelty T-shirt gaining popularity among Green Bay Packers fans features a drawing of Brett Favre's face within an outline of Wisconsin and a tongue-in-cheek message: "We'll never forget you Brent." Now, Minnesota can forget Favre too. The Vikings' quest -- a pursuit of the three-time NFL most valuable player -- ground to a surprising halt Tuesday when Favre informed Coach Brad Childress that he won't be coming out of retirement to play for Minnesota.

Percy Harvin got his wish. After reportedly demanding a trade out of Minnesota over the weekend, Harvin has been dealt to the Seattle Seahawks pending a physical, according to multiple sources. Fox Sports' Jay Glazer was the first to report the deal, which seems to work out for everyone involved. The Vikings are to receive three draft picks from the Seahawks -- a first-round (No. 25 overall) and a seventh-round this year, and a mid-round pick in 2014 -- for a player who had threatened to hold out well into the 2013 season and appeared to have no intention of sticking around once his rookie contract ran out a year from now. The Seahawks add a former Pro Bowler and 2009 offensive rookie of the year to a receiving corps that already includes Sidney Rice and Golden Tate.

The end of the year doesn't mean the end of the line for Brett Favre. The Minnesota Vikings quarterback says anybody who expects him to take another tailspin -- as he did late last season with the New York Jets -- is sorely mistaken. "I don't think I'm falling apart in December like most people seem to think," said Favre, whose team needs to win at Carolina tonight to clinch the NFC North title. "I don't feel much different than most guys in that locker room at this stage of the season.

The NFL presented Jonathan Vilma and his attorney with a sworn statement from former Saints defensive coordinator Gregg Williams saying the linebacker placed a $10,000 bounty on Brett Favre. Vilma met with Commissioner Roger Goodell on Monday in New York about his suspension, which has been temporarily lifted. Attorney Peter Ginsberg said they were given an affidavit at the meeting. "What Gregg Williams said in his most recent affidavit is the same falsity he has previously provided," Ginsberg said.

Hours after throwing three touchdown passes last month to lead the Minnesota Vikings over his old Green Bay Packers, Brett Favre sent a one-word text message to Steve Mariucci, among his favorite onetime assistant coaches: "Flatliners." Instantly, Mariucci picked up on the inside joke. That was a code word the two shared back when Favre was in his early years with the Packers, and Mariucci was an up-and-coming assistant coach. It was a reference to the 1990 movie "Flatliners," and a reminder to the quarterback to maintain an even keel through the craziest times.

The 40-year-old quarterback who has created so much "Favre magic" is headed for a career hat trick. Brett Favre appears to be coming back for a third time since announcing his NFL retirement in 2008. Favre flew to Minnesota on Tuesday aboard a private jet, along with three Vikings teammates dispatched to Hattiesburg, Miss., to plead for his return. A year ago, it was Vikings Coach Brad Childress who chauffeured the quarterback back to team headquarters. This time it was Minnesota kicker Ryan Longwell, Favre's close friend since their days together with Green Bay. Three helicopters from local television stations hovered over Longwell's black BMW SUV on the drive to the facility.

Brett Favre returned to practice for the Minnesota Vikings on Thursday, one day after sitting out to rest his sore right elbow. Favre has been bothered by tendinitis in his throwing elbow and said earlier this week that he would consider sitting out a game or two to rest it if the condition worsens. Favre has started an NFL-record 289 consecutive regular-season games. Center John Sullivan also returned to practice after missing Wednesday with a calf injury. Sullivan did not play against the Jets on Monday night.

Brett Favre's left ankle is still hurting from a hit he absorbed in the NFC championship game three months ago, and the injury weighs into the quarterback's pending decision on whether he will return to the Minnesota Vikings next season. In a statement issued Friday on his website, Favre said his ankle will require surgery if he decides to come back for a 20th season, although he added that the injury "is not debilitating" and he has been through worse over the course of his career.

Breaking down the Dallas-Minnesota matchup in the NFC divisional playoffs: Who's seeded higher? Brett Favre participated in a conference call with Dallas reporters Wednesday, and his theme was clear: The Cowboys are the most dangerous team in the NFL this postseason. Although it's not uncommon for someone to butter up his opponent, reporters who took part in the call say Favre was very convincing. And he should be; the Cowboys have been scorching. "For the outside looking in, if you had to look at both teams, us and the Cowboys, you'd go, OK, aside from the fact the Cowboys are playing at the Vikings, who is the hottest team right now?

For this week and this week only, visitors to Green Bay will not find Minnesota Avenue as it appears on city driving maps. This week, Minnesota Avenue has been renamed Aaron Rodgers Avenue. The temporary renaming of the street is one of four fan-inspired suggestions Green Bay Mayor Jim Schmitt has chosen to help welcome back Brett Favre on Sunday when the Packers play the Minnesota Vikings at Lambeau Field. Schmitt also announced an essay contest asking eighth-graders to come up with the top 12 reasons to stay in Green Bay. Why 12?

Former quarterback Brett Favre's attorneys filed papers Thursday asking a New York court to say he doesn't have to answer some of the more embarrassing claims about his personal life that two massage therapists are making in a lawsuit. The massage therapists say the New York Jets, whom Favre was playing for at the time, blacklisted them after they objected to suggestive messages he allegedly sent. They also asked him to admit or deny he solicited women for sex trysts and sent explicit photos to a former Jets game hostess.

The Indianapolis Colts have called a news conference for 9 a.m. PT Wednesday to announce the release of quarterback Peyton Manning, the centerpiece of their organization for 14 seasons and in many ways the face of the NFL. Both Colts owner Jim Irsay and Manning will participate. It's a sad end to an era for many people, among them John Madden, who told The Times he cannot envision Manning in another uniform. "Some guys deserve a happy ending, and he does," Madden said by phone.

I'll never forget the sight of Brett Favre stumbling down a Superdome hallway, welts on his neck, fog in his eyes, his career essentially ended after a blatant mugging by the New Orleans Saints. "I wonder if I can hold up, especially after a day like today," he said after his Minnesota Vikings were beaten in the NFC championship game two years ago. At the time, we thought we were watching tough football. Turns out, we were witnessing sanctioned evil. I'll never forget the sight, eight days earlier, of Kurt Warner lying flat on his back, motionless and mumbling into space, his career basically cooked after absorbing a furious sucker punch from the Saints' Bobby McCray.

Whoa, Pack, whoa! The team from the NFL's smallest market came up huge Sunday, as the Green Bay Packers clinched their fourth Super Bowl victory with a wire-to-wire 31-25 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers at Cowboys Stadium on Sunday. Powered by the spectacular play of quarterback Aaron Rodgers, who rocketed passes into mailbox-sized openings, the Packers became just the second sixth-seeded team to win it all, joining the 2005 Steelers. Rodgers, once doubted by many as a suitable replacement for legendary Brett Favre, now has as many rings as that future Hall of Famer.

Brett Favre was fined $50,000 by the NFL for a "failure to cooperate" with its investigation into inappropriate messages and lewd photos he allegedly sent to former New York Jets employee Jenn Sterger , a decision her lawyer called extremely disappointing. The league said Wednesday that Commissioner Roger Goodell "could not conclude" that Favre violated the league's personal conduct policy based on the evidence available to him. "The forensic analysis could not establish that Favre sent the objectionable photographs to Sterger," the statement said.

Brett Favre's career isn't quite over yet. Minnesota Vikings interim Coach Leslie Frazier says the team is hoping to have Favre back this season ? and possibly this week. Favre's NFL-record streak of starting 297 consecutive starts ended when a sprained throwing shoulder and numb hand kept him out of Monday's game against the New York Giants. Frazier said Tuesday that an ultrasound on Favre's neck and shoulder showed no nerve damage. He said the 41-year-old quarterback's pain was subsiding and that his recovery was "headed in the right direction.

It was supposed to be too late for Brett Favre. Too late in his career. Too late in the season. Too late to make it work with his head coach. By now, he was supposed to be on a tractor on his farm in Mississippi. Instead, he was helping the Minnesota Vikings plow through the Dallas Cowboys' well-regarded defense in a 34-3 victory Sunday that earned the Vikings the right to meet the New Orleans Saints in the NFC championship game. Favre, 40, threw for four touchdowns and 234 yards, and had a 134.4 passer rating.

It was more than a streak. It was a guarantee. If Brett Favre was on the roster, he would be starting. That ended Monday as the Minnesota quarterback's NFL-record string of 297 consecutive starts spanning 18 years came to an end because of a sprained throwing shoulder. The visual of Favre on the sideline in a black Vikings T-shirt and purple watch cap was just another bizarre sight on the strangest of nights. Because heavy snowfall caused the Metrodome roof to collapse, the Vikings played host to the New York Giants at Ford Field in Detroit, NFC North enemy territory on any other day. The turf was painted to look like a Minnesota home game, complete with colored end zones and a large Vikings midfield logo.

Remember when the NFL was a simpler place, when the big worry was the rest-or-rust debate ? whether the best teams should play hard through the end of the season or save their starters for the playoffs? That was so 2009. Now, no one has the luxury to coast. The Indianapolis Colts certainly don't. Less than a year after flirting with a perfect season, they have lost four of five games and are in serious peril of not reaching the playoffs for the first time in nine years.