I’ll be the first one to say Favre’s decision not to play for the purple warriors stunned me. Not that I was going to start betting heavily on the Vikings one way or another this year, but in some key matchups against the NFC and beyond, this will certainly have wide implications on a week-to-week gambling basis.

Who fills his shoes? Where does this leave the Vikings? Do they have to tear up their plans and start fresh so close to the start of the NFL season? How can any gambler take a change on a team so in flux? These are all good questions, and it’s our job to sift through the reports and get down to the heart of what shape this team will take when Week 1 rolls around.

Yes, the Vikings are still talented and boast perhaps the most explosive back in the league right now in Adrian Peterson, and yes, they were NFC North champs last year, and could still return to the playoffs even in an improved division, but what about the spot Favre didn’t fill? Are you really going to put money on a team led by Tavaris Jackson or Sage Rosenfels? They’ve both shown brief flashes of football betting dominance and leadership, but not enough to carry a playoff-hungry team on their back. So Minnesota very well may look to make a move still, but for the time being these are their options.

And neither options is that appealing to the team. Understandably, both players have been irritated with the whole Favre situation, so there’s that stigma going into the pre-season. And the frustration wasn’t just against the ownership. Peterson and others were openly lobbying for Favre to come. Everybody knows business is business, but still, it’ll take a few weeks to shake away the memories there.

The bottom football line is teams will not respect either QB, and it’s going to make things harder for Peterson to get going with huge games now. There’ll be more incompletes and short-yardage runs than there were last year, and it ultimately could put the Vikings in a hole early in the season. Unless the spread is a no-brainer, I wouldn’t take a chance on these guys to win. To lose is another story, though. Who knows, maybe Jackson will surprise us and the Vikings won’t miss a beat, but betting enthusiasts are wisely and collectively looking elsewhere now that big Brett isn’t in the picture.