By Matt Waldman, TheSportsHatch.com writer

Going into last Sunday's Vikings-Saints NFC Championship game, if there was one thing you could say about 40 year-old Brett Favre is that he's tough. In the third quarter he proved it to be true again and again.

Favre faced a pressure defense that brought an intense pass rush and a hunger to inflict bodily harm on the quarterback. The Saints defense did just that to the extent that more than once Brett was harassed, hit, and repeatedly knocked down. On one occasion, he was lifted up and driven hard to the turf. But Favre continued to get up, dust himself off and compete.

And to his credit it almost worked. But for the third time in three years (with three different teams) his last throw of the season was an interception. This time it sent the New Orleans Saints to the Superbowl to face Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts.

It's true that Favre let his teammates down with that interception. But it was also his teammates and coaches who let him down with fumbles, untimely penalties and bad play calling. So now we go into an offseason of "will he or won't he retire." But to quote Michael Holley from the Dale and Holley show on sports radio 850 WEEI. “They will have to peel the football from Brett Favre's cold dead hands to get him off the field”. I for one believe that to be true.