Now that Holmgren is in, can Favre be far behind?

He has been gone for 12 years, yet his shadow still looms large.

He spent just seven years here, yet it seemed to be so much longer.

Mike Holmgren will be inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame this summer, an honor that is long overdue. And while most of us understand how and why he left, his departure still leaves some fans with an empty feeling and a lot of "what ifs" left to be answered.

What if he had stayed in Green Bay? Would the Ray Rhodes 8-8 debacle have ever happened? Would he have gotten the control he so desperately thirsted for if he had just waited two more years for Ron Wolf to retire? Could he have prevented the debacle that was Mike Sherman – the general manager?

Of course we will never know, for Holmgren left us in 1999 for Seattle. After almost two years of speculation, three NFC Championship Game appearances, a pair of Super Bowl runs, and one glorious championship, he was gone just like that.

His reason for leaving was simple: he wanted total control. The same story line that played out for their opponents when the Packers arrived at Super Bowl XXXI, ironically drove their own coach to the Pacific Northwest shortly after Steve Young found Terrell Owens in a small seam inside the 3com Park South end zone in between defenders Pat Terrell (in what would be his final play as a NFL player after nine years), Brian Williams, and Darren Sharper.

As the local media covered the story of the Packers that week in New Orleans, the national media had a different agenda. Bill Parcells famously said, "You cook the dinner; at least they ought to let you shop for some of the groceries," and thus he was gone after the Patriots loss to the Packers. What we did not know at the time, however, was that like Parcells, Holmgren also wanted to run his own show.

Problem was, Ron Wolf still was going to be in charge for many years to come. Or so we all thought.

As Holmgren left for Emerald City pastures, Wolf was, unbeknownst to anyone else, planning to retire. Just one year into his stint as Packers head coach (and just two years removed from being the Packers tight ends coach), Mike Sherman was running the entire operation.

As a head coach, Sherman was quite competent. However, as a general manager, he was less prepared than a Kardashian without a trust fund trying to get a real job.

Would Holmgren have done a better job?

Perhaps, perhaps not. Don't forget, the Seahawks brought in Ted Thompson himself to bail Holmgren out of his personnel duties in 2000, and the Cleveland Browns haven't exactly turned things around in the two years since he has headed up that organization as its president.

But Mike Holmgren was part of the renaissance of the Green Bay Packers. Remember, before Ron Wolf arrived, the Packers could only be described as moribund. It had been 20 years since they had won their division; it had been 25 since they had been to the Super Bowl. The 1970s and 1980s were marred by malaise and mediocrity.

Holmgren was the hot-commodity assistant that would have been scooped up by someone else if not for the efforts of Wolf. When Holmgren was given a young, raw, bend-the-rules-with-a-grin-and-an-aw-shucks kid from Kiln, Miss., most of the pieces were in place.

With the development of Brett Favre came the willingness of Reggie White to break the perception barriers of Green Bay. As Favre developed into a three-time MVP, it was Holmgren that tutored and mentored him and acted as a surrogate father when Irv wasn't around.

So Mike Holmgren finally gets his due among the Packers greats. Hopefully, this is a harbinger of things to come for his top protégé. Because remember, it was Holmgren, the beloved father-figure teddy bear of a control-freak coach that got into a shouting match with a Packers fan at the end of a game when the fan had (rightfully) accused his team's leader of defecting to Seattle.

But here is the disconnect. Whenever Mike Holmgren returned to Green Bay, he was treated as a conquering hero that had come home. After all, Titletown had even re-named a street in his honor. Sure, he left of his own free will because he wanted more control, but he was, after all, one of us. He was the coach that had resurrected the Packers from the doldrums.

If you think hard about it, Holmgren's situation isn't all that different from Favre's.

With both, the Packers were not willing to give either one what they had desired. For Holmgren, it was complete control. For Favre, it was the ability to skip training camp and make up his own mind when he wanted to play.

So the Packers, well within their rights, allowed ties to be cut with both of their legendary heroes. After all, no one individual is bigger than the team. That has been the case with every organization and every individual since team sports began. Sure, stars (and for that matter, star coaches) are treated differently, because they are different. No matter how much he may publicly protest against it, Aaron Rodgers today is more important to the Green Bay Packers than Vic So'oto.

But if Aaron Rodgers demanded to exit the premises, the Green Bay Packers would still exist.

Someday, the coach and player that made this team relevant will be reunited in both Canton and the basement museum of Lambeau Field. The difference is that Favre has spent his departing years doing things that Holmgren never did – namely dumping on the franchise in where he made his name at every turn. For that, Favre should be ashamed of himself. Should he be punished for that? Perhaps. Should it be a life sentence? No way.

As much as fans don't want to admit it, Brett Favre will always be a critical part of the story of the Green Bay Packers. He should have his place of honor once he just shuts his mouth once and for all.

After all, if Mike Holmgren can get redemption, so can his ingénue.

Oh, I almost forgot. Don't forget one other "what if?"

If Mike Holmgren had never left; Ray Rhodes never would have been hired as head coach. If Rhodes had never been hired as head coach, he never would have had the chance to bring in some young quarterbacks coach from Pittsburgh named McCarthy, who got to know another fast-rising executive named Ted Thompson, who then was director of player personnel.

Sometimes football is a funny game. Why some things work out and others don't are only questions the Gods of the game can answer.