Twice-retired Brett Favre is one victory from leading Minnesota to a Super Bowl at age 41, while the team he played for last season, the New York Jets, were shock playoff winners as well.
Favre threw four touchdown passes, three to Sidney Rice, to lead the Vikings in a 34-3 rout of Dallas on Sunday, while the Jets scored two touchdowns in the last quarter to edge San Diego 17-14 and end the Charger’s 11-game winning streak.
The Vikings, who have not reached the Super Bowl since 1977, will visit the New Orleans Saints, who have never reached the NFL championship spectacle, next Sunday to decide which team will play in Super Bowl 44 at Miami on Feb. 7.
PHOTOS: AFP
NFL all-time passing leader Favre, who guided Green Bay to a 1997 Super Bowl crown before retiring, made a comeback last season with the Jets, but missed the playoffs and retired again, only to return this season with Minnesota.
“It has been wonderful,” Favre said. “Just to be in this position, after all the stuff that took place, it’s a wonderful moment. It’s everything I wanted it to be. And we’re not done yet.”
Favre had never beaten the Cowboys in the playoffs or thrown four playoff touchdowns in a game, but he did both in inflicting the second-worst defeat in Cowboys history.
“This moment is really special regardless of age,” Favre said. “It has been a lot of fun.”
The Jets, whose only Super Bowl trip was a 1969 triumph nine months before Favre was born, will play for the other Super Bowl 44 berth next Sunday at Indianapolis, where the Jets won 29-15 three weeks ago to hand the Colts their first defeat after a 14-0 start.
“It’s the matchup nobody wanted but too bad, here we come,” Jets coach Rex Ryan said. “Here we are. We don’t have to apologize to anybody. It’s just throw it down football and play great defense and here we are.”
Indianapolis took criticism for worrying more about injuries than a perfect season and benching several starters, including star Peyton Manning, late in the game because a first-round playoff bye and a home-field edge was assured.
“I don’t know if Santa Claus is going to be that good to me again, but I would be glad to see Peyton Manning not play this week,” Ryan said.
Philip Rivers flipped a 13-yard touchdown pass to Kris Wilson 2:43 into the second quarter to give Chargers a 7-0 half-time lead.
But the Jets, with the NFL’s best defense and top rushing attack, answered on Jay Feely’s 46-yard field goal and took the lead for good on Mark Sanchez’s two-yard touchdown pass to Dustin Keller with 13:35 to play.
Shonn Greene ran 53 yards for a touchdown, the longest playoff run in Jets history, to give New York a 17-7 lead. Rivers pulled the Chargers within 17-14 with 2:14 remaining on a one-yard run, but the Jets got the ball and ran out the clock.
Sanchez, a rookie, was a spectator in San Diego watching the playoffs a year ago, but put the Jets on the brink of their first Super Bowl since a 1969 win over the Colts.
Favre completed 15-of-24 passes for 234 yards and set a career playoff high in touchdown tosses, turning back the clock as the Vikings improved to 9-0 this season at their home, a domed stadium like the one they will play in next week.
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