Thompson: Post-Favre is 'New Frontier'

The rivers of tears in Green Bay are starting to subside. Brett Favre's retirement is reality. Now, how does his former team move forward without him?

For so long, it's been Brett Favre and the Packers, who steps into the void and helps this team forge a new identity.

Won't the shadow of Favre still be cast over the rest of the team?

"That's OK if it is," said Packers general manager Ted Thompson here at the owner's meetings. "He meant a lot to us. And I don't think our team is cowed by (having his presence referred to still). Brett's a good teammate and he's well liked in our locker room and well-respected and but they know they have to go forward as a team.

"I know from a national media standpoint, every time we won a game it was like nobody else was on the field," Thompson pointed out.."Brett didn't like that kind of publicity. But our team just kept playing. We've got some guys that can play the game. They're looking forward to the challenge but it IS a new frontier."

As for the pressure on Favre's successor, Aaron Rodgers, Thompson said, "(He's been groomed) the old school way. Watch for a couple of years, learn and then go play. That’s an intellectual plan. But now we have to go play football. And I don’t think the team is looking at it like it’s all on Aaron’s shoulder, everybody has to take a piece of this."