But the Vikings defensive end wasn't devastated Thursday evening when informed of a Yahoo! Sports report that said Favre wasn't going to become his teammate.

"Our offseason goals don't change," Allen said. "No one expected this, or counted on this.

"We won the NFC North last year, without him, and we plan on doing it again," he said. "In this business, you can't put all your faith in one guy."

There remained skepticism about the Yahoo! Sports report, however, given the characters involved in the latest chapter of Favre's long-running retirement saga.

Favre, the central character, retired and came out of retirement last year, forcing a trade from the Packers to the New York Jets.

Agent Bus Cook reiterated to ESPN that, after a phone conversation with Favre on Thursday, the quarterback "is retired" but didn't close the door on another change of heart.

"Like anyone else," Cook told ESPN, "he could always change his mind in the future about retiring, but I haven't heard anything from him that that's the case."

Former Packer and Viking Darren Sharper refused to believe the validity of the Yahoo! report, insisting to the Pioneer Press in a text message that he needed to "hear it from his mouth."

Hours earlier, Sharper said, "I think it's going to happen. There's nothing in the way."

The Vikings did nothing Thursday to temper the rumors of their interest in Favre. With reporters staking out across the street from Winter Park -- KMSP Ch. 9 started early in the morning, with video of the coach entering the facility -- Childress sent a team spokesman to inform a handful of reporters Thursday evening, around 6:20, that he was declining comment. About a half-hour later, Childress departed Winter Park in his sports utility vehicle.

The prospect of Favre switching from Packer green to Viking purple had the sports world abuzz since ESPN initially reported that Childress planned to meet with Favre on Tuesday. Several Vikings players couldn't hide their excitement, most notably receiver Bernard Berrian.

"I'm not going to lie. Any receiver would love to play with Brett Favre, especially in the West Coast offense," Berrian said. "With the players we have, it would open up the offense tremendously."

Vikings tight end Visanthe Shiancoe jokingly said Thursday afternoon, "Hey, Favre-apolooza is here again."

Like Berrian, Allen is a fan of Favre. But both players cast their support for Tarvaris Jackson and Sage Rosenfels.

"Any player, of that caliber, at any position, and he's available, as an organization, your goal is to win championships, you go and try to get that guy," Allen said. "But that doesn't change our mind-set.

"Tarvaris and Sage are going to compete their butts off for the job. They are our guys, whatever order it is, and we're going to win with those guys. I want them to know that we got their back."

Shiancoe, who has been working out at Winter Park, sees Jackson and Rosenfels a lot at the facility.

"They are the first to come and the last to leave," he said. "Those guys work so hard. You have no idea. We have no choice but to trust them, because they work so hard."

Shiancoe said he has seen Childress around Winter Park. But he didn't feel comfortable broaching the Favre topic with his coach.

"It's taboo," he said. "What am I going to say? But it is the pink elephant in the room."

If the Yahoo! report is true, Allen said he's glad things didn't drag out, as they did a year ago.

"We just want to play Football," Allen said.