EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — Minnesota Vikings coach Brad Childress is going to have an interesting balancing act when it comes to getting Brett Favre prepared for the season.

On one hand, Childress wants the future Hall of Fame quarterback to develop chemistry with his new receivers by getting the necessary reps. But Childress also knows he must be careful when it comes to how much Favre throws in practice.
Childress said Sunday that steps have been taken to monitor the situation and that since Favre’s first practice last Tuesday the Vikings have kept track of how many passes he throws. Childress referenced the fact that last year when the Packers traded Favre to the Jets, the quarterback tried to make an immediate impression.
“(We’re) just kind of ramping up,” said Childress, who along with several of his players worked as waiters at the Vikings Blitz celebrity server dinner at Wildfire in Eden Prairie. “You have a tendency to get on it a little bit harder with coaches around. I think by his own admission, he probably threw 200 balls in the Jets’ first day of practice and probably set himself back last year. With the fans and the crowd and trying to throw deep, showing off a little bit. So you have to make sure.”
The Vikings need to be extra careful because the 39-year-old Favre was bothered by a biceps tendon injury in his throwing arm that derailed his 2008 season and required surgery in late May. Favre also admitted last week that he has a tear in the rotator cuff of his passing arm.
Favre, who signed with the Vikings on Tuesday after deciding to end his retirement, played the first two series in the Vikings’ 17-13 preseason victory over Kansas City on Friday at the Metrodome. As expected, he looked rusty, completing one of four passes for 4 yards. “He knew what he was doing, where he was looking, that type of thing,” Childress said. “But it’s hard to really establish any rhythm.”
Learning the Vikings offense isn’t an issue for Favre — he worked in a similar system for 16 seasons with the Green Bay Packers — but getting on the same page with his teammates will be important. Among those he will need to develop a rapport with is wide receiver Bernard Berrian, who hasn’t been on the field since straining his hamstring in the Vikings’ preseason opener at Indianapolis.
“It’s real important to get some type of chemistry going in,” Berrian said. “He already knows the system so we’re ahead of the game in that aspect of it. We’ve got to get a feel for each other. We started a little bit (during the Kansas City) game with all the zero blitzes they were doing and going back on the sideline and talking, ’What did you see? What would you do? What would you have preferred? What happened?’ We were talking about that just so we could get on the same page before actually going out there and working.”
Favre was not in attendance at Sunday’s event, but he will be back at Winter Park on Monday as the Vikings conduct meetings after two days off. The team will start practicing again Tuesday. So what will Childress be looking for from his quarterback?
“Just developing some rhythm and some tempo,” he said. “Mechanically he did everything he needed to do in terms of orchestrating the offense, but it will be different taking elevated reps. Just the natural evolution.”