When it was reported over the weekend that NFL players and owners had finally come to an agreement and the league’s lengthy lockout was nearing an end, I started to get very excited. As much as I love baseball season, I didn’t want to think about having to endure a long, cold Illinois winter without NFL football to help me get through it.

I was so excited, I started reading all kinds of stories and blogs about what moves were next for NFL teams and which free agents might end up where. I couldn’t wait to see where Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Kevin Kolb might end up (Arizona would instantly become a contender again if it acquired him) or whether the Detroit Lions would be able to get some secondary help to go along with their suddenly formidable defensive line.

But then, I got a bombshell dropped on me, coming in the form of a “Brett Favre Returning?” story.

As soon as I saw it, my stomach dropped.

Brett Favre was my hero as I grew up a Packers fan. He was the confident quarterback who would play through any injury and do it all with a smile on his face as if he was enjoying the game just as much as when he was a little kid throwing a football around with his dad. It was how I imagined I would feel if I played in the NFL. And when he retired, I couldn’t wait to see his number put up with all the other Packers legends on their Ring of Honor and his inevitable induction into the Hall of Fame.

But then came the training camp return saga and the drama of his trade to the Jets. It was very weird to see “Favre” on the back of another jersey, but one season for another team wasn’t really that big a deal, right?

But after retirement number two, un-retirement number two, his Revenge Tour with the Vikings and the Jenn Sterger sexting scandal, it became abundantly clear that Brett Favre should go home to Mississippi and stay there for the immediate future.

And that’s exactly what I thought was going to happen after a disastrous 2010 season, one that saw Favre couple extreme ineffectiveness with injury, enough to finally end his all-time NFL Iron Man streak.

He was done, without all the theatrics and melodrama that has come to define Brett Favre’s recent career.

If Favre has learned anything from all of this, it’s that he just needs to be done playing in the NFL. Reports say the Eagles want him as a backup to Michael Vick, but would Favre really want to do that? Why would one of the greatest quarterbacks ever want to return just to sit on the bench, just hoping to get one more chance to go out there and take a snap?

Instead, Favre should look back, realize what a great career he already had and leave well enough alone. With Aaron Rodgers leading the Packers to a Super Bowl victory this past season, even the most stubborn of Packers fans — Favre’s last true supporters — have moved on into a new era. Nobody wants to see another Favre comeback and the media whirlwind that will undoubtedly follow.

Be done, Brett. For good. The Packers organization and its fans will very quickly forget all your transgressions, welcome you back with arms wide open and once again celebrate your great career.

You’ll be enshrined in Canton and remembered for all the good things you did in the NFL, not the bad.

That’s the way it should be anyway.