Brett Favre to Return to NFL with Chicago Bears?

A source close to retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre told ESPN that the former star would listen if the Chicago Bears contacted him for a quarterback position.

Favre, who retired for the third time this past off-season, would consider returning to the NFL if the Chicago Bears came calling but wouldn't necessarily end his retirement, according to a source close to the Mississippi native. The source added that the 42 year-old has been working out and trying to keep in shape, but has done a lot of hunting and relaxing in his relatively brief retirement thus far.

Although Favre might be interested should the playoff contender get in contact, it appears that the Bears appear content in going forward with quarterback Caleb Hanie. Bears coach Lovie Smith dismissed the idea of adding Favre this late in the season.

That's our group, Smith said of the three quarterbacks on the Bears' roster. We're going to make improvements with our group. We're not looking on the outside. We won't have a quarterback tryout or anything like that.

The Bears came into the year with Jay Cutler as their starting quarterback and cruised to a 7-3 record through Week 11. But a Cutler injury forced the Bears to turn to Hanie and have now dropped two games in a row without Cutler behind center.

The hope would be that Favre could come into the organization, pick up the playbook extremely quickly, and provide a spark to a team that looks to be floundering. But critics will point to how ancient Favre looked at the end of last season with the Minnesota Vikings and that the circus that surrounds the former NFL MVP would create too many distractions for a team in the playoff hunt.

Hanie hasn't been great for the Bears - the team managed only three points against the Chiefs on Sunday - but he still appears to have the support of his teammates.

As of right now, we actually believe in Caleb, cornerback Corey Graham told ESPNChicago. We've seen him do a lot of great things in practice and things of that nature. So we believe in what he can do. Yeah, it's been a rough couple of games for him. But I'm pretty sure he can bounce back, and I'm pretty sure he can be O.K. for us.

Star kickoff specialist Devin Hester didn't offer effusive praise for the young quarterback on ESPN Radio on Monday morning, but did say that it would be a waste of time to bring in a new quarterback this late in the season.

If Hanie doesn't work out, Smith and the Bears could turn to backup quarterbacks Josh McCown or Nathan Enderle.

For Favre, if the Bears don't get in contact with him, it's possible that the Chiefs and/or Texans could reach out to him. Neither has done so yet, according to ESPN, but it's possible that the Chiefs could be interested after recently obtained quarterback Kyle Orton went down with an injury on Sunday. The issue for all teams appears to be the same - no one wants to deal with the circus.