Mother Nature lends Favre a hand

The Metrodome roof collapsed early Sunday morning, a sure sign of Mother Nature staving off Father Time.

If you want to know how you keep a streak as incredible as Brett Favre's(notes) 297 consecutive NFL games started going, well, sometimes you need something incredible to happen.

Like so much wet, heavy snow in Minnesota that the Teflon-treated fiberglass fabric that makes up the roof of the Vikings' home stadium collapsed in a battle of air pressure. Now a game against the New York Giants, which had already been pushed back a day because of the weather, waits even longer.

And Brett Favre's ailing shoulder gets even more time to heal.

Sometimes you need to be lucky, not just durable.

The game between the Vikings and the Giants will be played Monday in Detroit at 7:20 p.m. ET. Favre's latest injury came courtesy of Buffalo Bills linebacker Arthur Moats(notes) last Sunday and had the potential to end his NFL-record ironman start streak. At age 41 and assuredly in his final season (seriously), Favre is hoping to just finish out his career, get to 301 starts and ride off to retirement in Mississippi.

For all the soap-opera antics and controversy that have surrounded the end of his career, Favre always has had this amazing streak. In a sport defined by toughness, it's the one accomplishment no one can criticize.

It hasn't been easy, though, especially this season. Chasing him is old age, slower healing powers and an off-field scandal that could, conceivably, cause the NFL to suspend him and thus end the streak.

Moats' hammering of Favre's shoulder almost made it all moot. It still may. Favre was considered a "game-time decision," and while we've seen that storyline plenty of times before – he always plays – at this point you never know. Favre has spent all year saying he can't shake off injuries like he used to. He didn't practice Wednesday or Thursday and while he took some snaps Friday, he didn't throw the ball, according to reports.

So was this it?

Just pray for snow.

First, the Giants didn't move up their travel so they could get to the Twin Cities on Friday night. It would've been the smart play, since every weather forecast said a major storm would hit Saturday. Rather than get in safe and sound, they tried to fight the snow and wound up stranded in Kansas City on Saturday night.

The NFL promptly moved the game from a 1 p.m. ET Sunday kickoff to 8 p.m. ET Monday. Conspiracy theories were quickly hatched.

When it comes to Favre, nothing ever just gets accepted. There's always a debate. Always an angle for someone to bring up.

So this was the NFL trying to protect the streak by giving their Hall of Famer and additional 31 hours to rest that shoulder.

Then, for the sixth time in its nearly three-decade history, so much snow piled up on top of the Metrodome that the roof collapsed. That should end the conspiracy theories – or if not end them, make them moot. No game was getting played in that building on Sunday.

Favre was catching a break no matter what Roger Goodell decided, and now he and his shoulder get another day to kick back and rest up.

Turns out start No. 298 might be one of his most dramatic of all.