Though it remains to be seen whether the Packers filed tampering charges against the Vikings based on a hunch or hard evidence, our guess is that folks in Minnesota are feeling a little nervous right now about how the situation could unfold.

In the past, the NFL generally looked the other way regarding tampering.  Two years ago, the Patriots claimed their relationship with receiver Deion Branch had been disrupted by the Jets.  Though New England was seemingly confident in its case, the controversy died quietly.

Earlier this year, however, the league smacked down the 49ers for allegedly engaging in contract talks with agent Drew Rosenhaus regarding Bears linebacker Lance Briggs at a time when the Bears and 49ers were talking about a possible trade.  Though Rosenhaus didn’t testify at the hearing and the Niners denied that any discussions with Rosenhaus had centered on Briggs, the league was able to find that tampering had occurred based on the contents of internal 49ers e-mail messages at key intervals of the overall time line.

In this case, Vikings offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell presumably will deny talking to Favre about playing in Minnesota.  As to Favre, who suddenly has developed a case of chronic verbal diarrhea, there’s a chance that he’ll talk long enough to both exonerate and implicate the team.  If anyone can make sense of what he’s saying.

The question ultimately will be whether the Packers can develop evidence beyond the phone calls between Bevell and Favre.  As we pointed out on Wednesday, no rule prohibits the two men from being friends, or from talking on the phone like pre-teen girls with 44-ounce Slurpees and the Sprint Simply Everything plan.

For now, it seems that the Packers don’t have a smoking gun.  Per the Associated Press, they’re relying upon the number of calls between the two men, and a belief that interest from the Vikings drove Favre’s interest in playing again.

But if members of the Vikings’ coaching staff and/or front office were dumb enough to trade e-mail messages regarding the possibility of landing Favre, and if those messages mesh with the trail of calls between Favre and Bevell, the Vikings could be in very hot water.

Even if the Packers don’t have, and can’t find, hard proof to support their claim, the move makes sense.  At a minimum, the claim will likely scare the Vikings away from pursuing Favre, if they were ever inclined to do so.  (The 49ers, after all, didn’t sign Briggs once he became an unrestricted free agent.) 

And as our own Taco Bill points out, the charge allows the Packers to paint Favre as a traitor, and as a liar.  He recently told Fox News that he hasn’t envisioned himself playing for another team.  The Packers now contend that he has, and that the team in question is one of the Packers’ most hated rivals.