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Brett Favre failed Monday Night Football audition

Super Bowl 50 - Carolina Panthers v Denver Broncos

SANTA CLARA, CA - FEBRUARY 07: Former NFL player Brett Favre looks on prior to Super Bowl 50 between the Denver Broncos and the Carolina Panthers at Levi’s Stadium on February 7, 2016 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

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ESPN wants to bring some sizzle back in Monday Night Football. With future first-ballot Hall-of-Famer Peyton Manning not interested, how about another gold jacket-wearing quarterback with the kind of homespun charm that could bring a “turn out the lights” vibe back to the booth?

Yes, Brett Favre scored an audition for the role of lead analyst at Monday Night Football. According to Andrew Marchand of the New York Post, it didn’t go well, and Favre no longer is under consideration for the gig.

He clearly was at least interested in the job; otherwise, Favre wouldn’t have traveled to Bristol for the screen test. As noted by Kyle Koster of TheBigLead.com, Favre’s history with Jenn Sterger would have made him a potentially curious choice for the job, possibly prompting the kind of pushback that may have forced ESPN to quickly pull the plug.

Per Marchand, in-house candidates like Booger McFarland and Rex Ryan also will audition. With due respect to both of those guys, neither will come close to restoring the luster that the franchise has quickly lost given the recent departures of Mike Tirico and Jon Gruden.

Here’s the bigger question for Bristol: Given the army of NFL analysts currently under contract, can’t ESPN find someone who’d be both competent and compelling in the Monday night booth? At some point, they should just press Kirk Herbstreit and Chris Fowler into service, drop Joe Tessitore to the No. 1 college team, and be done with it.