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At Penn State football camp, players are told that everything operates on "Paterno Time" -- defined as five minutes ahead of the rest of the world. So if practice was scheduled at 9 a.m., that meant it started at 8:55 a.m. and you better be ready at 8:45 a.m. just to be sure.

Monday morning, I started thinking about Paterno Time after re-reading Ed Werder's report on the newest timetable for retired quarterback Brett Favre. His potential agreement with Minnesota is very much playing out on Favre Time -- defined as whenever he feels like it -- and there's not much the Vikings can do to speed up or even guide the process.

Favre will make a decision when he's ready and not a moment earlier. Given his propensity for waffling and delaying, there's no way to predict when it could all be resolved. But I don't think the Vikings' ticket sales really falls under Favre Time, nor is his desire to have some clarity in the weeks before training camp. Like Paterno, Favre makes his own rules and sets his own time.

Catching up on the weekend around the NFC North:

• Greg A. Bedard of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel takes an in-depth look at the career of defensive end Johnny Jolly and the potential impact of his upcoming trial for felony drug possession in Houston. In the piece, Jolly says he is innocent.
• Brad Biggs of the Chicago Sun-Times notes that our friends at Football Outsiders are projecting the Bears to win the NFC.
• James "Shack" Harris on his first few months with Detroit: "It's going good -- we're tied for first place, so we're feeling pretty good." Here's the full piece from Ethan Conley of the Monroe News-Star. Later this month, Harris will be inducted into the Grambling Legends Sports Hall of Fame.
• Detroit linebacker Ernie Sims says the Lions' new linebacker trio has "great" chemistry, writes Carlos Monarrez of the Detroit Free Press.
• Appearing on Sirius NFL Radio via the Detroit News, free-agent defensive tackle John Thornton said he turned down an offer to join the Lions and might retire.