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GREEN BAY, Wis. — He's the iconic quarterback who, for 16 record-setting years, symbolized the grit of the storied Green Bay Packers franchise. But when Brett Favre returns to his adopted hometown this weekend wearing the purple and white of the Minnesota Vikings, will he be viewed more as a local legend — or as a traitor?
Favre will hear the high-decibel verdict Sunday from Packers fans shortly before the 4:15 p.m. ET kickoff when he trots onto Lambeau Field with the Vikings. The highly anticipated NFC North showdown will be the first time Favre, 40, plays at Lambeau in a uniform other than the Packers' green and gold.

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The fans will render judgment on Favre's messy divorce from the 91-year-old franchise in the summer of 2008, when he was traded to the New York Jets. Favre retired after a year with the Jets — then resurfaced with the Vikings, a bitter rival to the Packers. The soap opera has divided this town of 102,313, where Brett Favre's Steakhouse (located at 1004 Brett Favre Pass) continues to serve diners surrounded by Packers memorabilia.

"Are you kidding? Of course they're going to boo him," says Paul Hornung, 73, the Hall of Fame Packers running back from 1957 to 1966.

"There's Packers fans who are adamantly (ticked) off that he's in a Vikings uniform. We'll probably see some fans burning his jersey in the parking lot. … This guy has the guts of a burglar."

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With Sunday's game being played the day after Halloween and the evening before a full moon, it's hard to imagine a more haunting image for Packers Nation than one of their legends returning in a Vikings jersey.

The return of the three-time NFL MVP and one-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback has churned conflicted sentiments in Green Bay.

"Last year when the Packers and Favre had their falling out, it was like watching your parents get divorced," says Rob Sax, 40, a marketing firm owner who will be at Lambeau on Sunday.

"One year later, they're divorced. And now you find out your dad married the really nasty neighbor lady across the street. Packers fans feel one of their own has turned on them."

Favre knows better than to expect a warm welcome. His Vikings (6-1) own a 1½-game lead on the Packers (4-2) in the NFC North. Oct. 5 in Minneapolis, Favre threw for three touchdowns to lead the Vikings to a 30-23 victory against the Packers in the first of two games between the teams this season.

"There will be a mixture of (cheers and boos), understandably so," Favre said Wednesday at Vikings headquarters. "What I have accomplished there and was a part of, you can't take that away. … From the standpoint of playing there with another team is obviously something new to me.

"Being welcomed there for so many years was special. It will always be special."

It was hard enough for Packers fans to watch Favre perform for the Jets last season after his return from his first retirement in 2008 led Packers general manager Ted Thompson to trade the winningest quarterback in NFL history that August.

Thompson and Packers coach Mike McCarthy moved on to Aaron Rodgers, the 24th overall selection in the 2005 draft, and opted to trade Favre to New York rather than send him to a rival such as Minnesota.

After a disappointing 9-7 finish with the Jets and an arm injury, Favre retired again after the 2008 season.

He reversed field a second time after having surgery in May to repair a torn biceps tendon, accepting a two-year, $25 million offer from the Vikings.

Signing with Minnesota made Favre "the ultimate traitor," says Krystina Engebos, 25, a bartender at Titletown Brewery Co. in Green Bay.

Even so, some here remember Favre for changing the outcome of games in the Packers' favor and for bringing new life to a franchise that fell on hard times after coach Vince Lombardi's Green Bay teams dominated the NFL for much of the 1960s.

"I'm still a Favre fan. He put us on the map. How can you not like the guy?" says Kent Preston, 50, a Green Bay resident and energy company salesman. "It's been a soap opera the last few years on whether he was going to come back or not. But he's great for the game."

Others aren't as solidly in Favre's camp.

"I love the guy, but I hate him at the same time," says Mark Hennes, 46, a season ticketholder and bricklayer from Freedom, Wis., who Tuesday took a tour of Lambeau with his 7-year-old son, Matthew.

"Management must have wronged him pretty bad that he'd come back after us this way."

Packers fans watched Favre mature from wild risk-taker — he spent 46 days during a 1996 rehabilitation stay for an addiction to the painkiller Vicodin — into a father and husband.