Farewell Brett Favre!

[Bloodline666]

This past season, Brett Favre had arguably the best season of his career, leading the Green Bay Packers to a 13-3 record and to the NFC Championship Game, and in the process, broke several all-time league records, including the league's all-time touchdown, passing yardage, and win records.

As it turns out, this past season turned out to be his final season in the National Football League. Today, after 17 years in the NFL and 253 consecutive starts (275 including Playoffs), a streak dating back to 1992, Brett Favre has officially ended his storied career.

Favre was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in the 2nd round with the 33rd overall selection in 1991, but his rookie season in Atlanta was timultuous. He spent the season 3rd on the Falcons depth chart, and his first pass as a Falcon was an interception returned for a touchdown. His off-the-field partying was seen as a liability by then-Falcons head coach Jerry Glanville. As a matter of fact, he skipped the Falcons' team photo because of a hangover. Glanville had enough of Favre's heavy partying off the field, and promptly traded him for a first round pick to the Green Bay Packers. Sportswriters at the time heralded the trade as one of the best moves the Falcons made, as they received the 17th overall pick. As fate would have it, on the 3rd game of the 1992 season, in a game against the Cincinnati Bengals, then-Packers starting QB Don "The Majik Man" Majkowski suffered an injury serious enough to result in him missing four weeks, and Brett Favre was put in the game. He had a bad start, but with 1:07 left in the game and down 6, he led a miraculous comeback, and the Packers won 24-23. It turned out to be the final game the popular Majkowski ever started for the Green Bay Packers. Brett Favre has started every single game for the Packers since then. The Packers ended up having the last laugh in the Favre trade, as he led them to two Super Bowls (winning one of them), and broke virtually every passing record in the NFL in a Packer uniform. Meanwhile, the Falcons, even to this day, remain crucified for trading Favre.

Favre's lasting legacy is defined by his insane plays where you think the play is not going anywhere, only to improvise with the play and make a big play out of nothing. It is also defined by his will to stare down adversity in the face and overcome it. He started every game since that fated game in 1992, despite approximately 49 times being listed on the Packers' injury report. The off-season prior to winning the Super Bowl, he overcame a painkiller addiction. And he played despite family tragedies, such as the death of his father 24 hours before a Monday Night game against the Raiders (which turned out to be a defining game in his career), the death of his brother-in-law in an ATV accident, his wife being diagnosed with breast cancer (which she eventually defeated), and the loss of the home he grew up in at the hands of Hurricane Katrina.

Interesting trivia about Favre: his first pass in a Packers uniform (which happened to be his first career completion) was to himself. A lineman batted down his pass, and Favre instinctively caught it, and it went for -7 yards.

For an idea of how massive Favre's consecutive start streak is, since the streak started, 409 different QBs have started in the NFL, 11 of them having at one point been a backup to Favre.

Favre will be eligible for induction into the Pro Football Hall Of Fame in 2013, but he's a lock to be a first-ballot Hall Of Famer.

Brett Favre will be missed.

Brett Favre
Legendary Quarterback of the Green Bay Packers, starter since September 20, 1992
NFL Career: 1991-2007
Only 3-time MVP in NFL History
Retired on March 4, 2008

[escobert]

YAY I've been waiting for this day for years!

[Shlup]

I'd still hit it.

[edczxcvbnm]

I love Favre but I am glad he is gone. I want to see what Rodgers can do and it was clear that Favre just can't play in the ultra cold weather anymore.

He was a great player and will be remember as a great for decades to come.

[Bloodline666]

YAY I've been waiting for this day for years!

I understand you hate the Packers (with you being a Bears fan and all), but don't get too cocky just yet. I have seen what his heir, Aaron Rodgers, can do. If I'm not mistaken, after my Cowboys knocked Favre out of the game on a Corner Blitz by Nathan Jones (which resulted in an interception by Terence Newman), Rodgers nearly pulled off the come-from-behind victory against the Cowboys, much in the same fashion Favre pulled an impossible come-from-behind victory over the Bengals after they knocked Don Majkowski out of the game. While Rodgers did fall short in that department, what he did against the Cowboys (a team on the rise, I might add) should be an indicator of how the Packers will be with Rodgers under center.

Remember, the Cheeseheads did not spend their 2005 first round pick on Rodgers for no reason; they knew Favre's retirement was inevitable, and it was fast approaching. They wanted to be prepared for it, much like the 49ers were prepared for Montana's departure (in fact, a QB controversy was what forced the 49ers to trade Montana). Look what happened to the Broncos since Elway's retirement, the Dolphins since Marino's retirement, and the Cowboys since Aikman's retirement (though the Cowboys and Broncos have recently rectified their QB situations, unlike the Dolphins).

[Avarice-ness]

Don't come to Wisconsin. Everyone's being emo here.

It's like god died or something.

My brother-in-law is taking it like Brett Farve broke up with him.

...Foot Balls silly.

[Ouch!]

Marino fans rejoice.

[Bloodline666]

Don't come to Wisconsin. Everyone's being emo here.

It's like god died or something.

My brother-in-law is taking it like Brett Farve broke up with him.

...Foot Balls silly.

If you put the TV on NFL Network at all, it's almost as if they're showing a Brett Favre eulogy on TV. I mean, they're showing the Favre edition of In Their Own Words, Path To The Draft is talking about the 1991 draft and how two QBs were selected over Favre and why the Falcons traded him, the 1996 Packers edition of America's Game, had the live press conference with Packers GM Ted Thompson and head coach Mike McCarthy, and even re-aired Super Bowl XXXI where Favre led the Packers to victory over the Pats.

But I can understand how the whole state of Wisconsin's in an uproar over Favre's retirement. There's two things Wisconsinites love more than anything in the world; Cheese, and the Green Bay Packers! Imagine their reaction when they heard the news that Vince Lombardi had passed away.

Marino fans rejoice.

I'd hate to break it to you, but the great Hank Aaron once said that records are made to be broken. Marino, himself, had to break somebody's records (such as Fran Tarkenton or Johnny Unitas) in order to set his records, and most of Marino's records were broken by Brett Favre, and in time, Favre's records will inevitably be broken. Peyton Manning looks to be the most likely candidate to break many of Favre's records.

That interception record, however, looks like it's gonna stand for a long, long time. George Blanda was the previous holder of that record. In this day and age, you have to be a DAMN good quarterback if you want to get away with breaking the all-time interceptions mark. Then again, Favre's INT record goes to show how much of a risk-taker he was. Any ordinary QB would promptly be benched if they took the risks Favre did and came even close to the interception number that Favre would throw in a single season. Any ordinary QB who did so on a consistent basis would be out of the league within a year. Favre got away with it, because the risk-reward factor of the plays he made was so great, and most of the time, they succeeded.

[Ouch!]

Marino fans rejoice.

I'd hate to break it to you, but the great Hank Aaron once said that records are made to be broken. Marino, himself, had to break somebody's records (such as Fran Tarkenton or Johnny Unitas) in order to set his records, and most of Marino's records were broken by Brett Favre, and in time, Favre's records will inevitably be broken. Peyton Manning looks to be the most likely candidate to break many of Favre's records.

It would appear that you think I care about this development significantly more than I actually do.

[El Bandito]

Eh, never liked the guy. Just like Colts fans hate Tom Brady now, so must I continue to drink the haterade when dealing with Brett Favre as a Broncos fan.

[VorpalCyberWolf]

I need a new Quarterback for my fantasy football team now...