Farewell Favre

So Brett Favre is finally calling it quits. Sixteen seasons as the Green Bay Packers starting Quarterback was enough for the tough-as-nails gunslinger from Southern Mississippi. For better or worse he holds just about every record a quarterback could hold. In 2007 he took hold of Dan Marino’s record for career touchdowns thrown (442), but he also claimed George Blanda’s less than hallowed record for picks thrown (288). He has the most career passing yards in history (61,655) and as you might expect he holds the record for pass attempts (8,758), pass completions (5,377), wins by a starting quarterback (160) and most consecutive starts by a man under center (253 regular season starts). He also holds the record for most blue jeans commercials aired during an NFL season (758,231) and was voted the most rugged-looking, stubble-wearing, cleft-chin-having quarterback by just about every woman who watched a Packers game with their husband/boyfriend/father/brother over the last fifteen years.

Favre was a ton of fun to watch as a football fan. He was practically impossible to hate. As a 49ers fan, the Packers of the mid-nineties were the enemy. I still remember the wildcard playoff game at 3COM Park in January of 1999 when Favre led an 89 yard, two minute touchdown drive against the Niners which put the Pack up 27-23 with under a minute to go. Now true, the Niners eventually won the game on Young’s pass to TO as time expired, but even after it looked like my precious Niners would go down to the Pack in the postseason for a fourth consecutive year, I couldn’t find it in me to hate Favre. He’s too classy, too nice. He has too much fun playing the game. Even his admitted addiction to Vicodin during the best season of his career (1995: 38TD, 13INT, 4,413Yds, 63% Completion), a season that netted him the first of three straight MVP awards, wasn’t enough to make people dislike Favre. He led the Packers to two straight Super Bowls in the nineties, winning Super Bowl XXXI against the Patriots in 1997.

Fellow Official Scorer Josh and I have a bit of a motto. We call it the Koufax/Ryan Corollary; Better to retire after a short career of sustained excellence (Koufax) than continue to play past your prime to the detriment of your team simply to compile stats (Ryan). Favre’s gunslinging, fun-loving approach to playing made him a fan favorite and a joy to watch, he was an elite quarterback and a team leader, sure… but he doesn’t approach the title of greatest. He’s not in the top five. Favre has my deepest admiration and respect, and three straight MVP’s, two Super Bowl appearances and all the records he holds certainly put him in the conversation, but it doesn’t get him home. Favre had four seasons (including consecutive seasons in 05-06) where he did not throw more touchdowns than picks. He never cracked a one hundred quarterback rating (99.5 in 1995 was his closest). He had five seasons with a rating under eighty. Favre’s resurgence in 2007 was as unexpected as it was enjoyable to watch… but he isn’t in the top five; maybe he cracks the top ten. When it comes right down to it, Favre is a stats compiler (See: Hoffman, Trevor; Rose, Pete; Ryan, Nolan) he didn’t throw touchdowns better than anyone in the game, he just threw them for a longer period of time.

There is a competitor in Favre that couldn’t bear to retire following the two abysmal seasons he had in 2005 and 2006. I imagine that Favre hates the fact that the last thing he did as a professional football player was throwing a season-ending pick at Lambeau Field in overtime of the NFC Championship Game. It must be eating him up inside. But short of a Super Bowl appearance in 2008, it was as close as he will come to ending his career on top of his game.

With Favre’s decision to retire, the NFL is losing one of its iconic players. A true class act, and an ultimate competitor, he truly enjoyed playing the game. We don’t know what the future holds for Brett Favre, but one thing is certain; he’ll enjoy his retirement in comfort and heartburn free.