Brett Favre's Final Hurrah—if indeed that is the case—Should Be Embraced as a Lifetime Achievement
By CHRIS HAVEL
GREEN BAY – It seems forever since a teary-eyed Brett Favre broke down after the Green Bay Packers’ 21-7 victory over Chicago on New Year’s Eve at Soldier Field.
The future Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback was overcome with emotion at the thought that he may have played his final game. It was the rare occasion in a magical 17-year NFL career that he could be accused of choking in the clutch.
The league’s only three-time MVP struggled to come to grips with the enormity of retirement and all its consequences. Playing quarterback for the Packers is all the 37-year-old has known the majority of his adult life.
When you consider the headlines in 1992 – Favre’s first season as the Packers’ full-time starter – it lends a bit of perspective. That year:
- Art Monk and the Washington Redskins defeated the Buffalo Bills 37-24 in Super Bowl XXVI in January. It was the second of four straight Super Bowl losses suffered by ex-Packers receiver James Lofton and the Bills.
- Johnny Carson’s 20-year run as host of the “Tonight Show” ended in May.
- Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida in August.
- Bill Clinton was elected President of the United States—the first of two four-year terms—in November.
So much history has come and gone, but Favre keeps on clicking like a metronome in a vacuum. When the Packers open the 2007 training camp on Saturday, Favre will begin his 16th season in Green Bay.
My hunch is it will be his final season, but unlike the heart-tugging scene in Chicago, it should be greeted with a heartfelt embrace. By the time Favre is finished he should own every meaningful record for a quarterback’s endurance and excellence.
The milestones are a tribute to Favre’s individual accomplishments, to be sure, but they also are a tribute to the franchise’s success in The Favre Era. The Packers had the league’s best record from 1992 to 2004. It leaves Favre just two victories away from eclipsing Dan Marino’s NFL-best 148 as a starting quarterback.
Favre also needs just seven touchdown passes to break Marino’s record of 420, which is football’s version of Hank Aaron’s home run record of 755.
All of this was made possible by perhaps Favre’s greatest achievement: Starting 237 straight games. It is the third-longest streak in league history. To teen-age Packers fans, Favre is the only Green Bay quarterback they have ever known. They grew up with Favre, and he with them.
To suggest Favre returned merely for the records is petty, if not mean-spirited, because it ignores the fact that the accomplishments belong not only to the quarterback but the team and its fans.
Like any marriage, for better or worse, Favre and Packers fans are entering their 16th year of sporting bliss. Fans cheer when he throws the game-winning touchdown pass, and they groan when he tosses the game-ending interception, but either way they proudly understand they are in this together.
Favre is the single-greatest reason Packers fans are envied throughout the league. They want what Green Bay has had for 16 seasons and counting. If they revel in Favre’s advancing age and the occasional sub-par play that it brings, it means they also acknowledge his mind-blowing run of excellence.
When Favre finally calls it quits, fans of other NFL teams around the country will be at once relieved and saddened. His retirement will be a stark reminder of their mortality, and a reminder that a quarterback like him comes along once in a lifetime.
All good things end, and so it is with Favre’s career, but not before he has at least one more season to thrill us, frustrate us and ultimately entertain us.
Favre wants what Packers fans want, which is to say, whatever is best for the team.
Is he perfect? No. He would be the first to admit he has made mistakes.
Is he the same quarterback he was a decade ago? Of course he isn’t. But he chooses instead to focus on the here and now.
There is a season to play, games to win and records to set – and in that order.
When Favre breaks the huddle, steps under center and barks out the signals for a final time, it will be a poignant moment. Until then, Packers fans should revel in knowing they have had what fans of most NFL teams can only dream of.
Chris Havel is a freelance writer, best-selling author and host of northeast Wisconsin’s top-rated sports radio talk show, Sports Line, heard Monday through Friday from 4 to 6 p.m. on Sports Radio 107.5 FM and 1400 AM THE FAN. He writes a weekly column exclusively for Packers Fan Tours’ Website throughout the 2007 season.
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