Bart Starr or Brett Favre: Who is Green Bay's Greatest Quarterback of All-time?

With the outstanding career of Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre, quickly coming to a close (hopefully) I thought it would be interesting to compare Favre with another Packers great, Hall of Fame inductee, Bart Starr, the man widely recognized as the greatest quarterback in Green Bay history - until Favre came along that is.

I'm sure most people will immediately say that Favre is the better quarterback of the two, while that may be true, I will go on record to say that the argument of which player had the better career, is much closer than I originally anticipated - and one that is still open for debate.

Here is a look at both quarterbacks and their illustrious careers.

Bart Starr

Starr was born, Bryan Bartlett Starr on January 9, 1934 in Montgomery, Alabama. Starr was the starting quarterback for the Green Bay Packers from 1956 to 1971 and was named the MVP of the first two Super Bowls. Starr also earned four Pro Bowl berths (1960, 1961, 1962, 1966) and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1977.

After playing college football at the University of Alabama, Starr was selected in the 17th round as the number 200 overall pick of the 1956 NFL draft.

As the legendary Vince Lombardi's starting quarterback, the Packers won NFL Championships in the 1961, 1962, 1965, 1966, and 1967 seasons. Following the NFL championships in 1966 and 1967, he led the Packers to convincing victories over the champions of the rival AFL in the first two Super Bowls and remains to this day, the only player to quarterback a team to five NFL championships.

Since the introduction of the NFL championship game in 1933, the Green Bay Packers (1965-67) are the only team to win three consecutive NFL titles, all with Starr at the helm.

Starr's playing career ended at the conclusion of the 1971 season and he served as an assistant coach (quarterbacks) in 1972, when the Packers won the NFC Central division title at 10-4. Starr became head coach of the Packers three years later, in 1975), compiling a 52-76-3 record. Starr is one of five Green Bay Packers to have his number (15) retired by the team. The others are Tony Canadeo(3), Don Hutson(14), Ray Nitschke(66), and Reggie White(92).

| Passing | Rushing |

+----------+-----+---------------------------------------+-----------------+

| Year TM | G | Comp Att PCT YD Y/A TD INT | Att Yards TD |

+----------+-----+---------------------------------------+-----------------+

| 1956 gnb | 9 | 24 44 54.5 325 7.4 2 3 | 5 35 0 |

| 1957 gnb | 12 | 117 215 54.4 1489 6.9 8 10 | 31 98 3 |

| 1958 gnb | 12 | 78 157 49.7 875 5.6 3 12 | 25 113 1 |

| 1959 gnb | 12 | 70 134 52.2 972 7.3 6 7 | 16 83 0 |

| 1960 gnb | 12 | 98 172 57.0 1358 7.9 4 8 | 7 12 0 |

| 1961 gnb | 14 | 172 295 58.3 2418 8.2 16 16 | 12 56 1 |

| 1962 gnb | 14 | 178 285 62.5 2438 8.6 12 9 | 21 72 1 |

| 1963 gnb | 13 | 132 244 54.1 1855 7.6 15 10 | 13 116 0 |

| 1964 gnb | 14 | 163 272 59.9 2144 7.9 15 4 | 24 165 3 |

| 1965 gnb | 14 | 140 251 55.8 2055 8.2 16 9 | 18 169 1 |

| 1966 gnb | 14 | 156 251 62.2 2257 9.0 14 3 | 21 104 2 |

| 1967 gnb | 14 | 115 210 54.8 1823 8.7 9 17 | 21 90 0 |

| 1968 gnb | 12 | 109 171 63.7 1617 9.5 15 8 | 11 62 1 |

| 1969 gnb | 14 | 92 148 62.2 1161 7.8 9 6 | 7 60 0 |

| 1970 gnb | 14 | 140 255 54.9 1645 6.5 8 13 | 12 62 1 |

| 1971 gnb | 4 | 24 45 53.3 286 6.4 0 3 | 3 11 1 |

+----------+-----+---------------------------------------+-----------------+

| TOTAL | 198 | 1808 3149 57.4 24718 7.8 152 138 | 247 1308 15 |

Brett Favre

By now, I think most football fans know Favre's story. If you not, here's evcerything you've ever wanted to know about Brett Favre.

Brett Lorenzo Favre was born October 10, 1969, in Gulfport, Mississippi. As the NFL's only three time MVP winner (1995-97) in the history of the league, Favre has led the Packers to two Super Bowl appearance and one championship victory which came against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXI.

The eight-time Pro Bowler, currently in his sixteenth season in the NFL, holds the NFL quarterback record for consecutive starts with 234 (254 total starts including playoffs), and recently surpassed the legendary Dan Marino for first place on the career touchdown list. He also ranks second behind in career completions, career passing attempts (8,095), and career passing yards (56,756). With 144 victories, Favre also ranks third in total career wins as a starting quarterback, behind John Elway and Marino.

After playing in high school, Favre received only one scholarship offer, from nearby Southern Mississippi-which wanted him to play defensive back. Favre wanted to play quarterback instead and ended up clawing his way up from the seventh string to the backup job and then to the starting position just three games into his freshman year.

Favre was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in the second round, (33rd overall) in the 1991 NFL Draft. Packers general managerRon Wolf saw Favre's talent and traded a first round pick (17th overall) for Favre during the following offseason. Wolf, while general manager of the New York Jets, had intended to take Favre in the 1991 NFL draft, but Favre was taken by the Falcons on the pick previous to the Jets.

Once Favre got on the field in Green Bay, he never got off, starting every Packers game since September 20, 1992, when Don "the Magic Man" Majkowski went down with an injury against the Cincinnati Bengals. Favre did not play well during most of the game, prompting the fans to chant "Put Ty in!", referring to Ty Detmer who was also a member of the Packers at the time. His first completion was to himself, and his second went the other way for a TD. He came to the sideline and said to Holmgren, "Not many guys can say their second completion went for a touchdown." Favre, however, proceeded to lead the team to a comeback victory, throwing the game-winning touchdown pass to Kitrick Taylor with 13 seconds remaining and the next week's game against the Pittsburgh Steelers began the longest consecutive starts streak for a quarterback in NFL history.

In Favre's early years under head coach Mike Holmgren, he struggled to keep his game under control, often making high-risk throws that resulted in many interceptions. Eventually he learned Holmgren's system and became one of the league's top quarterbacks, winning the first of three MVP awards in 1995, a season in which the Packers made it to the NFC Championship Game by upsetting the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC semi finals, which went further in the playoffs than any Packer team since the Vince Lombardi era.

While being treated for various injuries, Brett Favre developed an addiction to painkillers. This became known when he suffered a seizure during a hospital visit.While the NFL investigated, he went public to beat the rumor mill. In May 1996 he was immediately forced into treatment by the NFL. He remained in rehab for 46 days.

Favre led the Packers to their best season in 30 years in the 1996-97 season, winning his second consecutive MVP award in the process. Green Bay compiled an NFL-best regular season record of 13-3, defeated the San Francisco 49ers and Carolina Panthers at Lambeau Field in the playoffs, and advanced to Super Bowl XXXI at the Louisiana Superdome, a short drive from Favre's hometown.

Favre completed 14 of 27 passes for 246 yards and 2 touchdowns in Super Bowl XXXI. Favre opened up the scoring with a 54-yard touchdown pass to Andre Rison on the Packers' second offensive play of the game. Favre also completed an 81-yard touchdown pass to Antonio Freeman in the second quarter (then a Super Bowl record) and rushed for 12 yards and another touchdown, as the Packers won Super Bowl XXXI over the New England Patriots, 35-21.

Favre and the Packers continued their dominance of the NFC the following season as Favre was named co-MVP of the league with Detroit Lions running back Barry Sanders, his third straight award. Green Bay however ended up losing to the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXXII by the score of 31-24. Favre completed 25 of 42 passes for 256 yards and 3 touchdowns, with 1 interception in the losing effort.

Favre and the Packers continued posting positive results through the next few seasons. Through the 2004 season, the Packers had the longest streak of non-losing seasons (13) in the NFL, despite an 8-8 record under coach Ray Rhodes, a 9-7 season under coach Mike Sherman, and no playoff berths in either 1999 or 2000. The streak ended in 2005, with the Packers finishing 4-12 overall.

Favre has not had as much success in the postseason since Super Bowl XXXII. He is 2-5 in the playoffs since the 1998 season. Two of those losses were at home in the opening round wild-card game and they were the first postseason losses ever at Lambeau Field. Since 1998, Favre has recorded 149 completions on 249 attempts for 1,804 yards, with 11 touchdown passes and 16 interceptions, leaving him with a QB passer rating of 70.1 in the playoffs.

In the 2005 Green Bay Packers season, despite throwing for over 3,000 yards for a record fourteenth consecutive time, Favre had a below average season with only 20 touchdown passes and a league-leading 29 interceptions. His passer rating was 70.9, 31st in the NFL and the worst single season rating of his career.[17] After the disappointing 2005 season, many speculated that Favre would retire.[18] However, on April 26 2006, Favre announced that he would remain with the team for the 2006 season. Earlier this season, Favre suffered the first shutout of his career against the Chicago Bears.

Here are Favre's career statistics.

| Passing | Rushing |

+----------+-----+---------------------------------------+-----------------+

| Year TM | G | Comp Att PCT YD Y/A TD INT | Att Yards TD |

+----------+-----+---------------------------------------+-----------------+

| 1991 atl | 2 | 0 5 0.0 0 0.0 0 2 | 0 0 0 |

| 1992 gnb | 15 | 302 471 64.1 3227 6.9 18 13 | 47 198 1 |

| 1993 gnb | 16 | 318 522 60.9 3303 6.3 19 24 | 58 216 1 |

| 1994 gnb | 16 | 363 582 62.4 3882 6.7 33 14 | 42 202 2 |

| 1995 gnb | 16 | 359 570 63.0 4413 7.7 38 13 | 39 181 3 |

| 1996 gnb | 16 | 325 543 59.9 3899 7.2 39 13 | 49 136 2 |

| 1997 gnb | 16 | 304 513 59.3 3867 7.5 35 16 | 58 187 1 |

| 1998 gnb | 16 | 347 551 63.0 4212 7.6 31 23 | 40 133 1 |

| 1999 gnb | 16 | 341 595 57.3 4091 6.9 22 23 | 28 142 0 |

| 2000 gnb | 16 | 338 580 58.3 3812 6.6 20 16 | 27 108 0 |

| 2001 gnb | 16 | 314 510 61.6 3921 7.7 32 15 | 38 56 1 |

| 2002 gnb | 16 | 341 551 61.9 3658 6.6 27 16 | 25 73 0 |

| 2003 gnb | 16 | 308 471 65.4 3361 7.1 32 21 | 18 15 0 |

| 2004 gnb | 16 | 346 540 64.1 4088 7.6 30 17 | 16 36 0 |

| 2005 gnb | 16 | 372 607 61.3 3881 6.4 20 29 | 18 62 0 |

| 2006 gnb | 11 | 230 403 57.1 2634 6.5 14 10 | 14 0 1 |

+----------+-----+---------------------------------------+-----------------+

| TOTAL | 236 | 4908 8014 61.2 56249 7.0 410 265 | 517 1745 13 |

+----------+-----+---------------------------------------+-----------------+

My pick: Brett Favre

Looking at the career numbers of both players, it would be very easy to come to the conclusion that Favre is a much better quarterback than Starr, who never put up eye-opening passing statistics, ever was. However, after a more in-depth look - and an understanding of the era Starr played in, not to mention the style of play from that same era, where teams ran the ball much more, the decision of which quarterback is better becomes a lot tougher.

My personal feeling is that most people who saw Starr play - and lead the Packers to all of those championships, would agrue with the last breath that Starr is the better player. Conversely, fans from this era who have watched Favre throughout his career, will most certainly rate him ahead of Starr and in the class of the greatest quarterbacks of all-time.

Ultimately, I had to really try to take out the factor that the era they both played in altered their statistics immensely. I tried to picture Favre playing in Starr's era and vice versa.

What I have come to believe is that Farve would have succeeded in any era, probably more so than Starr, although it's hard to argue with the fact Starr won so many championships in his career. However, I firmly believe that Favre would have succeeded immensely on those same championship Packers teams of the Vince Lombardi era.

I think Starr would obviously still be an absolutely incredible leader, but may struggle in today's pass-happy times. I could be totally wrong, but I believe that Starr would have to be on the right team and the right system to really succeed in this modern era of pro football.

Being as though I have never been a big fan of Favre - and I revere ancient sports history like you wouldn't believe, this was an extremely tough decision for me. Having said that, I couldn't, in good conscience, rate Starr ahead of Favre. Not only is Favre the best quarterback in Green Bay Packers history, but one of the greatest of all-time.