Brett Favre: Green Bay Packer and Bear Killer

After quite a few years of wavering, Brett Favre has finally decided to call it a career. And what a career it has been!

Favre has solidified himself as one of the greatest, if not the greatest quarterbacks of all time. After the stellar year he had last year, it sure would appear that he is going out on top of his game.

Here are some of Favre's accomplishments during a career that is destined to end in Canton.

3 MVP awards (1995, 1996, 1997)

Most consecutive starts by a quarterback (253, 275 including playoffs)

Most wins by a starting quarterback (160)

Most career touchdown passes (442)

Most career passing yards (61,655)

Most career pass completions (5,377)

Most career pass attempts (8,758)

Most career games with at least three touchdown passes (63)

As a lifelong Chicago Bears fan and season ticket holder, I have seen my fair share of Brett Favre. Prior to the Lovie Smith era, it was an annual rite of passage for Favre to come into Chicago and send me home crying in my beer. He saved his best football for his Soldier Field performances, posting a 12-3 record there.

The manner in which Favre would beat you would be disheartening to say the least. Each time he dropped back to pass, you would hold your breath with anticipation hoping the defense would get to him. Alas, as soon as they were close, he would dump it off to a running back or tight end for a 12 yard gain on 3^rd and 11. He would do this repeatedly until the defense would begin to cheat a little. Then it was time for the big hit.

None was any bigger than the 99 yard TD pass to Robert Brooks on Monday Night Football in 1995. Talk about a back breaker. You are thinking safety. Favre is thinking 99 yards the other way. He became just the 8^th quarterback ever to accomplish the feat.

As great a passer as Favre was, it was not the only way he could beat you. During a 1994 driving monsoon in Chicago, Favre ran for a career high 58 yards, including a 36 yard touchdown. You didn't realize how water logged you were until you saw him leap over a defender to lead the Pack to a 33-6 win.

However, as hard as it was to watch Favre beat on the Bears year in and year out, to witness greatness and not realize it is a fool's game. I was lucky to be able to witness the greatest quarterback (if not football player) that ever played the game. It didn't feel like it at the time, but I slowly came to realize that I was in the presence of Hall of Fame talent.

Did Favre make foolish mistakes at times? Of course, but show me a quarterback with a killer instinct that doesn't.

Some will bring up the fact that Favre's last pass was an interception. That might be true. But the other part of that equation is that the interception was in the NFC Championship Game, a game that nobody predicted the Packers to be in. Any chance the Packers make it to that game without Favre? In a word, no.

The Cheeseheads of Wisconsin have been blessed for 16 years to have a player and person of the caliber of Brett Favre. His boyish enthusiasm is contagious. Like him or hate him, you have to admit that if you were to be a professional football player, you would want to play the game with the competitiveness and fervor that Favre showed every Sunday.

Oh and did I mention that during the 253 consecutive games Favre played for the Packers, the Chicago Bears started 21 different quarterbacks?

Sources:

Brett Favre - NFL.com

Favre vs Bears always a mismatch - ESPN.com

Brett Favre's Memorable Moments - ChicagoTribune.com