Brett Favre is the Most Overrated Player in NFL History

"Brett Favre's giant mistake" reads the headline this morning after his crushing interception in yesterday's NFC Championship game resulted in his Vikings losing a shot at going to the Super Bowl.

The problem is that Brett Favre has been making giant mistakes his entire career. While the media and fans gushed over Favre's regular season performance, which was indeed the best of his career, some of us just sat back and smiled, knowing that in the playoffs, Favre would revert to his usual self - The Interception Machine.

Yesterday's epic Favre failure was further evidence that Brett Favre is the most overrated player in NFL history.

Brett Favre: Most overrated player in NFL history
Before people get bent out of shape, let's make sure we're clear on the definition of overrated. "Overrated" does not mean "bad." It means "not as good as people say he is."

Brett Favre is not a bad quarterback. He's had a successful career and posted big numbers, which make him worthy of Hall of Fame status. But if you listen to the media, you'd think Favre is one of the top handful of quarterbacks in NFL history.

Is Favre one of the top ten quarterbacks in NFL history? Not even close. Top 20? Possibly, but that's not even a sure thing.

The main reason Brett Favre is the most overrated player in NFL history is because of the incredibly high number of interceptions he throws. And these aren't just any old interceptions. These are completely boneheaded interceptions at critical times in football games. He's now thrown interceptions on his last pass of two consecutive NFC Championship Games.

Every time Favre throws another boneheaded interception, as he did yesterday, the media and fans excuse it by saying, "That happens when you're a gunslinger." Well then maybe he shouldn't be a gunslinger. Because his inexcusably reckless style of play cost his Green Bay Packers at least one Super Bowl championship, and it now appears to have cost his Minnesota Vikings a real shot at their first Super Bowl championship.

Brett Favre: Not a truly great playoff quarterback
These mistakes simply cannot be excused. All-time great quarterbacks do not make these kinds of blunders. Joe Montana did not throw crushing playoff interceptions on a regular basis. Nor did Steve Young, Bart Starr, Troy Aikman, Phil Simms, Kurt Warner, or any other truly great playoff quarterback. Even players like Elway, who threw a lot of postseason interceptions, never threw them at such critical moments in big games.

Brett Favre has a Super Bowl ring, and that can never be taken away from him. But with the talent he's had around him throughout his career, Favre should have at least two more rings. He certainly should have won Super Bowl XXXII, when his Packers failed to beat an inferior Broncos team, becoming the first NFC team to lose a Super Bowl in 14 years. And his Vikings were clearly better than the Saints yesterday. But they won't get a chance to win the Super Bowl because of Favre's horrific performance.

Summary: Brett Favre is the most overrated player in NFL history
It's time to stop fawning over Brett Favre as if he's the second coming. He was a solid NFL quarterback for a lot of years but he was far from one of the best of all-time. His teams underachieved, most often as a direct result of his crushing, ill-timed interceptions.

When he retires, we'll hear lots of stories about Favre's heroics when he becomes a first-ballot Hall of Famer. But they won't be true. Brett Favre is the most overrated player in NFL history.

Brett Favre is the most overrated player in NFL history: Sources
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