Brett Favre's Streak: an Historical Perspective

The streak is over. For non-NFL fans, I mean that Brett Farve, probably one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game of football, did not start Monday night when the Minnesota Vikings played the New York Giants. After 19 seasons and 297 regular season starts, the iron man was placed on the inactive list due to a worse than usual shoulder injury -- an injury that left him with a golf ball-sized knot between his neck and his collarbone and that also left his throwing hand numb. To put into some kind of perspective the longevity of this unbelievable streak, consider the following:

The streak began on September 27, 1992, when Favre replaced the injured Green Bay Packer QB Don Majkowski in a game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Bill Clinton was elected to his first term as President of the United States in 1992.

The original Dream Team won the gold medal in basketball at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.

The top movies were Home Alone 2, Batman Returns, Lethal Weapon 3, Sister Act, Aladdin, Wayne's World, A League of Their Own, Basic Instinct, The Bodyguard, and A Few Good Men.

Stephen King's Dolores Claiborne and John Grisham's The Pelican Brief were the top two books of 1992.

Popular TV shows of 1992 included Roseanne, Home Improvement, Murphy Brown, and Murder She Wrote.

"All 4 Love" by Color Me Badd was the number one song in 1992.

Tiger Woods was named Golf Digest Amateur Player of the Year in 1992.

Aaron Rogers, who eventually replaced Favre in Green Bay, turned 9 years old in 1992.

Peyton Manning was 16 years old in 1992, and Tom Brady was 15.

Sidney Rice, one of Favre's favorite receivers on the Minnesota Vikings, was only 6 years old in 1992. Percy Harvin was 4, and Adrian Peterson was 7.

Interesting, Lou Gehrig's streak of 2,130 consecutive games ended in 1939, like Favre's, in Detroit.

References:
History Central: Major Events of 1992.

The Detroit News. Another famous streak ends in Detroit by Tony Paul.