By TOM SILVERSTEIN
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
tsilverstein@journalsentinel.com
Posted: March 4, 2008
Green Bay - Everyone figured it had to come to an end someday.
Yet Sunday after Sunday, season after season, fans woke up and Brett Favre was still quarterback of the Green Bay Packers. Over a 16-year period he wove himself into the fabric of this state like no other athlete, and for the 5,867 days since his arrival Feb. 10, 1992, there was rarely any doubt where he would be on opening day.
Children grew into adults, adults watched their hair turn gray, yet Brett Favre remained the quarterback.
Until Tuesday. . . .
The day when the streak ended. And just like that, Favre's time expired.
The Packers announced that the most popular player to wear a Green Bay uniform and one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time announced he was retiring after 17 seasons in the National Football League.
The announcement came 44 days after Favre's interception in overtime led to the winning points in the Packers' gut-wrenching, 23-20 overtime loss to the New York Giants in the NFC championship game. In the time that followed, Green Bay coach Mike McCarthy reached out to Favre once a week or so to help him talk out his concerns about the future and see which way he was leaning.
It was a similar process to last off-season, but McCarthy knew something was different Thursday night when Favre used the word retirement for the first time. McCarthy still thought the 38-year-old future Hall of Famer was going to come back, but while attending his daughter's high school basketball team banquet in Austin, Texas, his cell phone rang.
Favre was on the other end, and his news wasn't good.
"I had to remove myself from where I was standing because I was taken aback," McCarthy said.
This time around, Favre wasn't coming back.
After taking time to relax at his home in Hattiesburg, Miss., he decided he did not have the will to go on. In a voice mail message sent to ESPN's Chris Mortensen, Favre said he didn't have the energy to put in the work necessary to play another season.
"I know I can still play, but it's like I told my wife (Deanna), I'm just tired mentally," Favre said. "I'm just tired."
The message to Mortensen was Favre's only comment on the record on Tuesday, and in it he did not mention when he intended to address the media and the Green Bay fans on his retirement.
Apparently, it was truly the first time in his entire Packers career that he felt he couldn't go on. After 275 consecutive regular-season and post-season starts, the most of any quarterback in NFL history and 102 ahead of second-place holder Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts, Favre won't be answering the bell anymore.
'That will be it'
"I often think about the perfect ending, and I think it will be just like the movie 'Forrest Gump' when Forrest is always running down the road and then one day he all of a sudden stops," longtime Packers trainer Pepper Burruss once said. "When Brett quits having fun, he'll stop. He'll throw a touchdown pass and then he'll walk off the field right through the tunnel, and that will be it."
It almost happened that way.
Favre was one bad pass and one or two good ones away from playing in his third Super Bowl. Guiding the youngest team in the NFL on the field, Favre teamed with McCarthy to bring the Packers back to the brink of greatness. And while doing it, he punctuated his Hall of Fame career by becoming the all-time record holder in three more passing categories, giving him claim to every significant quarterback milestone in NFL history, including the all-time interception mark.
After the loss to the Giants, Favre had his usual end-of-the-season meeting with McCarthy and general manager Ted Thompson and was told to go home and take some time to think about whether he wanted to return. Publicly, both McCarthy and Thompson expressed their desire for Favre to return.
But to some of those around Favre, there was an underlying feeling that the Packers weren't that interested in bringing him back and didn't feel it necessary to do anything special to urge him to continue. The general feeling among those friends, relatives and colleagues was that Thompson did not do enough to convince Favre it was worth giving it one more try.
"I know he wants to play one more year," his longtime agent and close friend, James (Bus) Cook, told the Journal Sentinel shortly after Favre's intentions became known publicly. "I do not know how much conversation there was (between Favre and the Packers) and I don't think anyone forced him to make that decision. But I don't know that anyone tried to talk him out of it."
In an interview with WTMJ-TV (Channel 4), Favre's brother, Scott, expressed similar sentiments, saying Thompson could have done more to "let Brett know how much they needed him, or what they were going to do, or ask him questions on what he thought about what they can do. I don't think they communicated enough."
For his part, Thompson said he and McCarthy followed the same plan they did a year ago, when Favre was contemplating a return after an 8-8 season. He said he didn't think it was up to him or McCarthy to try to make Favre do something he wasn't up for doing himself. He insisted that through a long discussion with Favre on Tuesday morning, Favre was at peace with his decision and wasn't angry that Thompson hadn't done more to encourage him to stay.
"This decision was a complicated decision," Thompson said. "It's not as simple as even I might think it is. Do you want to play or don't want to play? It's more complicated than that. There are other factors that weigh into his decision-making process."
Unlike two years ago, when Favre left Lambeau Field waving to cheering fans who chanted "One more year," the suddenness of defeat to the eventual Super Bowl champion Giants left him and many Packers fans stunned. Favre did leave through that tunnel Burruss talked about, but certainly not the way he intended.
During a Super Bowl week visit to Phoenix, the site of Super Bowl XLII, Favre appeared in good spirits while picking up an award for his performance in 2007. In a short address to the media, he said that in no way would he allow the interception against the Giants to affect his decision on whether to retire. He said it was important for him to base his decision on how much energy he had left and his willingness to put in the training that it would take for him to be effective at 39 years old.
Even two years after the fact, Favre's words regarding his 4-12 season in '05 could be applied today.
"I've had so many people say, 'Well, you can't go out that way. You've got to come back and redeem yourself and redeem this team's season,' " Favre said. "But in all honesty, if this is it, I have gone out on top. I mean, I really have.
"One season does not define me, no matter how good or bad it is."
Even before this season, Favre hasn't been surrounded by a consistently high number of Pro Bowl players, but he always managed to raise the level of play of those on his team. And he did it by consistently being in the lineup and playing with the passion and unbridled enthusiasm of a rookie who doesn't know any better.
Love him for his touchdowns, hate him for his interceptions, but always appreciate him for making the game fun.
And remember him for what he did for the Green Bay Packers.
"I don't think there's any doubt he will go down as the greatest player in the history of this wonderful organization," former team President Bob Harlan said. "And his accomplishments for the Packers will be treasured forever. I always said I thought it was such an honor to see him play. We're all going to look back someday and say how fortunate we were to see Brett Favre. And the last time he went down the tunnel it would be a sad day for the Green Bay Packers."
As for his standing among the greatest quarterbacks of all time, Favre will be firmly in the debate. And as an ambassador of professional football, there might not have been many better. He earned roughly $101 million playing 17 seasons, but he often looked like he was playing just for the fun of it.
"Brett's talent, enthusiasm and love of the game helped him become the only player to earn three MVP awards, and he was a vital part of bringing a Super Bowl championship back to Green Bay," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said. "It has been a joy and privilege for all of us to watch him play."
Rebuilding Titletown
Much has been and will be written about the impact general manager Ron Wolf and former coach Mike Holmgren had on the Packers after coming together in 1992 to revive the fabled organization.
Twenty years of losing had made Green Bay an arctic outpost from where there seemed no escape. Before Wolf dealt a first-round pick to the Atlanta Falcons for a third-string quarterback named Favre, the Packers had finished with a winning season three times from 1973 to '91.
When history is written, they'll say it was Favre who turned it all around.
Wolf surrounded Favre with quality teammates and Holmgren harnessed the talents of the wild stallion, but Favre is the one who re-energized the organization and its many fans. He, more than anyone else, was responsible for the Packers' recapturing the glory of their past.
"When I got there, this was the worst team in professional football," Wolf said. "When I left, it had the second-best won-lost record in the NFL, and two years later it had the best won-lost record in the NFL and still does since 1992 when Brett Favre took over.
"That's his accomplishment, and no one thought that would happen in Green Bay, Wisconsin."
Brett Favre retires at or near the top of the National Football League in almost every passing record and is a certain first-ballot Hall of Famer.
This past season, he broke John Elway's record of 149 career victories, Dan Marino's record of 420 touchdown passes, and Marino's record of 61,361 passing yards.
Favre finished his career with 442 touchdown passes, 61,655 passing yards and 160 victories.
He also leaves holding NFL records in attempts (8,758), completions (5,377), interceptions (288), most consecutive seasons completing 300 or more passes (16), most consecutive seasons with 3,000 yards passing (16), and most consecutive seasons of 20 or more touchdown passes (12).
The record he'll be most remembered for is the one that most embodies his status as one of the true competitors in the game. In 16 years with the Packers, Favre never missed a start.
He made his first start against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sept. 27, 1992, and proceeded to go 253 regular-season games (plus 22 post-season games) without missing a start. He broke the previous consecutive games streak for quarterbacks held by Philadelphia's Ron Jaworski (116) in 1999 and raised the bar for durability to such a level that it could be decades before his record is broken.
"What he has is extreme toughness, which comes first when you're evaluating a quarterback," former Washington coach Joe Gibbs once said. "A lot of people are surprised when I say that. But the most important thing for a quarterback is to be mentally tough, because they get the crap kicked out of them and they can't defend themselves.
"That's what he has first and foremost."
During a 16-year span, Favre has been injured and unable to finish a game only seven times, the last against the Dallas Cowboys on Nov. 29 when he was struck in the right elbow by the helmet of blitzing cornerback Nathan Jones. The percentage of plays he has missed during his career as a starter is minuscule.
And it's not like he hasn't been hurt. There was the elbow last year, ankle surgery after the '06 season, the broken thumb in 2003, the sprained lateral collateral ligament in his left knee in '02, the elbow tendinitis and mid-foot sprain in '00, the sprained thumb and sore shoulder in '99, turf toe in '98 and '97, a severely sprained ankle in '95 and a bad hip bruise and abdominal pain in '94.
Favre has been dealing with pain for a long time, and what makes his streak so impressive is that he hasn't been simply holding down a position in the lineup. At age 38, he completed 356 of 535 passes for 4,155 yards and 28 touchdowns with 15 interceptions. He tied for the most victories he has had in a season (13) and surpassed his previous mark for completion percentage, hitting 66.5% of his passes. His yardage and passer rating (95.7) were the third highest marks of his career.
In the NFL, he ranked sixth in the league in passer rating, fourth in completions, completion percentage and yards, and tied for sixth in touchdowns. He was chosen for the Pro Bowl for the ninth time (including once as an alternate) this past season.
"In my opinion, I think he could have played again at the level that he just played this past season," McCarthy said. "The film reflects that. The statistics reflect that. I thought he played at a very high level this year and definitely had a lot left in his tank."
Highs and lows
Prior to last season, he hadn't been as dominant as during the three-year span from 1995 to '97, when he threw 112 touchdown passes and won the league's MVP award each season, becoming the first player to win it three times in a row. Those were the salad days when Favre and the Packers ruled the NFC, playing in three consecutive NFC Championship games, advancing to two Super Bowls and winning it all at the end of the 1996 season.
As Favre grew both as a quarterback and as a man, the Packers' fans were with him every step.
They treated him as if he were a god as he led the Packers back to greatness, and they scolded him for living an unsavory lifestyle as he did it. They celebrated his greatness and applauded his transformation into a responsible leader of the football team, watching him submit to the power of addiction and spend time in a drug rehabilitation center in 1996.
And they paused as he went through a series of trying personal moments that would have brought a weaker man to his knees. And they watched as he played on. And on and on and on.
Four days before Christmas 2003, Favre's father, Irvin, who coached his son in high school, died of a heart attack. The next day Favre threw for 399 yards and four touchdowns against the Oakland Raiders in a nationally televised Monday night game.
Then midway through the next season, his brother-in-law died in an all-terrain vehicle accident on Favre's property in Hattiesburg, Miss. And yet he played on. And when a week later his wife, Deanna, was diagnosed with breast cancer, he played on. He cut his hair short in support of his wife as she went through chemotherapy and, along with Deanna, helped raise money for cancer patients with less financial resources than they had.
Then in 2005, the home he grew up in was leveled by Hurricane Katrina, and his home in Hattiesburg became a refuge for displaced family members. Last summer, Deanna's stepfather, who had become close with Favre, died of a heart attack at the quarterback's property in Hattiesburg.
"I consider myself as mentally tough as anybody, but at times like (that) I question it," Favre said. "Things like this are humbling. Sometimes we think that the only thing is our job, and then you get blindsided and wake up. It's not fun."
Through all the trials and tribulations, he always had football to fall back on. It was a labor of love.
Favre often described the football field as a sanctuary where he didn't have to worry about all the problems that plagued him. He often spoke of retreating to his home and spending the rest of his days riding his tractor, but the allure of the game always drew him back.
He got his starting job in 1992 when Don Majkowski injured his ankle against the Cincinnati Bengals, and Favre never looked back. However, the memory of how he got his job always remained fresh in his mind, and part of the reason he took all the snaps during practice and refused to let injury sideline him was the ridiculous notion that he might lose his job.
Favre might have been the most insecure three-time MVP the league has ever seen.
"I always remembered I got my job because Don got hurt," Favre once said. "I never forgot that. You're only a play away from either playing or not playing. So many guys who lost their jobs figured, 'I'll be right back in there when I'm healthy' and they never played again.
"I didn't want to give someone else a chance."
Shaped by Holmgren
Favre's rise to prominence didn't come without growing pains.
In the early days, Holmgren confined Favre to the outline of the West Coast offense and refused to let him revert to his schoolyard ways. Every day was a lesson in patience and discipline.
Holmgren demanded perfection, and Favre sought creativity. When Favre didn't comply, he usually wound up at the other end of a Holmgren tirade.
"I knew that I probably deserved a good chewing out, but I didn't particularly like it," Favre said. "So one way or another, maybe subconsciously, I would do something to make him even madder. He'd tell me, 'Whatever you do, don't scramble out of the pocket,' and I'd say, 'No problem.' What's the first thing I would do? I'd scramble out of the pocket. If it worked, I'd be the first one to say, 'Now see.' And he'd just 'Mmmph.' When it wouldn't work (Holmgren said) 'I want to see you,' and I knew what was coming."
In the end, they were perfect for each other and they both got what they wanted. After Holmgren left, Favre continued to win games. There were only two nonwinning seasons in his 16 campaigns as the Packers' starting quarterback. There were monumental misplays during those years, interceptions fans couldn't forgive. But there were never any regrets when he left the field.
And now that it's over, the Packers will have to move on with Aaron Rodgers - or some other poor soul - who must live in Favre's shadow.
The great quarterback's legacy will live on.
But his career is finally over.
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