Favre Finally Calls it a Career

After multiple offseasons of retirement talk, Brett Favre has finally decided to hang up the cleats once and for all. Over his 17-year career, Favre has set many different records for quarterbacks. Favre owns the completion, yardage and touchdown records. Favre has won three MVP awards, and is a Super Bowl champion.

The most impressive feat of Favre's career is his 275 consecutive starts. That is over 15 seasons, including the postseason, without missing a start. That is unbelievable in a sport where injuries get you at every turn. That record will probably never be topped, and only Peyton Manning has a chance to possibly sniff it. Favre probably is one of the top 10-15 quarterbacks in NFL history.

However, Favre also owns the interception record. He did have fatal flaws in his game. Just a month ago, Favre's last NFL pass was picked off by the Giants in overtime of the NFC Championship. He was outplayed in his own building by Eli Manning. Favre has had other rough playoff games as well. He threw six interceptions against St. Louis in the 2000-01 playoffs. He also lost Super Bowl XXXII as a heavy favorite to the Denver Broncos. These dreadful performances lead me not to put Favre in the elite of the elite. He is not on the level of Joe Montana, Terry Bradshaw, or even Tom Brady.

Even though this is the third year in a row we have had to deal with Favre pondering retirement, I am shocked he is leaving after the Packers' great season in 2007. I figured he'd want to come back and take one last stab at a Super Bowl with this talented roster. There are things behind the scenes that we will probably never know about. I do think Aaron Rodgers can keep the Packers competitive next year. I was impressed with his performance when Favre went down vs. Dallas, and I think if he can beat his injury problems he will do alright for Green Bay. He certainly will not be the next Brett Favre though.

Pat Morgan