253 / 275

Thank you Brett

Brett Favre is retiring and football is worse for it. As an NFL fan there is always a tendency to think of those robo quarterbacks, the ones that played like they were bred for the game, John Elway, Dan Marino, Warren Moon, as the prime performers in history, and they are, nothing to take away from them.

But Brett is the greatest of all time. He holds the records for most passing yards, most passing touchdowns, most interceptions thrown, most victories as a starter, most seasons with 3000 passing yards, most seasons with 30 touchdowns passes, most MVP awards, most career passing attempts and most career completions. And he did it all with an unconventional style, sandlot football, underhanded spirals and selling the fake.

But the record that Brett will be remembered for, the record that may never be broken is his streak of consecutive games started, 253 regular season and 275 including playoffs. 20 September 1992, that was the last time Brett did not start for the Green Bay Packers, when he came in to relieve an injured Don Majkowski (Wahoowa!).

I do not believe this record will ever be broken, it is right up there with Cal Ripken's 2632 consecutive MLB baseball games, more than 500 more than the unbreakable streak of Lou Gehrig, it is right up there with Glenn Hall's 502 consecutive NHL hockey games in goal, before goalies played with facemasks, Glenn's record was more than 270 more than legendary goalie and Vezina Trophy namesake Georges Vezina's unbreakable streak.

A toast to Brett Favre, thank you and you will be missed.


Washington Post photo gallery.


Brett Favre: Matthew Stockman / Getty Images from here.