Brett Favre “The Gunslinger”

Brett Favre grew up in Klin, Mississippi. Favre was born to two school teachers, with his father Irvin also working as the local high school’s football coach. While Favre had a cannon for an arm at a young age, which his father recognized, he never got to throw the ball that often in high school. Irvin Favre ran the Wishbone offense, which saw the team run the ball very often and rarely ever pass. Fortunately, Favre managed to still land himself a roster spot at Southern Mississippi.

While Favre played QB in high school, Southern Miss originally wanted Favre to play defensive back, but he had his heart set on playing QB. Favre would be on the bench to start his college career, but eventually found the field in game 3 of his freshman season. Favre had a decent college career but certainly nothing spectacular.

NFL Career

After his college career, Favre was taken with the 33rd pick in the NFL Draft by the Atlanta Falcons. While Favre was taken relatively early in the NFL Draft, he did not get much playing time. In the few snaps that Favre took, he was intercepted twice and actually never completed a pass with the Falcons.

Favre stayed on the Falcons for his whole rookie year with no real fanfare, and was traded in 1992 to the Green Bay Packers. Favre took over for Don Majkowski at half time of the 2nd game of the 1992 season. Favre’s first completed throw as a Packer got tipped by a defensive linemen and ended up bouncing back to Favre who caught it for a loss of yards, giving him the rare feat of having his first ever completion be to himself.

The following season, Favre did something no Packers QB had done in 9 years – lead them to the playoffs. Favre got the Packers to the divisional round of the playoffs, a sign of good things to come for Green Bay.

Following this season, Favre entered free agency only to return to Green Bay on a 5-year contract. Favre returned the Packers to playoffs in back-to-back years, which hadn’t happened for the Packers since since the glory days of Vince Lombardi.

The 1995 season was where Favre took a great leap forwards in terms of his play. Favre threw for over 4000 yards, 38 touchdowns, a passer rating of 99.5, and helped lead the Packers to an 11-5 record. All of these great stats helped Favre land the 1995 MVP award. Green Bay made it to the NFC Championship game in 1995, but once again, they were eliminated from the playoffs by the Dallas Cowboys.

The following summer was a rough one for Favre. Favre had a seizure following a surgery, and it became known that Favre developped a Vicodin addiction due to the amount of injuries and pain he was in. Favre would enter rehab in the spring of 1996 and returned to the NFL field the same year.

Favre followed up his great 1995 season with another great season in 1996. He won his 2nd MVP award in a row as the Packers had the highest-scoring offense in the NFL. Not only did Favre win his 2nd MVP award in a row, but he and the Packers finally get themselves to a Super Bowl.

The Packers landed themselves in Super Bowl XXXI and found themselves facing off against the New England Patriots. The Packers beat the Patriots fairly handily, winning 35-21. Favre racked up three touchdowns (two passing and one rushing) and would throw for 246 passing yards. The most notable play of the game was an Antonio Freeman 81 yard touchdown pass.

The following year, Favre and the Packers made their way back to the Super Bowl. This time, they met John Elway and the Denver Broncos. Favre threw for 256 yards and 3 touchdowns against Denver, but it was all for not as the Broncos defeated the Packers 31-24.

Favre continued to play for Green Bay. Near the 2006 season, there were rumblings of Favre possibly retiring from football. Eventually, in March of 2008, Favre announce his official retirement from football, though this was far from the end.

In July of 2008, just a few months later, Favre made his intentions known that he wanted to return to the Packers. The problem with that was that the Packers were ready to move on from Favre to their next QB Aaron Rodgers. After a lot of talk between Favre and the Packers’ front office, they decided to part ways, with Green Bay trading Favre to the New York Jets.

Things were pretty rough for Favre with the Jets. In his final five games of the season (and of his Jets’ tenure), Favre threw eight interceptions, went 1-4, and missed out on the playoffs.

In September of 2009, Favre once again announced his retirement from football. While this would be the 2nd time Favre announced his retirement from the NFL, this next team was his last. In August of 2009, Favre officially came back to the NFL, this time with his old team’s rival, the Minnesota Vikings.

While Favre’s time in New York was rough, things went a lot better in Minnesota. Favre helped the Vikings dominate, and they ended up going 12-4 and making it to the NFC Championship game as well. Minnesota lost to the Saints in the NFC Conference championship game, thanks in part to an ugly overtime interception from Favre. After playing two years with Minnesota, Favre finally retired, this time for good.

The Gunslinger

Throughout his entire career, Favre was known as a bit of a risk-taker and came to be known as “The Gunslinger”. By the time Favre’s career was done, he led the NFL in career interceptions. While he did throw plenty of those, he also threw lots of crazy touchdowns. There was no throw on a football field that Brett Favre did not think he could make.

Awards:

Super Bowl Champion XXXI

3 Time MVP Award Winner

NFL Offensive Player of the Year

3 Time First-Team All-Pro

11 Time Pro Bowler

Number 4 retired by the Green Bay Packers

Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame

NFL Hall of Fame