Favre to Retire...
 

Source-Foxsports.com

Too bad his last pass was an interception. One of the top 5 ever in my opinion. One more Super Bowl would have helped though!

Such a shame but at least he went out with a nice season.

I'll believe it when the Packers take the field in week 1 and they have a new QB. Until then, we've been down this road many, many times before.

Sad way to start the day...

It is certainly a sad day. It's always sad when one of the all time greats hangs them up. I'm gonna miss Favre scrambling and flinging the ball around erratically. He definitely was fun to watch and he put the Packers in the hunt almost every year he was there. I think he's definitely somewhere between 5-10 all time. I don't know if I'd put him in the top 5 though. I hope Aaron Rogers can be decent next year as the Packers have a very solid, young team and there's no reason they can't make the playoffs next year.

this was the best time to retire. only thing that could've happened was he had a really horrible season and that's what woul've been people's lasting memory of him.

Somewhere John Madden is crying...

Sad and a bit surprising to see Favre retiring after the great last season he and the Packers had. Funny thing is that I thought Favre would have retired a few years ago but I had changed my mind for next year.

unless Favre joins him in the booth....then it'd be nirvana for him.

And now the Packers are in worse QB shape than the Bears. Tee hee.

Tell you what, I laughed with glee every time Favre got mauled, but I do respect the guy. One helluva player and competitor.

Just my guess, but with Moss signing yesterday, it appears that some of the pundits had it correct that if the Pack couldn't land him or at least one more weapon that he would hang it up. It is curious that this comes so soon on Moss' signing.

It looks like Moss re-signing with the Pats was the "last straw", Mortenson says that Favre was going to commit to 2 more years if they could bring him in.

But they could have had Donte STallworth!

GOTCHA

That'd be one hella ugly sausage fest.

I'm pretty sure I'd take Rodgers over anyone on the Bears right now. At least we aren't SURE that Rodgers sucks.

I think John Clayton or somebody said yesterday that Favre was probbaly going to play more than 1 season still!

I guess I'll remember the day Brett Favre retired pretty easily.

If Rodgers does suck Derek anderson should be available next yead

Wow.

Pity he couldn't get something akin to a farewell tour around the league. I can't recall another player being so popular with everyone league-wide.

He's my personal all-time team QB. And I grew up a Vikings fan!

Even Rex Grossman? LOL! He's just a delusional Bears Fan. Rodgers should be ready. He's only been sitting on the bench for 3 years. Whether or not he'll be any good does remain to be seen. We already know Grossman sucks. And it's not like Rodgers is inheriting the Miami Dolphins here. The Packers have a solid defense, a good running game, good WRs and TE. Who in the Packers division is that much better than a Favre-less Packers team, if any? Exactly.

I'm a Favre hater, so this news makes me happy.

:confused:

How can you possibly hate Favre?

Do you hate kittens also?
Ice cream?

Statement from Ted Thompson on packers.com...

Brett Favre has informed us of his intention to retire from the Green Bay Packers and the NFL. He has had one of the greatest careers in the history of the National Football League, and he is able to walk away from the game on his own terms - not many players are able to do that.

The Packers owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude. He has given Packers fans 16 years of wonderful memories, a Super Bowl championship among them, that will live on forever. Brett's many accomplishments on the field are legendary. He leaves the game holding virtually every career passing record, plus his consecutive starts streak, which may never be duplicated.

The uniqueness of Brett Favre - his personality, charisma and love of the game - undoubtedly will leave him as one of the enduring figures in NFL history.

I guess that makes it official.

While I don't hate Favre, I can see where Schmidty is coming from as a Lions fan. You can't help but be a little bitter at the man after all those years of him kicking the Lions in the teeth. Given Schmidty's penahce for bitterness, I can see how it'd turn into hatred for the man, especially given all the media love/fawning he receives.

As a Lions fan, I am glad to see him go, though I fully expect Aaron Rodgers to light up the Lions for years to come...

I think he's a Lions fan and as we all know, Favre dominated the Lions during his career. Maybe he's hoping that the Lions will actually be good this year and might be able to defeat the Favre-less Packers. But many of us know that's not gonna happen, Favre or no Favre. The Lions will finish in the cellar of the NFC North once again.

The offense presently consists of Devin Hester on returns and Gould kicking field goals. We don't really need a QB, therefore, better shape. :)

The Bears need to draft Darren McFadden and adopt the Wildhog formation.

I've always hated him. When I watch sports, I watch as a fan of my teams, first and foremost. Favre was the enemy, especially being within the same division as the Lions. Even when he's not playing against the Lions, I root against him.

I also hated Michael Jordan, George Brett, Mario Lemieux, etc... I'm not into hero worship on an individual level.

Favre actually had a reputation of struggling in the Silverdome for a while.

from With Leather


I think this sums up how I feel exactly.
If he would have never become the NFL poster boy, I would still like him.
We still get to look forward to 3-5 years of Greatest Quarterback Eveh!!!
Then maybe he can fade away.

This is not a comment about Favre, it is about what the NFL has become.

I actually do hate ice cream.

we weren't talking about you

Not sure I would say top 5 all-time for Favre. He had his moments but he could also be a bottom 5 QB with many of his throw it up for grabs interceptions.

I would put Montana, Marino, Stalbauch (sp?, but does it really matter if I mispell a Cowgirl QB), Bradshaw, Elway and Brady ahead of him and that's just off the top of my head.

What if I said I hate Brett Favre?

I agree that I wouldn't say Top 5, but definitely an all-time great and first-ballot hall of famer.

As much as hearing it from John Madden late in his career drained my enjoyment of it - It was actually nice to see someone who so clearly enjoyed actually playing, particularly early in his career.

The Brett Favre-Warren Sapp playoff encounters were a lot of fun. And the 3-way Cowboys/49ers/Packers playoff meetings are for me the best stretch fo NFL postseson I've ever personally witnessed. There was like a 5 year span where some combination of those teams met in the conference championship game, and they were all great.

I'm definitely sad to see him go. But, he had a very good final season and I think it's time for us (as Packer fans) to start transitioning forward. I'd like to see what Rodgers can do (and maybe sign a vet backup), but the strength of this team is the RB, WR, defense and special teams. This isn't like it would have been if Brett would have retired three years ago when we had nothing but Favre and scrubs.

dola, it was reported in GB that the Packers were told by Brett last week that this would be his decision. So, the Moss thing doesn't seem to have impacted it.

Why would a Lions fan hate Brett Farve? That's like getting buggered by two platoons of gorillas, and saying afterward, "Geez that one gorilla who came back for seconds was a real sonofabitch."

In fact, other than Matt Millen, I can't fathom how a Lions fan can hate any individual with any particular vitriol. It's not as if at any point in 16 years Brett Farve was the one man keeping the Lions from winning a championship, right?

I can see why Cowboys fans would hate Bradshaw or Montana, why Browns fans would hate Elway, even why Packers fans would hate Aikman maybe, but Lions fans oughtta just hate the Lions. Or maybe hate the NFL.

That's the "official" version at least...

Is it okay for everyone to hate Terrell Owens?

+1, cthomer. During that time frame, even the regular season matchups were so freakin enormous, because you could pretty much pencil in the winner of the round robin as the NFC Championship Game home team.

No, bsak16, it's not just "okay", it's required.

Just to make sure my memory wasn't exaggerating, i looked it up:

1992-93	Dallas Cowboys (6)	30	San Francisco 49ers	20	San Francisco	Candlestick Park
1993-94	Dallas Cowboys (7)	38	San Francisco 49ers	21	Irving, Texas	Texas Stadium
1994-95	San Francisco 49ers (5)	38	Dallas Cowboys	28	San Francisco	Candlestick Park
1995-96	Dallas Cowboys (8)	38	Green Bay Packers	27	Irving, Texas	Texas Stadium
1996-97	Green Bay Packers (1)	30	Carolina Panthers	13	Green Bay, Wisconsin	Lambeau Field
1997-98	Green Bay Packers (2)	23	San Francisco 49ers	10	San Francisco	3Com Park

So in a 6 year span, The Cowboys had 4 title game appearances, the 49ers 4, the Packers 3, and the Panthers (1) being the only other team to even come close to reaching the superbowl.

This doesn't even include the wildcard or divisional round matchups that i know also occured in there (Desmond Howard running wild on the 49ers at Lambeau springs to mind).

I think it's pretty funny how annoyed people get when I tell them that I don't like Favre. It's like I'm insulting their boyfriend or something.

And you're right about the Lions. I do hate them. But I love them, if you know what I mean. Insult them all you want. They deserve it.

And Favre still sucks.

+1 to all of that

It's okay Schmidty. I know exactly where you are coming from.

This news makes me quite sad.

Most accounts of this story are quoting Favre's agent Bus Cook as saying that Favre's decision was influenced by a seemingly lukewarm attitude toward his return from Thompson & McCarthy. They reportedly weren't trying to push him out the door, but they also weren't trying to talk him out of retiring. Here's the quote I found from JSOnline's story:

"It's my opinion," Cook said of the Packers' lack of interest. "I know he wants to play one more year. I do not know 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."
--------------

If true it makes me at least understand his decision a bit better. I thought Favre was a lock to return this year, given how well the team performed last year and the dramatically improved receiver corps he has to work with. But if he didn't get the feeling that the team really wanted him back then why go through that pain and drudgery of another NFL season (amplified by being yet another year older)?

When you've had such QB luminaries like Scott Mitchell and Joey Harrington, it's easy to look down upon a hack like Brett Favre.

Looks like Mort is now backing this up:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3276034


But even if it did play a role, I don't understand how Driver+Jennings+James Jones is bad, but Moss+Driver+Jennings is great. If having a small upgrade of Moss over Driver is all it would take to have him comeback, why is he retiring? I mean, GB had one of the best WR corps in football last season when you look at YAC and drops.