Earlier this week the sports world was in mourning as Green Bay QB Brett Favre shockingly announced his retirement from the game after 17 seasons, 16 with the Packers. He will no longer grace us with his presence, wait until April to officially return for another season, or throw that crucial interception to lose the game.
I will admit that as a fan of the Chicago Bears, I am biased on the topic of Brett Favre. For years the man used to torment Bear Nation with a plethora of TD passes.
While the mainstream media and the conventional wisdom that it simply loves to regurgitate will indicate that Favre retired at the top of his game, I still believe that Favre retired later than he should have, and the reason is not because of his regular season success. This season, he had one of his greatest regular seasons of his career, passing for 4,155 yards, 28 TDs and only 15 INTs. Instead, the answer lies with how Favre has performed in the postseason throughout the last eight seasons, or six postseasons because of his aforementioned regular season achievements.
1) In 2001, Favre’s Packers defeated the San Francisco 49ers. Favre statistics (22/29, 269 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT) actually tell an accurate story. Indeed, Favre threw well. However, in the Divisional Round, Green Bay was thumped by the St. Louis Rams. Favre had one of the worst games of his entire career, including a staggering six interceptions. I realize that the Rams were offensive juggernauts, but that does not excuse throwing six interceptions.
2) In 2002, despite holding the #3 seed in the NFC, the Packers lost to Michael Vick and the Atlanta Falcons 27-7. Favre’s statistics are not as disgusting as last year’s playoff loss, but he did throw for under 50% and 2 INTs. The loss was Green Bay’s first at home in the postseason and an embarassment to Packer fans nationwide.
3) The following season, 2003, the Packers gained a wild card victory over the Seattle Seahawks, 33-27. In this game, Favre actually performed moderately well, throwing for 319 yards and one touchdown while managing to avoid throwing an interception. However, the following week, Green Bay lost to Philadelphia 20-17 in overtime. While Favre’s statistics are not bad, he threw a horrible INT in OT to lose the game for the Packers.
4) Then, in 2004, the Packers, who had previously swept the Vikings in the regular season, got manhandled in the third meeting, 31-17, in the playoffs. Favre played poorly, throwing for only one TD and four INTs. This performance was the second sign that Favre should have called it a career.
5) While Favre had all these aforementioned poor performances in the playoffs, the mainstream media was still fixated on Favre and how much he loves playing the game of football. However, the 2005 season changed that. The Packers went 3-13, Favre threw for 29 INTs and the mainstream media started to turn on him. The following season started off that way, but things eventually turned around for Green Bay, as they won four straight games to end the season. Favre finished with an even number of TDs and INTs: 18 each.
6) Last season, Favre’s return to regular season success meant that a lot of the mainstream media had to apologize. Peter King, Cris Collinsworth, Joe Buck, Sean Salisbury, John Madden and Chris Berman are prime examples of Favre apologists who peaked in their brown-nosing this past season, especially since Favre broke virtually every passing record - completions, attempts, yards, TD passes, and (of course) interceptions.
This success continued in the first game Green Bay played in the playoffs, a home win over Seattle where Favre went 18/23 and threw for 3 TDs. While Favre played well, in this game, Green Bay HB Ryan Grant was the MVP of this game, rushing for 200 yards in the 42-20 victory. Then, against the Giants, disaster struck again. Favre went 19/35 for 2 TDs and 2 INTs, one of which was thrown in overtime of GB’s 23-20 loss to the New York Giants. Once again, while Favre’s statistics are not horrible, Favre will ultimately be responsible for the loss since he threw the interception that directly led to the Giants kicking the FG to win the game.
All the seasons where Favre’s Packers made the playoffs have one commonality: a poor performance by Favre costs the team the chance to win the Super Bowl. Whether the poor performance is a plethora of interceptions or simply a horrible one at the end of a game (which indicates that he’s not a clutch QB), Favre’s playoff performances show that not only did he make the correct decision in retiring last week, but also that he should have retired a long time ago.
