Inside My Head

“Old habits die hard” is a song by Mick Jagger, but according to the rumor mill, old legends die even harder. On March 6, 2008, a teary eyed Brett Favre formally announced his retirement from football in a press conference at Lambeau Field. I, like many others, were shocked at his decision to hang up his jersey especially after his ‘07 season. Backtracking one year ago to the end of the 2006 season, I was screaming for Favre to retire. This was because ‘06 was one of Favre’s worst seasons since he only completed 56% of his passes for a 73 passer rating with 18 interceptions to boot. Against many odds, Favre had one of his best seasons in 2007 with a 67% completion rate, a 96 passer rating and he broke many records like career touchdown passes(442), most wins by a starting QB(160), career passing yards(61,655), and most consecutive starts for a QB(253) just to name a few. 2007 was definitely the year for Brett Favre to prove that he is an elite quarterback and a future hall of famer, but this season, Favre needs to stand by his word and R-E-T-I-R-E!

There are so many that believe Favre should stay because he is the one that can lead his former team of the Green Bay Packers to the promised land of the Super Bowl. The first problem I see with this theory is Favre himself. Last season, Favre took the Packers to the postseason, more importantly, Favre took Green Bay to the NFC conference finals, but he couldn’t get them to the big game. Lost opportunities like that eat away at a person’s psyche and they either blindly pursue their ambition until they get it or they utterly crumble. What this means for Green Bay is that Favre will fight to win another Super Bowl, but Favre may be fighting more for his own legend and not for the good of the team which could translate to him taking more chances and throwing more interceptions adding to his record of 288. Secondly, it seems that the Green Bay Packer team he left doesn’t seem very thrilled to have him back either because in spite of the rumors that Favre wants to play again, no one in the Packer administration has made any comment. This could be because they feel that the rumors will go away and Favre will remain retired once the season starts, or it could be for a few other reasons. For starters, the man that would be the new Packers starting QB, Aaron Rodgers has been in the league for 4 years, but has only had 59 passing attempts and has never started a football game. The Packers also drafted two quarterbacks earlier this year more than likely to backup Rodgers. If Favre were to come back, it’s hard to see Rodgers wanting to sit out another season so Favre could have his starting job back which would mean controversy in Green Bay either because of Rodgers demanding to start, or because Rodgers would demand a trade leaving the Packers with a 38 year old veteran and two untested rookies.

Even if Favre were to return, he wouldn’t necessarily have to don the #4 jersey in Green Bay because there are definitely other teams who could use or would want to have a QB like Favre. The problem with that is the legend Brett Favre is. The smart thing to do here is to think about former QB’s John Elway and Joe Montana. The reason I mention Elway is because Elway led his former team, the Denver Broncos, to the Super Bowl in 1997 and 1998 and they won both years. Immediately after the ‘98 win, Elway retired with his legendary status intact and on January 31, 2004, he was inducted into the Pro football hall of fame. On the other hand, Joe Montana took a different route. Montana finally got a chance to be the starting QB for the San Francisco 49ers midway through their 1980 season and held this position until 1991 when he sat out the entire season and most of the ‘92 season with an elbow injury. During his span with San Francisco, he helped them win nine divisional titles and four Super Bowls, but instead of listening to his body and retiring, Montana still wanted to play so the 49ers traded him to the Kansas City Chiefs in April of 1993. Montana never enjoyed the same success he had in San Francisco and finally retired at the end of the 1994 season. He was inducted into the Pro football hall of fame in 2000, but these two careers tend to show why it’s always better to go out on top than go out as a fading memory.

The fans are another reason Brett Favre should retire. No matter what wrong Favre has ever committed, he has somehow become the teflon don of football. Everyone wants to see Favre back in action just like he was in 2007 and it’s easy for anyone to get sucked into that hype. The downside is that if he does return and instead of having a banner year like last season, Favre tanks whatever team he plays for, many of his “fans” will loudly protest and basically scream for his head. Favre played around with the idea of retiring after the 2006 season, but he came back. Now that he has “officially” announced his retirement, he should do what DE Michael Strahan, DT Warren Sapp, QB John Elway and every other NFL player like them has done after they have said “I retire”….stay retired. Brett Favre has retired…long live Brett Favre!

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