It for sure wasn’t the way he wanted to go out, but it seems like it’s finally time for Vikings quarterback Brett Favre to walk away from the NFL. Today Favre officially filed his retirement papers with the NFL, the league confirmed. He had already said that after the season finale in Detroit, a game in which he didn’t play due to a concussion, that the game would be his last.
“I know it’s time, and that’s OK. It is,” Favre said after the game that day. “Again, I hold no regrets, and I can’t think of too many players offhand that can walk away and say that. Individually and from a team standpoint, it was way more than I ever dreamed of.”
Favre though is well known for putting people on hold with talk of retirement. The first time he walked away was 2008 with the Packers on March 6th, and then he came back that summer and eventually was traded to the New York Jets.
In 2009 with the Jets he retired again, only to come back and ink with the Vikings, and he had a huge season, leading the team to the NFC Title Game before they folded to the Saints in OT.
This past season he came back, but the season was a disaster, as the team not only didn’t play well, but Favre ended up getting hurt and his consecutive game streak was eventually snapped.
He was picked off 19 times this season and his 69.9 quarterback rating is the lowest of his career. The Vikings sunk to the bottom of the NFC North after starting the season with Super Bowl aspirations, coach Brad Childress was fired during the season and Favre was fined $50,000 for failure to cooperate with an NFL investigation into allegations that he sent lewd photos and messages to a team employee when both worked for the New York Jets in 2008.
Favre’s reputation took a serious hit from the humiliating scandal, which tarnished the image of one of the league’s most popular players.
His union with receiver Randy Moss also was a spectacular failure and his cherished streak of 297 straight starts ended, with a sprained throwing shoulder making it impossible for Favre to let those famously zip-filled passes rip from his right arm.
And just for good measure, the Metrodome roof caved in to provide a perfect metaphor for Favre and the Vikings’ 2010, forcing the Vikings to play “home” games at Detroit and at the University of Minnesota’s outdoor stadium in December.
“It’s been a wonderful experience for me,” Favre said. “This year did not work out the way we would have hoped, but that’s football. I don’t regret coming back. I enjoyed my experience here.”
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