Favre finally calls it quits

Brett Favre has finally let a Nation held hostage off the hook by announcing his retirement today. While the object of unadulterated fawning by the national media as a whole (Rick Morrissey and John Madden included), Favre did bring a certain aw shucks, dumbed-down slinger mentality to the position that traditionally the smartest athlete on the team usually played. And prior to his rejuvenation last year, his numbers were slipping greatly because of that mindset (see chart below).

But that didn't stop the media from practically make aural love to Number 4 every time he stepped on the field even when it was not deserved. And again, prior to finally getting a much needed ground game and taking advantage of a weak NFC Central, Favre's career numbers were headed south at a rapid almost Kurt Warner-like rate. For example here are his 2005 & 2006 regular season numbers:

He was throwing it over 38 times a game and only completing a shade over 58% of them. He threw more INTs than TDs and he averaged only 243 yards a game. Not terrible stats but definitely not Hall of Fame numbers by any stretch of the imagination (other than those who worship at the altar of Favre).

Look - he was a great QB for a long time (for NFL standards. He is the NFL Ironman, won a MVP and a Super Bowl and he did break Dan Marino's career TD and Yardage numbers in 2007. There is no argument that he is a first ballot HOF. But if you looked at the steady decline of his numbers, he probably should've retired 2004 when he first considered doing so.

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