Brett Favre Needs to Stop Streaking

There are a decent amount of things I hate in sports. These include, among others: Alex Rodriguez, LeBron James, Tom Brady, Notre Dame football and when people say "we" when talking about their favorite team (you are not a member of the organization, therefore you cannot say you are a part of the team). Before this season, I didn't hate Brett Favre. I still have few ill feelings towards the man. I personally think he should have retired after last year, but I understood why he couldn't let go. However, I hate... no, no, I loathe, that damn consecutive games streak, because it is the only reason Favre played last week, it is the only reason he will play this week, it is the only reason he will play the remaining ten games. This stupid streak is only causing more harm than good.

The only good thing I can say about this streak is that people should cherish it while it lasts, because there will never be another streak like it. Football is too physical, the players are too fast and too strong, and a player playing 19 seasons will be unfathomable going forward. But now, this streak is beginning to look like the last three seasons of Scrubs. It should have gone away once NBC dropped it (in Favre's case, when Green Bay GM Ted Thompson told him it was now Aaron Rodgers' team), it was stale and worn out when it changed networks, and the last season was just pathetic. But no, Favre came back, and heck, last year he had one of his best statistical seasons ever.

But because of this streak, this terrible, horrible, no good, very bad streak, he came back again this year. I can guarantee that if he got hurt in, say, 1996 and missed a game, he would have retired a Packer. But no he didn't! And a bum ankle be damned, Dr. James Andrews did his magic and number 4 was dressed up for the purple and gold for Week 1. Last week he was questionable, but sucked it up, threw three interceptions and was called out by head coach Brad Childress. Now it was admitted this week that he has two fractures around the ankle. Normally most people would sit out a week or two, but Brett Favre isn't most people now is he? Because he has to start, he's going to miss practice (because as he showed this pre-season and last week, he doesn't need practice), wear a walking boot and throw three picks as the Vikings go to 2-5 and get lambasted by the Patriots.

And it's not like Brad Childress has a choice as to playing Favre or not. Tarvaris Jackson is the backup, and a 42-year-old man with a crappy ankle and an off-the-field distraction is better than him. And because Favre loafed around, Jackson is the team's only other option. It wasn't a QB-heavy draft this year, so one who was available (i.e. Jimmy Clausen or Colt McCoy) would not have been game-ready. And because Favre waited until Jared Allen, Ryan Longwell and Steve Hutchinson had to physically drag him off his lawnmower the team couldn't enter in the sweepstakes for a Donovan McNabb, Jason Campbell, or even Jake Delhomme (just as many picks, only fewer distractions). And more importantly for Childress, if he benched Favre, he would go down forever as the Man Who Ended the Streak. I mean, he was blasted by the media for calling out Favre's three picks against the Packers! Did you see the one that was returned for a touchdown? Even Jay Cutler laughed at that. The media firestorm that would ensue if he actually had the chutzpah to bench THE Brett Favre would officially end the world. ESPN is already Brett Favre Central, but with that it would become BFPN (Brett Favre Programming Network).

(Semi-related tangent: People are wondering if his legacy is being tarnished. Obviously it is. What's really bothering me, though, is that people are considering him a Top-3 quarterback of all-time. This is insane. My list of all-time great QBs is: Joe Montana, Dan Marino, Johnny Unitas, Peyton Manning (will be higher by the time all is said and done), John Elway, Tom Brady, possibly Steve Young, then Favre. That's eighth. Call me cynical, but I don't care if he leads in every major statistical category known to man. Look at stats per game. Manning, Brady and Marino have/had more passing yards and wins. Everyone except Marino have championships to their resumé (and Montana, Unitas, Elway and Brady have multiple), so Favre's lone ring doesn't exactly stand out. And he throws significantly more picks than all those names, especially in crunch time. This season is worse than others for Favre, obviously, but the poor decisions are nothing new. I would not have him in my top 10 for quarterbacks I want down four with a minute to go in the Super Bowl (the seven I mentioned before, then add in Bradshaw, Staubach, Otto Graham and possibly Bart Starr). In short, Favre is a sure-fire Hall of Famer. But he's not the greatest ever.)

Of course Favre is going to start Sunday in Foxboro. He's started 291 straight games. And although he should have retired after start 253, then after 269 and then after 285, he'll keep the streak going. At this point it is the only thing going for him. He is no longer "playing like a kid out there." That kid looks old, tired and ready to go home. His facial expression after almost every play reads "I don't care if $24 million will buy me 7884 John Deere tractors. Just let me hand it off to Adrian Peterson and get me the hell out of here."

For someone who just wants this streak to end so he can retire and go away for good, I am waiting for Dec. 12 when the Giants go to Minnesota. They've already hurt five quarterbacks this year. I can only imagine what they'll do to a 42-year-old grandfather.