Minor Thoughts from me to you

Brett Favre is Retiring

It's not on the Packers home page yet, but it looks like it's official: Brett Favre is retiring.

ESPN's Chris Mortensen reported that according to Favre's agent, Buss Cook, Favre informed Packers coach Mike McCarthy of his decision Monday night.

A sure-fire first-ballot Hall of Famer, Favre, acquired in a trade with the Atlanta Falcons, led the Packers back to the NFL's elite. He retires with 5,377 carrer completions in 8,758 attempts for 61,655 yards, 442 touchdowns and 288 interceptions.

Update: The official Packers press release:

Brett Favre has informed us of his intention to retire from the Green Bay Packers and the NFL. He has had one of the greatest careers in the history of the National Football League, and he is able to walk away from the game on his own terms - not many players are able to do that.

The Packers owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude. He has given Packers fans 16 years of wonderful memories, a Super Bowl championship among them, that will live on forever. Brett's many accomplishments on the field are legendary. He leaves the game holding virtually every career passing record, plus his consecutive starts streak, which may never be duplicated.

The uniqueness of Brett Favre - hispersonality, charisma and love of the game - undoubtedly will leave him as one of the enduring figures in NFL history.

More from USA Today:

The news was a surprise to at least one of Favre's teammates. Most players expected Favre to return after a successful 2007 season.

"I just saw it come across the TV," Packers wide receiver Koren Robinson said, when reached on his cellphone by the Associated Press.

... But it was widely assumed he would be back.

"I think he's going to come back," Packers receiver Donald Driver said in early January. "I wouldn't be surprised if he comes back. He's having a great year, so it'd be great to see him come back if he decides to."

Retiring Packers chairman Bob Harlan figured Favre would be back, too.

"Yeah, I think he'll be back," Harlan said, on his final official day as the Packers' top executive. "And I felt that way the last couple years, when we've had these long debates about it. I just think he's such a competitor that as long as he feels he can compete, he's going to keep coming back."

Still, in the week leading up to the playoff game against Seattle, Favre said his injuries were starting to linger.

"I'm not getting any younger," said Favre, 38. "I wake up some days and think I can't even touch my toes. I think about that. I think, well, next year is not going to be like some refreshing, awakening season where all of a sudden you're going to feel great. That's not going to happen.

"I carry some of these things with me that maybe you wouldn't see. I tend to dwell on them, at least internally, more than I used to. I don't write them off as quickly as I used to."

Last month, coach McCarthy said that Favre's decision would be a complex one.

With Favre's 16th season in Green Bay in 2007 one of his best, and the team coming within an overtime score of advancing to the Super Bowl, some have considered it a no-brainer that Favre will return. He's playing well, and the team is having success, so what's there to think about?

"But that really has nothing to do with it," McCarthy said during his press conference from the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis. "It's not the fact that he knows he still can play. He had a great time this year.

"It's just the fact that he's played a lot of football, and he's had to fully commit himself and his family year in and year out. When you do get older, you have more responsibility, and he just wants to make sure he'll be able to commit himself 100 percent."

That commitment is to the regimen of offseason workouts, training camp, preseason games and in-season meetings and practices. That's a grind for any player, but particularly one who's been in the league as long as Favre.

"His career is very unique. Who else could he talk to about this?" McCarthy said. "Guys that are 37, 38, 39 years old, that can still play two or three years? And that's his thing. He said, 'I've played a lot of football and I just want to make sure I'm doing the right thing and I want to make sure I can commit 100 percent.'"

This entry was tagged. Brett Favre