Read the arguments from Sports Geek and Loyal Homer about which sports story they believe was best in 2009.
“Here we go again.”
NFL fans around the country repeated that phrase many times over when. On August 19th, Brett Favre announced once again that he was not yet ready to retire. After last year’s retirement waffling – where Favre ended up with the New York Jets in an experiment that could hardly be considered successful – many around the country expected him to FINALLY hang it all up. Instead, the waffling began once more, and Favre eventually signed a contract with the Minnesota Vikings for the 2009 season.
There were a lot of questions regarding what Favre would actually be able to accomplish with Minnesota. Last season, he finished the season throwing just as many interceptions as touchdowns (22), and seemed to fade physically as the grueling 17-week season played out. In the final game of 2008, Favre had an opportunity to lead the Jets to the playoffs, but instead threw three interceptions in what ended as a disappointing loss to the Miami Dolphins. Compounding the on-field struggles were rumors of a rift in the locker room between Favre and some of the Jets players. Several reports were released that Jets players resented Favre, who seemed aloof and created resentment as a result of the preferential treatment he received.
So when Favre donned his purple jersey, with all of the baggage from last season hanging like a cloud over his head, there was some trepidation as to just how successful his second non-retirement would be. Those questions did not linger for long, though!
During the first two weeks of the regular season, Favre was clearly settling into his role with Minnesota. While the Vikings looked to running back Adrian Peterson to shoulder the load offensively, Favre was called upon primarily to just manage the game and not make mistakes, and he succeeded. During those two games, Favre completed a combined 37 of 48 passes, and threw for three touchdowns with no interceptions.
It was one week later, as the Vikings hosted the San Francisco 49ers, that the Favre Renaissance officially hit full-steam. After throwing a total of only 48 passes combined in his first two games, Favre fired off 46 passes against the ‘Niners. He completed 24 of them en route to his first 300-yard passing game of the season, including a 32-yard touchdown pass to Greg Lewis with mere seconds left on the clock, snatching victory away from San Francisco in what can only be described as “Favre-ish” fashion.
The excitement did not stop there. Favre went on to lead his Vikings to victory the following weekend against his former team, the Green Bay Packers, making him the only quarterback in NFL history to record a victory against every single team in the league. In all, Favre led the Vikings to a 10-1 record during the first 11 games of the season.
What is most impressive about Favre’s 2009 season, though, is that it is statistically one of the best in his Hall of Fame career. Through 15 games of a 16 game season, Favre is on track to finish with a passer rating of greater than 100 for the first time in his career. That’s right – before 2009, Brett Favre has NEVER finished a season with a passer rating above 100. The closest he ever came to that mark was in 1995 when he closed the season at 99.5. Additionally, he is on track for a career low in interceptions, having only thrown seven so far in 2009. His career best before 2009 was 13. Finally, if Favre can pass for more than 300-yards in his final game of the regular season, it would give him his highest single-season total in passing yards since 1998. Not bad for a guy who most people thought was too old to remain competitive.
Brett Favre, who already holds many of the NFL’s passing records and is already a GUARANTEED first-ballot Hall of Famer, has arguably done better in the 199th season of his legendary career than in any of his previous 18 seasons, and he has had better success at age 40 than many quarterbacks will ever see, even in their prime.
Capping off this remarkable season for Favre is the fact that he was just named to the Pro Bowl for the 11th time, and will lead the Vikings into the postseason as he is striving for another Super Bowl Ring to add to his collection.
I no longer care how many times Brett Favre wavers in his decision to retire. As far as I’m concerned, Brett Favre can retire, then un-retire every preseason for the next 15 years if he wants to. He has proven that he was not yet ready to walk away, and is still one of the best in the game, almost 20 years later!
We’ll see how you feel next June when we go through it all again. I don’t want to hear any fussing from you!!!
Interesting post. I am of same opinion with what the author wrote.