Heroes are remarkable and tragic. Brett Favre reminded us of that during his two-year stop with the Vikings.
Favre’s NFL career presumably ended today as he watched the Vikings and Lions from the sidelines. At 41, with a body of hurts and a head vulnerable to concussions, it’s time to permanently camp out on the ranch in Mississippi.
Favre’s life has been filled with demons but those won’t be recounted here. Years ago Mickey Mantle captured the nation’s adulation, and if not for his injuries and alcoholism he might have been the greatest baseball player of all-time. In the new millennium Tiger Woods’ ride to golf immortality has been slowed by his own undoing.
The greatest of heroes are human, too, and flawed like everyone else. But oh how their performances on the playing fields can leave us awestruck and inspired.
For a long time no one in this town had reason to believe Favre would play for the Vikings. But he showed up here in 2009 and at age 40 had one of his greatest seasons ever. His passer rating was a very impressive 107.2, his best since entering the NFL in 1991. He threw 33 touchdown passes and a career low seven interceptions. No. 4 had the best season ever by a Vikings quarterback.
Favre, playing the most important position on the field, transformed the Vikings into an elite NFL team. He resolved a quarterback mess where the always available Tarvaris Jackson and newcomer Sage Rosenfels weren’t good enough to make the Vikings special. The truth is Favre was not only better during the magical 2009 season than any Vikings quarterback past or present, he was superior to his All-Pro teammates including running back Adrian Peterson and defensive end Jared Allen.
It was more than having a great arm and someone who could locate his receiver options, from first to last. It was like having a coach on the field. Favre didn’t just out pass the opposition, he dissected them with his football IQ and his arm.