Brett Favre is hands down one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. In addition to holding almost every passing record in existence, he also has a Superbowl victory to his credit and has won 3 league MVP awards.
But perhaps his most impressive achievement is his record for consecutive starts.
Brett Favre began his streak of consecutive starts in 1992 and kept it alive for 16 seasons, until his retirement announcement on March 4, 2008. He started 253 consecutive regular-season games. If you count the postseason, he then he started 275 consecutive games.
As of November 2006, the other NFL teams started 374 quarterbacks in the same time period that the Packers started 1. Chicago started 20 quarterbacks alone in that same time period.
Favre’s streak is a pretty impressive record, to be sure. But have you really stopped to think about it? Let me help you put it in perspective.
Favre began his streak of consecutive starts on September 27, 1992.
In 1992:
Tony Romo was 12 years old, Eli Manning was 11 years old, and Ben Roethlisberger was 10 years old. Aaron Rodgers was an 8-year-old boy growing up in Chico, California.
Donald Driver, Chad Clifton and Mark Tauscher were already playing football – IN HIGH SCHOOL, that is.
The trolls were the best-selling toy.
NAFTA was signed.
CDs overtook cassette tapes as the preferred medium for recorded music.
Cell phones were practically the size of small suitcases, so they were usually installed in vehicles like car phones.
The Internet has just started to become popular.
Microsoft shipped Windows 3.1
The Dodge Viper and Jeep Grand Cherokee were introduced.
The Rodney King verdict was announced.
Mike Tyson went to trial. He was accused of raping Desiree Washington, a 1991 Miss Black America contestant.
“Long Island Lolita” Amy Fisher was arrested for shooting her lover’s wife, Mary Jo Buttafuoco.
Jeffrey Dahmer was sentenced to life in prison.
Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain married Courtney Love.
The war in the former Yugoslavia began.
President George HW Bush ordered troops into Somalia.
Bill Clinton was elected as the 42nd President of the United States.
Sam Kinison and Dick York died.
Hannah Montana (Miley Cyrus) was born in 1992.
If you had a baby on the first day of Favre’s consecutive start streak, he’d be driving now.
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.29; Cost of a gallon of regular gasoline: $1.13; Cost of a dozen eggs: $0.93; Cost of a gallon of Milk: $2.78; Cost of a car: $16,950
Prince became the highest paid pop artist in the country.
Popular songs in 1992 were: I’m Too Sexy – Right Said Fred; The Baby Came Back – Sir Mix-A-Lot; This used to be my playground – Madonna; End of the Road – Boyz II Men
Popular movies in 1992 were: Wayne’s World; A few good men; The bodyguard; A league of its own; sister act
Popular TV shows in 1992 were: Murphy Brown; coach; Health; Full house; murder, she writes; rosane
‘Mad About You’ and ‘The Real World’ premiered on television, while ‘The Golden Girls’ and ‘Night Court’ ended.
Johnny Carson has retired from The Tonight Show.
Wow, that brings back a lot of memories, doesn’t it? It’s been a long time since Favre started his streak. The next closest player to Favre’s record for consecutive starts is Peyton Manning, with 160 consecutive starts.
If Manning remains uninjured, he has a chance to break Favre’s record 94 games from now in the 2013 season. Or maybe it will never be broken at all.
“His record for most consecutive starts will never be broken. It’s one of the most amazing records in sports. I guarantee he gets immense respect from every NFL quarterback for that record.” Carson Palmer – Bengals quarterback