Brett Favre

Brett Lorenzo Favre (born October 10, 1969) is an American former professional football quarterback who spent 20 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), most notably with the Green Bay Packers. Between 1992 and 2010, he started 321 consecutive games—297 of those in the regular season—the longest such streak in league history. He also became the first NFL quarterback to surpass 70,000 passing yards, 10,000 pass attempts, 6,000 completions, 500 touchdown passes, and to record victories against every team in the league.

Favre played college football at the University of Southern Mississippi and was chosen by the Atlanta Falcons in the second round of the 1991 NFL draft, serving as a backup for one season. After being traded to the Packers, he became their starter early in the 1992 season and revived a franchise that had struggled since the late 1960s. Over 16 seasons in Green Bay, he led the team to 11 playoff appearances, seven division titles, four NFC Championship Games, two straight Super Bowl appearances, and a victory in Super Bowl XXXI—the Packers’ first championship in nearly 30 years. He was traded to the New York Jets in 2008, playing one season there, and finished his career with two seasons for the Minnesota Vikings. In 2009, he guided the Vikings to a division title and an NFC Championship Game appearance while posting one of his best statistical seasons.

At the time of his retirement, Favre held NFL records for career passing completions, attempts, yards, touchdowns, and quarterback wins. He also holds the league record for career interceptions. He was named Most Valuable Player three consecutive times from 1995 to 1997, the longest such streak in NFL history. Favre earned 11 Pro Bowl selections and three first-team All-Pro honors. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2016.

In 2022, Favre became embroiled in controversy over the Mississippi welfare funds scandal, after investigations found that $8 million intended for welfare programs went to Favre or causes he supported. He has denied the allegations and filed a defamation lawsuit against the Mississippi State Auditor and two media personalities regarding their coverage of the matter.

Brett Favre was born in Gulfport, Mississippi, to Bonita Ann (née French) and Irvin Ernest Favre, and grew up in the small town of Kiln. Both parents were schoolteachers in the Hancock County School District. He is of partial French ancestry. One of his ancestors is Simon Favre, a Louisiana Creole and an influential figure in Spanish West Florida during the late 18th and early 19th centuries; Brett descends from Simon’s Choctaw Native American mistress, Pistikiokonay, and his grandfather was affiliated with the Choctaw.

The second of four children, Favre attended Hancock North Central High School, where he played baseball and football. He started on the baseball team as an eighth-grader and earned five varsity letters. In football, he played quarterback, lineman, strong safety, placekicker, and punter in a run-oriented option offense coached by his father, Irvin Favre, the Hawks’ head coach.

Irvin Favre knew his son had a strong arm but also noted the school had good running backs, so during Brett’s three years on the team, his father ran the wishbone offense. Favre rarely threw more than five passes in a game. Southern Mississippi assistant coach Mark McHale, scouting recruits, watched Favre play after receiving recommendations from local coaches. McHale saw Favre mostly hand off the ball in two games and was about to leave when he witnessed Favre throw a pass so impressive he later described it as having “smoke and flames coming off it.”

Southern Mississippi offered Favre a football scholarship—the only one he received—at the urging of assistant coach McHale. The school wanted him to play defensive back, but Favre insisted on quarterback. He began his freshman year as the seventh-string quarterback and took over as starter in the second half of the third game, against Tulane on September 19, 1987. Despite suffering a hangover and vomiting during warm-ups, he led the Golden Eagles to a comeback victory with two touchdown passes. He started ten games that season, winning six.

In his junior year, Favre led Southern Miss to an upset of No. 6 Florida State on September 2, 1989, capping a six-and-a-half-minute drive with the game-winning touchdown pass with 23 seconds left.

On July 14, 1990, before his senior season, Favre was in a near-fatal car accident. While driving near his parents’ house, he lost control, and the car flipped three times before stopping against a tree. One of his brothers smashed a car window with a golf club to free him. In the ambulance, his mother sat with him. “All I kept asking [her] was ‘Will I be able to play football again?’” Favre later recalled. Doctors removed 30 inches (76 cm) of his small intestine. Eight weeks later, on September 8, he led Southern Miss to a comeback victory over Alabama. Alabama coach Gene Stallings said, “You can call it a miracle or a legend or whatever you want to. I just know that on that day, Brett Favre was larger than life.” Favre formerly held several Southern Miss football records.