Brett Favre will be inducted into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame on Saturday.
During his time with the Packers, Favre set many team and NFL records in throwing for 61,655 yards and 442 touchdowns on his way to a 160-93 regular season record (with the Packers; he added to those totals elsewhere). Favre won three straight MVP awards from 1995 to 1997, winning Super Bowl XXXI in the process.
He would eventually go on to play one season for the New York Jets and two for the Minnesota Vikings (not to mention that one with the Falcons at the start of his career), but Favre will forever be remembered as a Packer. We'll use the space below to look back on some of the great moments in Favre's Green Bay career.
99-yard TD to Robert Brooks
On September 11, 1995, the Packers were leading the Chicago Bears 14-0 with the ball on their own 1-yard line. Favre dropped back to pass and pump-faked a post pattern to Robert Brooks, who then broke past the defensive back and up the sideline. Favre hit Brooks perfectly in stide, and Brooks took it the rest of the way to the end zone for a 21-0 lead. That was the eighth 99-yard pass play in NFL history, and there have since been just five more.
That crazy pass to Antonio Freeman
It's hard to describe what it was like watching this play live.
With the Packers facing third down just inside the Minnesota Vikings' 40-yard line a few minutes into overtime, the Vikings got immediate pressure in Favre's face with a blitz. Knowing that multiple blitzers meant he had one-on-one coverage on the outside, Favre simply lofted the ball down the sideline to Antonio Freeman, who was being draped by Chris Dishman.
Dishman had inside leverage on Freeman and knocked the ball to the ground – or so he (and literally everyone else on the planet except Antonio Freeman) thought. Rather than falling to the ground, the ball caromed off Freeman's back and then his right hand, and he hauled it in while on his back. Dishman thought the pass fell incomplete and was busy celebrating while Freeman took off for the end zone to give Green Bay the win.
Al Michaels', "You couldn't film that scene in a movie and make it look that good!" will never not be incredible.
Monday Night Football against the Raiders
On December 21, 2003, Favre's father died of a heart attack. The very next night, Favre led the Packers onto the field against the Oakland Raiders on Monday Night Football and put together one of the best performances of his career. He completed 22-of-30 passes for 399 yards and four touchdowns, each one seemingly better than the next.
He kicked things off with a 22-yard strike to Wesley Walls in the back corner of the end zone, thrown while fading to his left. It felt perfectly into Walls' outstretched arms, just over the defensive back.
Next up was a 23-yarder to Javon Walker, this time moving to his right, and once again just over the arms of a DB. Favre's third touchdown pass was to Walker again, who was double-covered on a deep route. Favre tossed it up with three Raiders in his face for the 43-yard score.The final TD of the night was just the icing on the cake, a six-yard strike to David Martin.
Throughout the evening, the announcers were practically giddy at the show Favre was putting on the night after his father's tragic death. The broadcast repeatedly cut to show Favre's wife looking on, with a mixture of joy and tears in her eyes. It was an incredible night.
Overtime TD to Greg Jennings
The Packers blew a 13-7 second-half lead against the Denver Broncos on October 29, 2007, as a Jason Elam field goal as time expired sent the game into overtime. About five minutes of real time later, the game was already over.
On the first play following the overtime kickoff, Favre found Greg Jennings streaking up the left sideline for an 82-yard winner that doubled as the second-longest pass in OT history. That it happened immediately after Tony Kornheiser was talking about how perfect it would be that Favre himself would either win or lose the game was just perfect.
Favre breaks the All-time TD record
A month earlier, Favre found Jennings with a pass that wasn't quite as dramatic but was much more momentous. This 17-yard strike on third-and-7 (after Favre checked the play at the line of scrimmage) cemented the Packers QB as the NFL's all-time leader in career touchdown passes with 421.
