Good can come from Favre's streak ending

So "the streak" is over.

Really, when we look back, is 300 games more magical than 297? No, but it certainly has a nice ring to it.

To use a baseball metaphor, it's perhaps the difference between Roberto Clemente finishing his career with 3,000 hits on the nose as compared to Enos Slaughter finishing his with a tantalizing .2999 batting average — and that's how it shows up in the MLB annals.

But really, do we think of Slaughter as a failure? And will we think of Favre any differently at 297, not 300?

Of course not.

His legacy has been set — mostly — for years now. Despite all the premature retirements, the extended comebacks, the annoyed fans and the defection from Green Bay, first to New York and then to Minnesota, Favre is one of the true legends of the game.

There might not be another one like him.

And that's why this streak, just like Cal Ripken's in baseball, needs an end. It's perhaps fitting that it ended, too, before Favre's career has ended because it shows us just how tough this is to do.

You need talent, toughness, incredible mental will, not to mention a willingness to be unpopular in many people's eyes. It's not a record that everyone has rooted for, not by any means, but when we look back on it, it will be a mark most level-headed people (not just football fans) have to respect and somewhat marvel at.

Say what you will about Favre's selfishness through parts of this streak. He since has admitted that sitting out down the stretch in the 2008 season probably would have been the best thing to do when he was with the Jets that season, and the team's slide cost Eric Mangini his job there. It also caused Favre to retire and unretire again, a self-inflicted wound to his legacy. There probably have been scores of teammates along the way, including several Vikings currently, who wished the streak was never a part of their lexicon nor something they had to talk about to the media.

All that aside, we have witnessed history. As for where this streak ranks in NFL history, it's not as impressive as Terry Bradshaw's or Joe Montana's four Super Bowl rings apiece, and honestly it might not be as significant historically as some of Favre's career passing marks.

But because it's not likely to be surpassed soon — the earliest it could happen would be if Peyton Manning kept playing without missing a game through sometime around Week 11 of the 2016 season — the record is uniquely Favre's. Even if Manning passes it, we'll be talking about Favre again in six years, just as we revisited Walter Payton when Emmitt Smith broke the all-time NFL rushing mark. Greatness lives on through special numbers like this.

It's time now to move on. For Favre and the Vikings and the fans and everyone else. The record has ended, and it's only three games before most people expected. The number is no less remarkable.

For the Vikings, they now can turn the page. The season might be over as far as the playoffs are concerned, but there is a lot going on. Leslie Frazier is coaching for a job right now, and the players seem to want to play for him. We'll find out more as the Favre story develops, but give Frazier some additional credit for perhaps convincing Favre to sit this one out. The record might have meant less had a wobbly Favre taken the field for the sake of extending the number by one or two or three ...

The Vikings danced with the devil in the 2009 offseason, and they went in for seconds with Favre this past August. We knew this had the potential for disaster both times, but they got to within an eyelash of a Super Bowl a year ago, and I think most people would agree that the old adage — better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all — holds water here.

Celebrate the mark. Cherish it. Put it in historical perspective. Favre has done something — admirable, lucky, self-indulgent and stubborn all rolled into one — that no other quarterback has. For that, he has earned a special place in football history. It might be the greatest test of endurance in sports history.

And for the rest of us who have sat through the eddying and seemingly endless drama, it's almost over. The third act has nearly come to a close. Oddly, yes, but fittingly, too. Hermann Hesse, whose writing often dealt with a man's searching of self, might have said it best on this matter: "Some of us think holding on makes us strong, but sometimes it is letting go."

Source: http://www.profootballweekly.com/2010/12/13/good-can-come-from-favres-streak-ending

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