Brett Favre made his first regular season start on September 27, 1992, against the Pittsburgh Steelers and, as we all know, he hasn't missed a start since. It's a streak that has spanned 19 NFL seasons, over three hundred games (if you count the post-season), three different uniforms, three National Football League Most Valuable Player Awards, and one Super Bowl victory.
And barring a miracle, according to no less a source than Vikings' coach Leslie Frazier, the streak will come to an end tonight in Detroit.
According to ESPN.com's NFC North blogger, Kevin Seifert, Coach Frazier sent a text message to ESPN's Adam Schefter today saying that it was "doubtful" that Favre will play tonight. Favre said the same thing himself over the weekend, going so far as to say that had the game taken place yesterday as scheduled that he would not have been able to play.
Favre is still schedule to try to throw in pre-game warm-ups, and the Vikings have to have their inactive lists and roster changes submitted by approximately 4:50 PM Central time, an hour and a half prior to this evening's 6:20 PM kickoff. We'll know for sure by then whether or not tonight will make start number 298 in a row (in the regular season) for Brett Favre. Stranger things have happened. . .but, to be honest, I'm not holding my breath on this one.
I, personally, can only hope that if we have seen the last of Brett Favre in a Minnesota Vikings uniform that we can be grateful for what he's provided to this team, including a 2009 season that none of us will forget any time soon. I certainly hope that we don't conduct ourselves in the manner that fans of his former employers have since he left their employ. Of course, if you've paid attention for the last three seasons, that last one isn't a terribly high bar to clear.