With Vikings, Favre Proved He Was Better Than Rodgers It's not about talent--it's about leadership.

*On Brett Favre’s birthday, we reprint an essay written by the V61’s Mike Greitzer from 2018. At the time, it created quite a fuss. We hope it does the same today on number 4’s 50th birthday.

In Green Bay, there will always be arguments about who was the better quarterback, Brett Favre or Aaron Rodgers. Minnesota Vikings fans could join that argument also.

The reason that the majority of NFL talking heads, prognosticators, bloggers, experts and fans alike think that Aaron Rodgers is a better football player than Brett Favre is simple.

Perception is reality. They still see Rodgers, while Favre, having retired in 2010, fades under the tide of NFL history.

They are also susceptible to delusion. What they remember is Rodgers in a stunning week one win in Lambeau against Chicago (when in the final minutes the Bears decided not to cover Randall Cobb) and not the week 13 loss to the 2-9 Arizona Cardinals in the same location. They remember his Hail Mary passes and not his overtime losses.

They marvel at the physical brilliance of Rodgers, the nimble feet, the golden arm, the cocksurety of the bearded face and diffident countenance in press conferences. They are fooled by the illusion of Rodgers because they do not look at the actual quarterback, the team captain, but merely the awesome potential he possesses to make plays which no one else in the league can make.

Like a guy like Michael Vick used to make all the time. Like a guy like Brett Favre used to make all the time.

Steak And Sizzle

Becoming the ideal NFL quarterback is really not about the guy who makes the impossible play, the exquisite and incredible football pass, the magic act that amazes everybody. It is instead, by definition, more about being the team’s captain, the person the offense looks to when the chips are down and the pressure is on.

In Green Bay, Packer head coach Mike McCarthy was fired this year after 13 seasons. Let’s not be naive to believe that Rodgers didn’t have everything to do with that decision after a disappointing 6-7-1 campaign. Through the press this off-season, a few former Packers (on both offense and defense), have called Rodgers everything from “arrogant” to a leader with “trust issues”.

Just a tough year, or something else altogether?

You could never find a guy that played with Brett Favre that would call him a Prima Donna. In fact, he and Viking great Jim Marshall are probably the toughest–and most respected–dudes to ever play the game.

A quarterback is not on the field to make a play, he is there to lead his team.

Magic Show

But let’s say the concept was about making plays in the measurement of Favre and Rodgers. The pulling rabbits out of hats, escaping burning buildings with the girl in your arms, throwing thunderbolts through the stadium sky. Favre would still be the better. A Seabiscuit to Rodger’s War Admiral, a Houdini to his Copperfield.

Favre has more “what did he just do?!” plays than any player in the history of professional football. He also did it for 20 years, in 321 straight games (yes, of course, I’m including playoffs) until his 41-year-old body was so battered he couldn’t lift his throwing arm over his shoulder.

We can forget the stats that have piled up. Favre broke all the records, and Rodgers is painting a masterpiece. Bottom line is that each has one Super Bowl winning ring. Let’s leave that be for now. The criteria for the NFL tournament (playoffs) is based on team wins. When that is tied, the rules call for an examination of head-to-head contests.

So let’s go ahead and do that here, because it settles this argument under a mountain of rock.