Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Packer Plus
Favre is MVP for second straight year
Editor’s note: This story was published Dec. 31, 1996. Green Bay — Brett Favre found motivation off the field in his successful quest to repeat as most valuable player of the National Football League.
Adversity — most notably his 46-day stay in a substanceabuse center during the off-season for addiction to the painkiller Vicodin — seemed only to make Favre even more driven about his football career.
“It was people tugging here and there, telling me what I lost and, God, how I went from the penthouse to the outhouse that quickly,” Favre said.
“So, it was like: `I’ve got to win the MVP or get our team to the Super Bowl just to get over that.’ Because, if not, people were going to just keep saying, `Well, you blew it.’”
Now that the NFL’s most coveted individual award is Favre’s, longevity and Super Bowl championships remain to be conquered in his relentless bid to become the greatest quarterback who ever lived.
Joe Montana, recognized by many as the best quarterback of all time, is the only other player to win the AP MVP award in consecutive seasons. The San Francisco 49ers’ great did it in 1989 and ’90.
“This is an awful thing to say, because Montana is a legend,” San Diego Chargers general manager Bobby Beathard said. “But I don’t know that Montana would have been as successful as he was had he been in a traditional pro system.
“However, I think Favre would be as successful in any system. He would be this good in any era.”
Sometimes described as a throwback to the days of colorful, devil-may-care quarterbacks such as Bobby Layne, the 27year-old Favre is on a fast track to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Even now, after just six seasons, his career passer rating of 88.6 ranks third on the all-time list behind two other magnificent practitioners of the West Coast offense, the 49ers’ Steve Young (96.2) and Montana (92.3).
“He’s really had 2 years that have been unbelievable,” Packers quarterbacks coach Marty Mornhinweg said. “You almost expect him to be perfect in any given circumstance.”
A nationwide panel of 93 sportswriters gave Favre 52 votes. Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway was next with 33, followed by Denver running back Terrell Davis with 5 and Pittsburgh Steelers running back Jerome Bettis with 2.
“This is like a big weight was lifted off my shoulders,” Favre said in an interview with the AP when informed last week that he had won. “Now it’s like, `Whew! Now I can just relax.’ ”
Last year, with slightly better statistics, Favre amassed 69 votes to 10 for running back Emmitt Smith of the Dallas Cowboys, the runner-up.
Several writers who voted said the 36-year-old Elway, who had one of his best seasons, would merit even stronger consideration for sentimental reasons. But one week before the voting deadline, Elway was unable to play against Green Bay because of a hamstring injury on a day when Favre threw four touchdown passes in a 41-6 victory.
“I felt like I had played better this year, but I thought the sentimental votes may give it to John,” Favre said. “And I thought John had a great year. I thought he deserved it just as much.”
Favre joined Montana and three others as the only twotime winners. Cleveland Browns running back Jim Brown was the first recipient in 1957 and won again in ’65, Baltimore Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas won in 1964 and ’67, and Young won in 1992 and ’94.
In the first 39 years of the award, it has been won by a quarterback 24 times, a running back 11 times, a defensive player four times and a kicker once. The vote in 1960 was a tie.
Among the Hall of Fame quarterbacks who never won were San Diego’s Dan Fouts, the New York Jets’ Joe Namath, the
Miami Dolphins’ Bob Griese, the Cowboys’ Roger Staubach and the Kansas City Chiefs’ Len Dawson.
The list of Hall of Fame running backs who never won the MVP award includes the Chicago Bears’ Gale Sayers, the Cowboys’ Tony Dorsett and the Washington Redskins’ John Riggins.
Not a single wide receiver or tight end, not even San Francisco’s incomparable Jerry Rice, has earned the award that Favre has now won twice.
“He makes the game exciting,” Beathard said. “Besides being talented, he has a zest for the game you like to see in a quarterback, and he’s a truly, truly tough guy.”
Nevertheless, perhaps because Favre hasn’t led his team to the Super Bowl, Beathard wasn’t ready to anoint Favre as the game’s premier quarterback. Instead, he placed him in a group with Elway, Young, Miami’s Dan Marino and the Cowboys’ Troy Aikman.
“If Brett were playing for a very, very average or below average team, he’d still be the type of quarterback that could put them way up in playoff contention,” Beathard said. “The Elways can do that. The Marinos can. Now it looks like this guy can, too.
“I can’t see any flaws in the guy. He can run and will run. He can throw on the run. He takes chances. And he’s developed such consistency.”
It was Favre’s quest for consistency that motivated him.
“I felt the first bad game, especially against an average team, they’re going to rip me,” he said, referring to writers.
In fact, Favre didn’t have a bad game all season. His poorest passer rating, 59.1, came against San Francisco, but he was under intense pass-rush pressure that night and in the end led the Packers to a 23-20 victory in overtime.
Despite injuries that Mornhinweg said affected him late in the season, Favre extended his streak of consecutive starts in regular-season and playoff games to an NFL-high 84. In those games the Packers have a 54-30 record.
Favre’s passer rating in all games is 88.6, but in his last 40 regular-season games it is 98.6. Since mid-1994, he has 100 touchdown passes and 33 interceptions.
With 18,724 passing yards, Favre ranks about 65th on the all-time list. Thus, he will require several more highcaliber seasons to become a strong candidate for the Hall of Fame.