October 5, 2009: ESPN's broadcast of Monday Night Football between the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings at the Metrodome becomes the most-watched cable television program in history, with 15 million homes tuning in to see Vikings quarterback Brett Favre face his former team for the 1st time.
The Vikings win the game 30–23, making Favre, 6 days short of his 40th birthday, the 1st quarterback in NFL history to beat all 32 teams. He completed 24 out of 31 passes, for 271, throwing 3 touchdown passes without an interception. His successor as Packer starting quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, went 26-for-37, for 384 yards, 2 touchdowns and an interception, so he didn't have a bad game. But the Vikings outplayed the Packers.
Favre had played 1st season, 1991, with the Atlanta Falcons, but he only played in 2 games, throwing 4 passes, completing none of them. He never fit in with the Falcon organization, and, as with Babe Ruth with the Boston Red Sox 78 years earlier, fans of the team in question should blame the player, not the team's management. While the Falcons did play the Packers that season, he did not appear in the game.
The Falcons traded him to the Packers for 1992, and he fit in there. He remained with them through the 2007 season, 16 seasons in which he racked up many feats, but beating the Packers could not be one of them. (A sports team will occasionally "beat itself," but that's not the same thing.)
Favre first beat the Cincinnati Bengals, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Detroit Lions, the Philadelphia Eagles, the Chicago Bears, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Houston Oilers (now the Tennessee Titans) and the Los Angeles Rams in 1992. He first beat the Denver Broncos, the New Orleans Saints, the San Diego (now Los Angeles) Chargers and the Los Angeles (now Las Vegas) Raiders in 1993. He first beat the Vikings, the New York Jets and the Falcons in 1994. He first beat the New York Giants, the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Cleveland Browns in 1995. He first beat the Seattle Seahawks and the San Francisco 49ers in 1996. He first beat the Miami Dolphins, the New England Patriots, the Dallas Cowboys, the Carolina Panthers and the Buffalo Bills in 1997. He first beat the Baltimore Ravens (and also the Oilers/Titans franchise in Tennessee) in 1998. He first beat the Arizona Cardinals (and the Raiders as an Oakland team) in 1999. He first beat the Indianapolis Colts in 2000. He first beat the Washington Redskins (now the Washington Commanders) in 2001. He first beat the Houston Texans in 2004. He first beat the Kansas City Chiefs in 2007. Finally, he first beat the Packers in 2009.
Favre had 321 consecutive starts from 1992 to 2010, including 297 regular season games, the most in NFL history. He was also the 1st NFL quarterback to throw 10,000 passes, the 1st to complete 6,000, the 1st to pass for 70,000 yards, the 1st to pass for 500 touchdowns. Each of these records, except for consecutive starts, would be surpassed by Tom Brady.
But Favre won only 1 Super Bowl, XXXI, the Packers beating the pre-Brady Patriots. They got back the next season, but lost Super Bowl XXXII to the Broncos. He also led the Packers to the NFC Championship Game for the seasons of 1995 (lost to the Cowboys) and 2007 (lost in overtime to the Giants, his last game with Green Bay).
In 2008, he played for the Jets, going 9-7 and failing to qualify for the Playoffs. After beating the Packers for the Vikings, he got them to a 12-4 record, and to the NFC Championship Game, losing to the Saints. In 2010, they fell to 6-10. The season-ending loss, away to the Lions on January 2, 2011, was his last game. He had come out of retirement in each of the last 3 seasons, making him look like the Roger Clemens of football. This time, he meant it.
Then he got himself in business trouble in his native Mississippi, making himself look more like football's answer to Curt Schilling, who robbed people blind in a scam in Rhode Island. His Green Bay successor, Rodgers, was little better: Only one Super Bowl (XLV, though he did win it), a few close calls, a disaster with the Jets, and a lot of burned bridges.
Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees have since joined Favre in having beaten all 32 NFL teams.
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October 5, 2009 was, as stated, a Monday. This was the only Monday night game in the NFL. Baseball was between the end of its regular season and the start of its Playoffs. And the NBA season wouldn't begin for another 22 days.
The NHL season was underway, and 2 games were played. To my dismay, the New York Rangers beat the New Jersey Devils, 3-2 at the Prudential Center in Newark. And the Columbus Blue Jackets beat the Vancouver Canucks, 5-3 at General Motors Place (now the Rogers Arena) in Vancouver.
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