Brett Favre on His Miraculous Monday Night Game after His Father Died (Pt. 3)

This is Our American Stories. Much of what’s known about legendary NFL quarterback Brett Favre has been kept between the goalposts. But our own Greg Henkler took a drive three hours south to Hattiesburg, Mississippi. We broadcast from here in Oxford to learn the rest of the story, as we do so often here at Our American Stories, Brett’s life. And what we come up with is a five-part series about a lot of things. This one has to do with the day. On December 22, 2003, the day after his father’s fatal heart attack, and his father’s name was Irvin, Brett Favre played in a must-win Monday night football game against the Oakland Raiders. Favre dealt with the grief in the best way he could imagine. He played his heavy heart out. Here again, he’s Brett Favre with Part Three of our five-part series.

That game.

Of all the games I played, I played in 321 games, played in two Super Bowls. By far, not even close, the most pressure and the most nervous I’ve ever been was an Oakland game. And it wasn’t. It had nothing to do about, “Will I or will I not play?” as people were thinking leading up, understandably. So, I mean, “Do you think he’ll play?” I knew I was going to play, but I was so afraid that I wouldn’t play. I wanted to honor my dad by playing lights-frigging-out. I didn’t want to just play, even though I would have gotten a free pass to say, “You play, we win.” “He played crappy.” People said, “What do you expect?” I didn’t want… I didn’t wanna even go down that road. I wanted to play like I’d never played before, and the odds of that happening just because I want it. I wanted to do that all the time, but this time more than ever. So the pressure was enormous, and, and in my experiences, when the, when the pressure is almost too big to bear, it’s hard to perform, very hard to perform. You, you, you know, you just can’t, yeah, settle down, and everything’s moving so fast, which is what was going on that night. But it was like, as the game unfolded with each play, it was like, “Man, this is, this is…”

I knew then. I mean, I’ve always been…

a Christian, some days better than others, some years better than others.

But, you know, we were born and raised, went…

to church, and as kids we didn’t pay attention, and, you know, we got “weapons” and got chewed out, you know, sent to the cry room. And then, you know, through my trials and tribulations, I’ve leaned on the Lord more at times than other…

times, I think, like most people.

But I knew that night, based on what I just told you, there’s no way. That was a sign.

I’ve used this several times.

I didn’t realize at the time, but at halftime, I mean, I knew statistically that this was… it was unbelievable, but I wanted to win the game. But I was well aware of, like, “That… you got to be kidding me! I mean, this… this is crazy!”

But at the end of the game, it didn’t dawn on me then. It didn’t dawn on me that year. It didn’t dawn on me a year later. It dawned on me years later that, you know…

And I spoke to a group at Murphysboro, this high school up there.

It was a Christian group last year.

I spoke at Liberty University this year, or actually October, I think, and talked…

about it there.

I said, “You know what I don’t know about…” And I was kind of really asking a question to the audience. I said, “Do you ever, like, find yourself saying, ‘I want a sign, Lord, give me a sign, show yourself,’ or, you know, ‘Make this…”

curtain move or whatever?’

You know, all of a sudden, this billboard says, you know, “I am real,” or you look, you give me a sign. And I said, “And it never works out that way, right?” And you got, and you forget about it, you go on, and then maybe you do it again. I said, “I was… that happened to me?” And I said, “One day I realized that the sign was how I played.” I said, “You know, you have to keep in mind that I played at, at, at halftime. I had already… if that game would have ended, I it would have been the best game in my history, statistically speaking.”

And it’s just a half.

Now, keep in mind that my father just died. I ever studied, ’cause when I’ve got the news that he had died, I mean, I, you know, my mind was elsewhere, and we needed to win this game, and I needed to play and play well. But I didn’t need to play that well. And I prayed and prayed and prayed. “Lord, I want to… I want to honor my father. I want to play well. I don’t want to just play. I want to…” And I don’t even know if I was really specific, but I think he knew what I was asking. And that’s the sign that God is real. It wasn’t some little angel comes flying in and drops some football, although angels may have been placing the balls in certain places.

But two touchdown…

Threw four touchdowns by halftime, which is not, not unheard of. But two of the touchdown passes were two of the best passes…

I’ve ever thrown. Now, people watching probably wouldn’t know that.

They’d have to know that why angle on precision had to be perfect when you’re, when you’re, when you’re not running out of the pocket, and how you add running out of the pocket. So, one’s chasing you. You have to turn to the… and then make it over-the-shoulder throw to a guy in the back one of the end zone that has to drop only one spot, and it did. And then there were two more that were just totally opposite. Oakland could have caught it just as easily as our guys, and they didn’t even come close to it.

They were in position, like, just fell down. So that’s, you know, that that game is important for a lot of reasons.

At the time, we needed to win the game to continue playoff hopes. But when I came back for the funeral, it sure made life easier for everyone, because that’s what people…

were talking about.

And I’m not… I don’t know many people that are good at funerals or wakes. I, particularly, am not very good.

In fact, I like to, if I go to one…

And my wife’s aunt passed away about a month and a half ago, and we were really close with her. But my way of handling those situations and being in that environment is to make light of the situation, talk about stories…

that made us laugh.

I don’t… I don’t like being down, never have. And so, had I played badly, coming back home would have been even worse.

All the people would…

I know what they would have said, maybe, “Hey, you… you…”

“Play, you did your best.” I don’t… I didn’t wanna hear it.

I wanted to come home and be able to celebrate. And so, I’m thankful that we were able to kind of enjoy and rejoice about it.

And you’ve been listening to Brett Favre talking about his performance on December 22, 2003, the day after his father, Irvin, suffered a fatal heart attack and died. And Brett that night was 22 for 30, at 399 yards, four touchdowns, and three yards shy of his best game ever. And in the biggest night of his life, God…

showed up for him.

And we’ll bring you this story because, as you could tell, there was a lot more going on here than just the material world: grass and turf and X’s and O’s and plays.

And we all knew it when we were watching it.

Brett Favre’s story: a story of a game, a story of a love affair with a sport, and a story of a love for a father and a son and God, here on Our American Stories.