Welcome back once again to our series on the greatest Green Bay Packers player to wear every jersey number from No. 0 to No. 99.
Now, given the list of legendary players who have worn the Green & Gold over the years, there are naturally a few numbers that require no thought whatsoever, with No. 4 obviously being one of them. We're not even going to attempt to build any sort of suspense with this one, as everyone knows the clear-cut call here is and will forever be Brett Favre.
What we will do, however, before getting into Favre's accomplishments, is give you the full list of Packers players who've donned the digit over the years.
- Dale Dawson, K
- Brett Favre, QB
- Chuck Fusina, QB
- Gus Gardella, FB
- Verne Lewellen, P/HB/TB
- Charlie Mathys, QB
- Dick O'Donnell, E
- Herm Schneidmann, FB
In terms of a runner-up, the call is Verne Lewellen, the Packers' Hall of Famer who was both one of the best punters and one of the top backs in the league during his day and also played a little defense.
The five-time All-Pro and three-time NFL champion was responsible for 50 total touchdowns (37 rushing, 12 receiving, one interception return) during his nine-year career from 1924 to 1932, which stood as a league record until he was surpassed by fellow Green Bay legend Don Hutson in 1941. Lewellen only wore No. 4 during two seasons (1925, 1926), but even those two years alone would give him the second spot.
But again, the obvious call here is Favre.
Brett Favre remains the Packers' all-time leader in passing yards
Following a stellar career at Southern Mississippi, Favre was taken by the Atlanta Falcons in the second round of the 1991 NFL Draft with the 33rd overall pick. But after throwing just four passes for the Falcons as a rookie, two of which went for interceptions with the other two resulting in incompletions, he was traded to Green Bay for a first-round pick in February 1992.
Favre began the '92 campaign as the backup to Don Majkowski, but after "The Majik Man" struggled in Week 2, he played the second half, and when Majkowski suffered an ankle injury in Week 3, he came in and engineered a game-winning drive to give the Packers a one-point win over the Cincinnati Bengals. And from that point on, he started every game until he left the franchise following the 2007 campaign, a stretch that included 253 regular-season games and another 22 in the playoffs.
And what a stretch it was, especially early on.
In the three-season stretch from 1995 to 1997, Favre was named NFL MVP (he shared it with Barry Sanders in '97), thus becoming the first player ever to win the award three years in a row, and led the Packers to three consecutive appearances in the NFC Championship Game, losing the first but taking the last two.
To close out the '96 season, Green Bay bested the New England Patriots to win Super Bowl 31, but were upset the following year by John Elway and the Denver Broncos. Nevertheless, Favre became the first quarterback to lead the Packers to the Lombardi Trophy since Bart Starr in Super Bowl 2, which instantly made him a franchise legend. And while he never made it back to the Big Game following that loss in Super Bowl 32, he racked up ridiculous numbers and set all sorts of franchise (and NFL) records.
In 16 seasons with the Packers, Favre threw for 61,655 yards during the regular season, which remains the most in franchise history, and tossed 442 touchdowns, good for second behind the man who ultimately replaced him as QB1, Aaron Rodgers.
Rodgers, of course, was taken in the first round of the 2005 draft and was handed the reins when Favre opted to retire in March 2008. Favre famously changed his mind a few months later, but the Packers had already decided to move on with Rodgers and traded Favre to the New York Jets, with whom he spent one season before closing out his career with a two-year run with the Minnesota Vikings.
Tacking on his stats from those two teams, Favre ended his career with 71,838 yards, which are still good for the fourth-most in NFL history, and 508 touchdowns, still good for the fifth-most all-time. Despite the rocky relationship between the two sides at the end of his playing days in Green Bay, the Packers welcomed him back in 2015, inducting him into the team's Hall of Fame in June and then retiring his No. 4 in November.
Favre is one of only six Packers to have his jersey retired, the others being Tony Canadeo (No. 3), Don Hutson (No. 14), Bart Starr (No. 15), Ray Nitschke (No. 66), and Reggie White (No. 92).
Other Green Bay Packers jersey honorees
- No. 0: There's literally only one choice here
- No. 1: Micah Parsons isn't the pick just yet
- No. 2: The Packers' all-time leading scorer
- No. 3: The second player in franchise history to have his jersey retired
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