Favre's Ironman streak ends at 297. Can a man smile and frown at the same time?

297 consecutive starts. 321 when you toss in the playoffs. NFL record for non-kickers. The pain in Favre's throwing arm (when the arm moves forward) was too great to be able to contribute this past week as the Vikes played (I use that word "played" very loosely) the Giants. And in an odd twist, not only did back-up QB Tavaris Jackson get hurt (since placed on the injured reserve list), but the 3rd string QB got hurt. 321 starts - dating back to 1992. Think about it...

...like Favre - thinking about what in the hell he should do during the game. After 20 years of never missing a start, what would you expect him to do?

Brett's reaction? “Relief in one sense,” Favre said of his emotional state about the end of the streak coming Monday. “There wasn’t a whole lot of pressure on me today. It was different. It’s been a long time. I’d much rather be playing. That’s just my nature. I wouldn’t say it was time, but it’s probably been long overdue. There’s probably been a lot of times that the streak should have ended. It wasn’t really a flood of emotion. I just I just couldn’t play. I didn’t feel like I could function good enough … to help us win.”

Full stories here at the Minneapolis Star Tribune and Vikings Scout.com.

My reference in this post headline, "can a man smile and frown at the same time?" was in reference to me. I'm happy for what Favre accomplished and disappointed it's over. It was a great run and I'm proud to still be a Brett Favre fan. Never wavered. "All good things..." as they say. Course you never want streaks like this to end - but they do...someday.

And to those naysayers and Favre-haters who've been disillusioned that the only reason Favre plays or stave's off retirement is because of his records, he could've gone into the game Monday night and simply handed the ball off to Adrian Peterson for a couple series.

But he didn't. Because that's not what Favre's all about.

SKOL BRETT! WELL DONE, IRONMAN.