A great sadness has descended across much of the Midwest today. In Detroit, Minnesota, Chicago and especially the tiny town of Green Bay, Wisconsin, the news that Packer great Brett Favre is retiring was greeted with an indescribable feeling of loss that NFL Sundays would no longer feature perhaps the greatest quarterback ever to play the game.

A subjective statement to be sure. There will be those in Montana’s corner or those pushing Unitas or perhaps even Dan Marino as best ever. And if I had to live off the difference between any of those Hall of Famers, I wouldn’t get rich that’s for sure.

But the case for Favre is compelling. Three time MVP - never done. He had 275 consecutive games started, including playoffs - never done and probably never to be duplicated. Most yards, most TD passes and an absolutely frightening desire to win. Of all the athletes I have cheered and booed down through my 54 years, Favre and Michael Jordan stand head and shoulders above all others as the greatest competitors I have ever seen.

But look beyond the numbers and the desire. This is a man who thoroughly enjoyed the game. How many times did we see him take a gargantuan hit by some 300 LB lineman and bounce up like a jack-in-the-box with a huge grin on his face and fanny slap for the guy who planted him? His youthful exuberance in his declining years made it seem as if he could play forever.

But, of course, he couldn’t:

“I know I can still play, but it’s like I told my wife, I’m just tired mentally. I’m just tired,” Favre, a 17-year veteran and three-time NFL MVP, told ESPN’s Chris Mortensen in a voice mail message.

“If I felt like coming back — and Deanna [his wife] and I talked about this — the only way for me to be successful would be to win a Super Bowl. To go to the Super Bowl and lose, would almost be worse than anything else. Anything less than a Super Bowl win would be unsuccessful,” Favre said in the message.

“I know it shouldn’t feel unsuccessful, but the only way to come back and make that be the right decision would be to come back and win a Super Bowl. And honestly, the odds of that, they’re tough. Those are big shoes for me to fill, and I guess it was a challenge I wasn’t up for. “

He would never admit it but even someone as seeming indestructible as Brett Favre was starting to feel the pain of a thousand bumps, bruises, strains, and sprains that occurred over his brilliant 17 year career. Like most retired football players, he will be in some kind of pain for the rest of his life. But also like most players, he would gladly go back and start his career over even knowing what awaited him upon retirement.

He was a joy to watch - as long as he wasn’t playing your team. I had the misfortune of watching Brett Favre through 34 contests against my Beloved Bears. I cannot tell you how many games the Bears would be up going into the final minutes only to have this Grand Master Magician put the Packers on his back and carry them down the field for what would ultimately prove to be the winning score. It was maddening. It was uncanny. And it was sheer brilliance.

The weather never phased him. In this respect, he was a throwback to the “old” Packers who played in the Central Division with Chicago, Detroit, and Minnesota all with outdoor stadiums. Now only Chicago features an outdoor amphitheater for Favre to display his courage and ability to endure the cold and frozen tundra that Green Bay fans take such pride in enduring along with him.

Favre was the most enthusiastic passer I ever saw. By that I mean, he could be in the grasp of three lineman and still heave the ball 40 yards downfield for a completion. I saw him complete passes underhanded, pushed like a shot put, flung like a discus, and heaved 70 yards downfield. He may have been the best downfield passer who ever lived.

As the fortunes of the Packers waned over the previous 3 or 4 seasons prior to 2007, speculation grew that Favre would retire rather than be on a losing team. Indeed, at times Favre took desperate chances to get a moribund offense moving in those years resulting in more interceptions than at any time in his career. It seemed that his skills were waning at the same time the Packer’s fortune’s were ebbing.

And then came this past magical season and Favre looked almost like a rookie again flying around the backfield, taking off to run, meeting the challenge of directing a young team with a breathtaking combination of enthusiasm and experience. Favre willed the team to the NFC Championship game only to lose in the bitter cold and snow to the Giants.

Yes, I shall miss watching him play. But I and every other Bears fan will also breathe a huge sigh of relief now that he is headed to Canton. He made our lives miserable all those years he would snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. But on a much broader and more important level, he enriched our experience in watching and appreciating the game of football - a game he played with love and abandon for 17 years.