Brett Favre said in his farewell press conference inside the Lambeau Field Atrium Thursday that his patience had run out.

His weekly preparation for games went from next to nothing at age 22, to obsessive at age 38.

His mother Bonita and brother Scott both mentioned earlier this week about the additional hours Favre was spending on his laptop computer reviewing game tape and playbooks. The issue had become a growning family concern, and a source of stress.

Had Brett Favre become burned out? A workaholic?

At the press conference I asked Favre as he reviewed his decision over the past month on whether or not to retire, did he come to the conclusion that additional amount of time he was spending in game prep was beginning to take away from his enjoyment of the work, the games?

When you’re 9 & 1, and looking at game tapes on a Sunday night after a win, did he begin to realize he's got a problem?

FAVRE: "The off-season -- the minicamps, the training camp and just individually your off-season preparation -- has been difficult. As I looked at this upcoming season, I said, I probably could get myself prepared to play. That really didn't have that much of a bearing on my decision."

I"t's tough on everybody. But it was more the in-season strain. And Mike (McCarthy) knows this, there were numerous Saturdays (before) home games where I was here at 8:30pm at night watching film. I had never done that before. It was never enough for me. And Deanna knows this, after numerous games I would come home and after a couple of hours I had the computer out and I was watching film of the upcoming opponent instead of enjoying the win we just had. "

"At some point, you've got to relax and enjoy and I found myself not enjoying it as much. It's fun to win but you've got to enjoy it and relax a little bit. That more than anything was taking its toll on me. "

 "I'm going to steal a quote from Deanna, and I thought about this on the way up, 'See life through the front windshield, not through the rearview mirror.' I think that is so true, so important. And people who know me and play with me and coaches that I work with, I can recite almost every play I've ever ran, called, think about near every game I've played in, and that's going back to high school. So as I look back, I can't say, 'What if? I don't quite remember that game or that play.' But there are things in life I can't say that about. There are things I missed. And you can't get those things back. From this day forward, I hope to kind of see things through the front windshield. "

"I had so many people saying, 'You look like you had a lot of fun out there this year,' and I did. But what they don't see, that's three hours during the course of a week and I'm no different than most people. I can act the part and I know I expect a lot out of myself and certain things are expected of me within this organization and I tried to live up to those all the time. And Brett Favre got hard to live up to."

 "I found myself during games at times, tough situation, people always kind of made this joke or other guys on the team, even Mike at times would turn to me and say, 'All right Brett. This is where you're at your best. Pull us out.' I'm thinking, 'Uh! ... ' Now I wouldn't do that, but I'm thinking that. I'm thinking, 'Boy it sure would be nice to be up about 14 right now.' "

"It's just hard. It got hard. I did it, but it got hard. I don't think it would get easier next year or the following year. It hasn't up to this point. It's only gotten tougher and something told me, it's gotten too hard for you. I could probably come back and do it, suck it up, but what kind of a toll would that take on me, my family or my teammates? "

"At some point it would affect one of those, if not all of them. Maybe it has already. I don't know. I can't speak for my teammates, but maybe it's affected my play. If I even question for a second that toll that it takes has affected at least one play, then it's time to leave. You can't second-guess any decision you make on the field or wonder did the pressure or stress get to you.

I think if you're starting to question that at all, then it's probably time to go."

As I watched Favre on Sundays the past few years, wondering if this was the last time, the last game we'd see him in, I always thought it would be a shame that on the day he came back to Lambeau Field, in a shirt and jeans on the sidelines, ready to see his jersey number retired on "Brett Favre Day", would he still be the best, most qualifed quarterback in the house? Shouldn't he still be the one making the call on the coin toss, not tossing the coin? 

In the end, 16 years in Green Bay, 275 consecutive games including the playoffs, Brett Favre physically could still have taken another lap around the track. He's still got the motor. He walks away being able to still walk.

For most players, they're careers are over when they get cut. The others say they knew they were done when they could barely rise out of bed on Sunday morning, get dressed, and hobble out to the car to drive to the stadium.

For Favre, his greatest attribute, his drive, desire, spirit,  a warning light on his dashboard had signaled that read "low fuel".  His crew held up signs saying "4 PIT NOW".

Only this time Favre has realized it's no longer just a pit stop. The race is finally over.

– Mike Clemens

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