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GREEN BAY, Wis. -- After flirting with retirement for years, Brett Favre means it this time. The Green Bay Packers quarterback quit a 17-season career in which he dazzled fans with his grit, heart and rocket of an arm.
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Tuesday's surprise move comes only months after the 38-year-old three-time MVP set several league records, including most career touchdown passes, in one of his most successful seasons.
Coach Mike McCarthy said Favre informed him of the decision by telephone Monday night.
"He said it was time for him to hang up the cleats," McCarthy said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
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Favre's agent, Bus Cook, also learned of the decision Monday.
"Nobody pushed Brett Favre out the door, but then nobody encouraged him not to go out that door, either," Cook told the Associated Press by phone from his Hattiesburg, Miss., office.
Packers general manager Ted Thompson thanked Favre for 16 years of wonderful memories with the team.
"His accomplishments are legendary," Thompson said. "And it's the passion with which he played that made everyone a Brett Favre fan."
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The team hasn't said when Favre might address the media.
Favre led the Packers to the NFC Championship Game in January, but his interception in overtime set up the New York Giants' winning field goal.
Last season, Favre broke Dan Marino's career records for most touchdown passes and most yards passing and John Elway's record for most career victories by a starting quarterback.
He retires with 5,377 career completions in 8,758 attempts for 61,655 yards, 442 touchdowns and 288 interceptions.
"He was the prototypical gun-slinger type," said Marv Levy, Pro Football Hall of Fame coach. "He's the type of guy where, 'Oh, what's he throwing into that crowd for?' But he had intuition, toughness, resilience."
Hall of Fame quarterback Troy Aikman wondered if Favre's decision was final.
"As the season gets closer, I wouldn't be surprised at all if he changes his mind," said Aikman, a Fox analyst who played 12 years with the Dallas Cowboys.
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| Brett Favre, the NFL's only three-time MVP, was chosen for nine Pro Bowls and seven All-Pro teams. (Getty Images) |
"I was surprised when I heard it this morning," former Packers general manager Ron Wolf said. "He played with such a great passion. He must have figured he no longer had that passion, and it was time to get out."
Even Favre's teammates didn't see it coming.
"I just saw it come across the TV," Packers wide receiver Koren Robinson said, when reached on his cell phone by the Associated Press.
"To me he's an ironman," seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong said after speaking at an anti-smoking rally in Wisconsin's capital. "He was around a long time. He played hard the whole time. He worked hard the whole time. He inspired and encouraged his team the whole time. He played through pain, he played through losses."
In his final season, Favre also extended his quarterback-record streak of consecutive regular-season starts to 253 games -- illustrating his trademark toughness. Add the playoffs, and Favre's streak stands at 275.
In the past several offseasons, Favre's indecision about his football future became a winter tradition in Wisconsin, with Cheeseheads hanging on his every word.
Unlike after the 2006 season -- when Favre choked up in a television interview as he walked off the field in Chicago, only to return once again -- nearly everyone assumed he would be back next season.
It was a remarkable turnaround from 2005, Favre's final season under former head coach Mike Sherman, when he threw a career-worst 29 interceptions as the Packers went 4-12.
Surrounded by an underrated group of wide receivers who proved hard to tackle after the catch, Favre had a career-high completion percentage of 66.5. He threw for 4,155 yards, 28 touchdowns and only 15 interceptions.
Before the Packers' Jan. 12 divisional playoff game against Seattle, Favre told his hometown newspaper that he wasn't approaching the game as if it would be his last and was more optimistic than in years past about returning.
"For the first time in three years, I haven't thought this could be my last game," Favre told the Biloxi (Miss.) Sun Herald. "I would like to continue longer."
But Favre finished the season on a sour note, struggling in subzero temperatures in a 23-20 overtime loss to the Giants in the NFC Championship Game.
Afterward, Favre was noncommittal on his future. McCarthy said he wanted Favre to take a step back from the season before making a decision.
Now he has -- to walk away.
"The Packers owe him a tremendous debt of gratitude," Thompson said in a statement. "The uniqueness of Brett Favre his personality, charisma and love of the game -- undoubtedly will leave him as one of the enduring figures in NFL history."