Brett Favre: It's Time to Forgive and Forget For Green Bay Packers Fans

For a lot of Green Bay Packers fans, Brett Favre will only be remembered as a traitor: The man that traded his green and gold for an ugly shade of purple.

The man whose summer long drama of will he or won't he come back got old in a hurry. 

Heck, maybe even some fans will only remember him as the man whose texting scandal this season rocked all our perceptions of him. 

As football fans, you are all entitled to your own opinion of Brett Favre. What you will and won't remember of his 20-year career is completely up to each individual. 

But in my mind, there's no better time then right now to begin the healing process from what's become a very painful three-year stretch between Favre and fans of the Green Bay Packers.

If Favre is placed on season-ending injured reserve, like I think he will, his storied career will certainly be over.

That means no more playing for the Vikings, no more facing the Packers and finally, we can put the last three years behind us as fans. 

Because when it was announced that his streak of 297 consecutive regular season starts was coming to end tonight, a funny thing happened: 

I began forgiving Favre. 

How could you not? ESPN began playing back highlights of Favre and everything he's accomplished in the National Football League, but there was one common theme. 

In all his biggest moments, Favre was wearing a Packers' jersey. 

His throw to Kitrick Taylor to beat the Bengals that began his legend. 

His heave to Sterling Sharpe to knock off the Lions in his first playoff game. 

Leading the Packers to the Super Bowl in back-to-back seasons. 

The miracle catch by Antonio Freeman to beat the Vikings on Monday Night Football.

And so many more wearing the green and gold number four jersey.

For someone who grew up with Brett Favre as the only quarterback he knew, this man was a super hero. Any Packers' fans born in the late 80's or early 90's know what I mean.

The bond between the Packers and Favre was as ingrained in us as anything. 

Even as an eight year old, I could sense what it meant to the state of Wisconsin when this young kid from Mississippi lead us back to Titletown in 1996.

There's no area in this country where a championship means more than in Wisconsin and the Lombardi Trophy.

Then in 2003, when Brett's dad passed away a day before the Packers' game in Oakland, we all sympathized with him—it felt like our own dad had died. 

But that didn't stop our quarterback. He trotted out with the rest of his Packers' teammates and had one of the best games of his life.

We all were in Brett's corner, and we all knew that Irvin Favre was watching down on the Packers that day. 

In 2007, our Packers had a dream season. Favre had a great season, a 13-3 record and a blizzard win against the Seahawks in the playoffs.

It all was set up for Green Bay to return to the Super Bowl. 

It wasn't to be. Favre threw the interception in overtime of the NFC Championship game that sunk the Packers' season and a lot of fans hated him for it.

Me? I felt terrible for him, that wasn't the way it was supposed to end.

But then that following summer happened. We know the story: Favre retires, then wants to come back but the Packers have moved on with Aaron Rodgers.

There was a lot of bad blood, and to be honest, it split Packer nation; it still does to an extent.

There are plenty of people who will never forgive Ted Thompson for trading Favre, no matter how good a decision it was. 

I was content with Favre in New York. The Jets didn't play the Packers, he was in the AFC and I really thought he only had a year left. He'd get the last bit of football out of his system, retire and it'd be done. 

That was all going to plan by the end of the 2008 season. Favre had retired, Rodgers looked like a good young quarterback and everything was going to be okay. 

Favre had other ideas—I'll always believe that what transpired was masterminded by Favre the entire time.

He retired from New York, but just a couple months later, there was talk of him coming back again. 

And this time, he was coming back with the Minnesota Vikings. That's when content turned to hate, childhood idol turned to villain. I've despised Brett Favre ever since.

I cheered his interception to end the Vikings' 2009 season; I loved watching the Vikings' 2010 crumble in front of their eyes; I was even a little giddy that the whole texting scandal was coming out.

Tonight, that's starting to change. It's time to forget everything that's happened the past three seasons. 

Who cares if we traded him to the Jets? We now have Aaron Rodgers instead.

Who cares if he played in Minnesota? He broke their hearts last season and set their franchise back at least a couple of years. 

It's time to start remembering Brett Favre for what he really was: One of the greatest Green Bay Packers to ever play. That's an undisputed fact. 

He broke all the biggest NFL passing records as a member of the Packers, not with the Vikings or Jets. He did it all as the Packers' starting quarterback. 

In five years, he'll go into the NFL Hall of Fame as one of the best quarterbacks to ever play and he'll do it as the 27th Packer inducted. That's a big deal if you didn't know. 

Also sometime in the future, his No. 4 will be retired from this franchise and his name will go up on Lambeau Field's facade. That might seem unfathomable for many fans, but that day is coming.

Without question, there has been a lot of pain and frustration between Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers the past three seasons. A lot of that is for good reason. 

But we should never forget everything that Favre gave the Packers and their franchise. He played every Sunday for our team for 16 seasons, gave us some amazing moments and some heartbreakers, but throughout it all he made it an absolute blast to be a Green Bay Packers' fan. 

There should be no more added pain in this rocky relationship. The time has come Packers fans. 

Once we wipe away the fog that has been the past three years, we'll finally be able to see how great it was having Brett Favre as a part of the Green Bay Packers. 

The long road to recovery has begun.