MNF: Can San Diego's Troubled Defense Spoil Broadway Brett's Curtain Call?

In each of the past few years, there has been one Monday Night Football game that generated a special kind of pensive reverence among fans and sports media alike. Each year, there has been one moment that marked the end of an era, the closing of a chapter of greatness. And each year, the legend continued on. This Monday night, it will happen again.

This will be Brett Favre's last Monday Night Football game.

Probably.

Maybe.

Regardless, Brett Favre will travel to San Diego to start his 34th career Monday Night Football game—and his first in a Jets uniform.

San Diego Chargers fans remember well the last time the Jets visited Qualcomm Stadium. The Chargers were dealt a 20-17 overtime loss atop Chargers kicker Nate Kaeding's two missed field goals in the 2005 AFC Wild Card meeting which marked the beginning of the end for the Bolts' former head coach Marty Schottenheimer.

Fast-forward to 2008, when Norv Turner's Chargers, still plagued by injuries, are 0-2 after consecutive last-minute heartbreaks to open the regular season. The Bolts are in what is arguably a must-win scenario as they attempt to find a way to shore up their depleted defense against a quarterback who torched them for 369 yards and three touchdowns just one short year ago. 

Brett Favre, who is 19-14 in his storied career on Monday night, will be facing a Chargers defense ranking 31st in the league against the pass and are seemingly unable to create pressure or turnovers without their star linebacker Shawne Merriman.

On the other side of the ball, the New York Jets, ranked eighth in the NFL in defense, will try to stop the high-powered Chargers' offense, the league's fifth-best amid surprising performances by quarterback Philip Rivers and backup running back Darren Sproles.

Random Trivia:

This Monday, Jets QB Brett Favre will be starting his 34th career Monday Night Football game, while Chargers QB Philip Rivers will start his 35th career regular season game.

Former Chargers head coach Marty Schottenheimer's son Brian is currently the quarterbacks coach for the Jets. Brian Schottenheimer was Philip Rivers' first professional position coach from 2004-2005.

The only other time these two teams met on Monday night, the Chargers defeated the Jets, 24-16. The date was December 15, 1975. Favre was in kindergarten.