Brett Favre Starting Streak Continues Against Patriots

Brett Favre, listed as questionable with an ankle injury, started for the Minnesota Vikings against the New England Patriots on Sunday, increasing his NFL-record streak to 292 consecutive regular-season games. Earlier Sunday, the team announced via Twitter that Favre would play.

Favre's streak, which was the subject of much discussion all week after it was revealed that he had suffered both a stress fracture and an avulsion fracture in his ankle, is one of the most impressive in all of sports. As NFL injuries pile up week after week after week, Favre has been the one constant for nearly two decades. More than 200 different quarterbacks have started NFL games during Favre's streak.

The streak began in September of 1992, when Favre replaced an injured Don Majkowski as the Green Bay Packers' starter. It has endured through injuries to Favre's throwing arm and hand, his injured ankle and also the death of his father, when Favre passed threw four touchdowns in the first half on Monday Night Football and ran up 399 passing yards in a 41–7 win over the Raiders, just a day after his dad died.

Favre broke the previous record for the longest consecutive starts streak by a quarterback, then owned by Ron Jaworski, in 1999. In 2009 he broke former Vikings defensive tackle Jim Marshall's record for the most consecutive starts by any NFL position player, 271. The player who has the best chance of breaking Favre's streak is Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, who's currently at 198. Manning will still need several years to reach Favre, though -- even if he gets an edge by the NFL expanding to 18-game seasons.

The streak started the same week that "Mad About You" premiered on NBC. When the streak started, President George H.W. Bush was running for re-election against Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton and Texas billionaire H. Ross Perot. Unforgiven was a hit at the box office and would win the Academy Award for Best Picture six months later.

And the streak still lives.