The 2011 Super Bowl has special relevance for Green Bay Packers fans, even as the Pittsburgh Steelers consider buying airfare to the next several Super Bowls, just in case—with Brett Favre retiring off-screen and Aaron Rodgers finally taking them back to the promised land, it's time for still more comparisons between the ultimate quarterback shadow and his younger apprentice. With two Super Bowl Brett Favres to choose, here's what Aaron Rodgers will have to eclipse to win fame in his own right:
↵Super Bowl XXXI Brett Favre was in true gunslinger, just-having-fun-out-there mode—he went 14-for-27 for 246 yards and two touchdowns. 9.1 yards per attempt made the Packers' offense tough to stop, even as their rushing game went half-stale. That 81 yard bomb to Antonio Freeman, of course, might have something to do with that sterling day—without it his Y/A falls to a more human 6.35.
↵Super Bowl XXXII Brett Favre was out-gunslung, alas, by an even more heroic John Elway, who wasn't actually very good at all that night. Favre was much more heavily taxed that night, going 25-for-42 for 256 yards but adding three touchdowns to his pedestrian yardage total. Terrell Davis was not quite human that year, and that was all there was to it—not much can be done when the opposing running back can run 30 times and still top five yards per carry.
↵Rodgers will have a heavier burden this year than Favre, just because Favre didn't have himself to work against. But he doesn't have any legendary performances to compete against, so if he gets the Packers a win somehow in the 2011 Super Bowl he should finally have exhausted the world's Brett Favre fascination. And if Rashard Mendenhall runs 30 times for 150 yards—well, then at least he and Brett will have something to talk about.
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