He's one of the National Football League's most recognizable faces - the good ‘ol country boy made good, a three- time league most valuable player.
Now Brett Favre is just another player. His performance over the past five weeks has been average when compared to other quarterbacks in the league and well below the bar he has established for himself during his tenure in the NFL.
This past Sunday it was clear that Favre is continuing to struggle and proved that as he goes, so goes the Green Bay Packer offense and their chances of winning.
Favre had the opportunity to lead the Pack past the Dallas Cowboys in the waning seconds of their game last Sunday, but his off-balance throw from the Dallas 25-yard line with 21 seconds remaining in the game was completed to former Packer- turned Dallas safety George Teague, who ran it back the other way for the game- ending touchdown.
Favre has been hurt all season, but refuses to allow the injury to his thumb to be used as an excuse.
"My thumb hurts. But I'm not the only player on this football team who's playing in pain. They pay me a lot of money to play," Favre was quoted as saying after the game.
"If I'm hurting this football team, Ron Wolf and Ray Rhodes will know it and they'll sit me. If I'm not, I'll keep playing. Only I know how much I'm hurting. I can lie. People can make assumptions. Right now, it's not hurting me where I have to come out of the game."
Inconsistency and the inability to place the ball into tight coverages seems to be Favre's biggest problems right now. He's also seemed to have lost his confidence, his much talked-about swagger.
It was evident throughout the Dallas game, especially through the first three quarters. It wasn't until the fourth quarter, during garbage time when the Cowboys were playing soft zones, that Favre began to connect.
During the first half he completed only six of 16 passes for 60 yards and misfired time and time again. There were drops by his receivers, there was poor pass protection and a lack of a running game that also helped to contribute to the team's woes, but there were passes by Favre in this game, like all the other games over the past month, that were clearly off the mark and so unlike him.
Decision-making also seems to have become a problem for Favre. Coaches and fans could only shake their heads when they watched a promising second quarter drive snuffed out in the end zone when Favre tried to force the ball to tight end Jeff Thomason, only to have Dallas' Kevin Smith snag the interception.
"That was just me," Favre said. "I'm just trying to get the ball into the end zone. It was one of those things."
"Those things" seem to be occurring all too often for the once unflappable Favre. It seems other teams have found his number and he hasn't had the ability to adjust.
Maybe it's the thumb, maybe it's the coaching, maybe it's just bad luck. Whatever the reason, there is little time left for Favre and Rhodes. The season is running out and if the Packers don't respond with a win at home next week against the Central Division leading Detroit Lions, the Packers may be sitting at home during January watching the playoffs instead of participating.
"I don't have any answers," Favre said after the game and neither do his coaches, who aren't about to give up on the star quarterback.
"At times he threw the ball well, at times he threw the ball inaccurate," Packer offensive coordinator Sherman Lewis said. "But it depends what you think, are we better off without him or better with him with a hurt hand? Obviously our answer is we're better off with him," he added.
All indications are that Packer fans still love their loveable quarterback and want to see him battle through this slump. However, in this day and age of winning as the only thing, one wonders how long the fan support will last. Will the fans continue to support their hero or will there eventually come a time when they plead for his benching?
It doesn't really matter at this point. The Packer brass has already made the commitment to stay with Favre and they will have to live and die with their decision.
Favre has pulled the team from the brink of disaster time and again since becoming the full-time starter in 1992. Most believe he is the only one who can do it again.
Those sentiments were echoed by re ceiver Antonio Freeman, who had a sub- par game himself at Dallas.
"He's our leader," he said. "He can still make plays. He's hurting and he knows it, but he's playing through it. We've ac cepted whatever comes with it." So has everyone else.