The boyish enthusiasm that drove him to a Super Bowl championship and three N.F.L. Most Valuable Player awards gave way to weariness. And so Monday night, Brett Favre, the beloved quarterback of the Green Bay Packers and one of the most iconic, crowd-pleasing players in football history, told the Packers he was retiring.  Favre, 38, had pondered retirement for a few years, and his longtime agent, Bus Cook, suggested on Tuesday that Favre wanted to play at least one more season but might have retired, in part, because he felt the Packers had not expressed enough interest in having him return.  “Nobody pushed Brett Favre out the door, but then nobody encouraged him not to go out that door, either,” Cook told The Associated Press from his Hattiesburg, Miss., office.  Packers Coach Mike McCarthy said Tuesday that he spoke with Favre continually over the last four weeks, discussing details such as practice schedules that might make Favre’s preparation easier. McCarthy said that Favre mentioned retirement for the first time last Thursday. McCarthy and Packers General Manager Ted Thompson said that while they did not want to badger Favre into a decision, they always made it clear that they thought Favre could still play and they still wanted him.  McCarthy thought Favre would return, and when Favre called him at 7 p.m. Monday when McCarthy was on his way to his daughter’s basketball banquet, he was surprised.  “He’s mentally tired, just a lot of little things that go into his everyday preparation,” McCarthy said at a news conference in Green Bay, Wis. “Mentally tired was the constant.”  “He was clearly wanted back,” McCarthy added. “How could you not want Brett Favre’s career to continue? The reality of it hit this morning.”  Favre’s only public comments were to ESPN: “I know I can still play, but it’s like I told my wife, I’m just tired mentally. I’m just tired,” Favre said in a voice mail. “I know it shouldn’t feel unsuccessful, but the only way to come back and make that be the right decision would be to come back and win a Super Bowl. And honestly, the odds of that, they’re tough. Those are big shoes for me to fill, and I guess it was a challenge I wasn’t up for. “  Now, it is Aaron Rodgers who has the big shoes to fill.  Favre’s decision to leave the game after his turn-back-the-clock season led the Packers to the N.F.C. championship game sent Cheeseheads into mourning and migrating to Lambeau Field.  When the 2006 season ended, Favre left the field with tears in his eyes, fueling speculation that he would walk away. But he lobbied for the Packers to acquire Randy Moss before Moss signed with the Patriots, and he returned for the 2007 season. Favre again hoped the Packers would sign the free agent Moss this year, but the Packers did not pursue him.  The Packers were one of the surprise success stories of the season, a team of youngsters led by a quarterback with salt-and-pepper hair who lost to the eventual Super Bowl champions Giants in overtime. During the playoffs, Favre told The Sun Herald in Biloxi, Miss., that for the first time in three years, he did not think the next game could be his last, and that he would like to play longer.  Favre was selected by the Atlanta Falcons with the 33rd overall pick in 1991, the third quarterback taken after Dan McGwire and Todd Marinovich. The first of four passes he threw for the Falcons was intercepted, and he was traded after his rookie season to Green Bay, where he spent the next 16 years. Ron Wolf, the former Packers general manager who made the trade and whose career is inextricably linked with Favre’s, said he thought then that Favre was the best player in the 1991 draft. Wolf was proved right.  Favre led the Packers to a Super Bowl title after the 1996 season and they returned to the Super Bowl  and lost to Denver  after the 1997 season. Favre retires with the career records for most touchdown passes (442), most passing yards (61,655) and most victories by a starting quarterback (160). His durability was as staggeringly strong as his arm: Favre started 275 consecutive games, including the playoffs, a record for quarterbacks.  “He truly was as gifted a player as I have ever seen,” said Mike Holmgren, who was the Packers’ coach for Favre’s first seven seasons. “And as proud and amazed as I am of what Brett has accomplished on the playing field, the thing that impresses me the most is what kind of a man and leader he has become off the field since I have known him. I have taken great joy in watching him develop as a person and father  perhaps even more so  than as a coach watching his quarterback.”  It was Favre’s reputation as a gunslinger that delighted fans. He rifled passes off his back foot, improper form for an elite quarterback, and frequently turned broken plays into candidates for the highlight reel. But occasionally, it got him in trouble. He also holds the league’s career record for interceptions (288). The final pass of his career came in the brutal cold of Lambeau. It was poorly thrown and was intercepted by the Giants’ Corey Webster to set up the winning field goal and send the Giants to the Super Bowl.  “Everybody has copied his throwing style now but that was a unique Brett Favre thing, just wing it, sometimes underhand, sometimes behind the back, sometimes to a lineman, and a few times to the opposition,” Wolf said Tuesday morning on Sirius Satellite Radio. “But that’s Brett Favre and he did those types of things. I think he had a great deal of fun playing the game and he always played to win the game and that’s an important deal.”  Favre married his extraordinary skill with a common touch that brought him closer to fans even as he distanced himself from every other quarterback in the record book. He lived in Mississippi and disappeared there during the off-season. Earlier in his career, he spoke publicly about an addiction to Vicodin and a drinking problem. When misfortune visited his family, the whole world knew. His wife, Deanna, was diagnosed with breast cancer and wrote a book.  And in one of his most enduring performances, Favre was dazzling on a Monday night in 2003, throwing for 399 yards and 4 touchdowns only 24 hours after the father he adored had a fatal heart attack. That Favre even played that night was testament to his resilience. Favre was so appreciated by N.F.L. fans that even Raiders fans cheered him.
In his 17 seasons, Brett Favre earned three M.V.P. awards, a bevy of records and a reputation as a crowd-pleaser.