The Green Bay Packers enjoyed their greatest success when they had a Hall of Fame quarterback at the helm. Bart Starr took them to the first two Super Bowls in NFL history. Brett Favre came in during the ‘90s and led them back to the Super Bowl as well. Now, Aaron Rodgers has had the Packers on top for years, always competing for an NFL title. However, while Starr was always a model citizen and Rodgers has done nothing to get in trouble while working with the Packers, Favre admitted that he went through a lot of problems while he was playing as one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL.

In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Favre said that he went to rehab three times during his NFL career.

Favre talks about rehab

Brett Favre said that he has suffered from alcohol and painkiller addiction through his entire NFL career. Favre said that the addiction was so strong that he would take up to 14 Vicodin tablets at a time during the 1995 NFL season when he was playing for the Green Bay Packers. That was the same year that he won the NFL MVP award – the first of three times that he won the MVP of the league. Favre said that he was amazed at how good he played in that MVP year considering that he woke up in the morning and immediately went to take more pills.

Brett Favre said that he spent 28 days at a rehab center in Louisiana in the early ‘90s due to his addiction to the painkillers.

He also spent 28 more days in a rehab center for alcohol in 1998. Finally, Favre also admitted that he had a 72-day stint in a rehab center in Kansas City in order to help him beat his painkiller addiction. During this time, Favre won three NFL MVP awards (1995, 1996, 1997) and a Super Bowl title (1996). By the end of his career, Favre was an 11-time Pro Bowl player.

Favre talks about his problems

When talking about how hard it was on him, Brett Favre said that he drank to get drunk and always drank to excess. That led to the second rehab stint in the Kansas City location, following the 72 days for the painkiller addiction. He said that alcohol was his gateway drug but he wouldn’t admit it at the time.

Favre said that he fought with anyone who told him that it was a gateway drug and one nurse he always butted heads with said he would be back and she was right.

The Green Bay Packers never mentioned anything in his time playing there. The current Packers organization had no comments on the Brett Favre interview. With that said, there is likely no one left from Favre’s playing days in the ‘90s as the entire front office and coaching staff has changed many times in the 20 years since Favre played there and underwent his rehabilitation stints.
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