Who Is the Best Packers Quarterback of All Time?

Here is the ranking, so you can argue with it right away. Aaron Rodgers first, Brett Favre second, Bart Starr third. That is my order, and most Packers fans land somewhere close to it, even when they swap the bottom two.

This debate never really ends, because the three men played different eras of football and won in different ways. Starr won with a Hall of Fame coach and a roster full of legends. Favre won with sheer volume and an arm that never seemed to get tired. Rodgers won with accuracy nobody else in NFL history has matched. Here is the case for each, in order.

1. Aaron Rodgers (2005 to 2022)

Rodgers sat behind Favre for three seasons before he ever threw a real NFL pass, then spent the next fifteen seasons proving the wait was worth it. He won four MVP awards, in 2011, 2014, 2020 and 2021, second only to Peyton Manning’s five. He won Super Bowl XLV after the 2010 season and was named the game’s MVP.

What separates Rodgers from every other quarterback the Packers have had is accuracy. When he left Green Bay for the Jets in 2023, he owned the lowest career interception percentage of any quarterback in NFL history. That number is not a small edge. It is the difference between a great quarterback and a quarterback who almost never gives a defense a gift.

Rodgers also started nearly as long as Favre did, and he did it while carrying an offense that leaned on him more than either of the other two eras did. Starr threw to a backfield with two Hall of Famers in it. Most of what Green Bay’s offense produced in Rodgers’ prime came from what he did with the ball in his hand.

What people forget

Rodgers spent his first three seasons as Favre’s backup and did not start a game until 2008, when he was already 24. A four-time MVP career that started that late is rare in any sport.

2. Brett Favre (1992 to 2007)

Favre took over an offense that had not made the playoffs in years and turned the Packers into contenders almost overnight. He won three straight MVP awards, in 1995, 1996 and 1997, a feat no other player has matched. He led Green Bay to Super Bowl XXXI and won it, then took the Packers back to the Super Bowl the following season.

The streak is the number that defines him. Favre started 253 straight regular-season games at quarterback for the Packers, a run that spanned sixteen seasons without a single missed start for injury. Quarterbacks get hurt. Favre kept showing up anyway, week after week, through broken bones and everything else the position throws at a body over that many years.

Favre also played with a recklessness that made him thrilling and occasionally maddening. He threw a lot of touchdowns and a lot of interceptions, because he was always willing to throw the ball into a window most quarterbacks would pass up. Packers fans loved him for it, and it is part of why his highlight reel still holds up decades later.

What people forget

Favre was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in 1991, not Green Bay. Atlanta barely played him and traded him to the Packers before his second season, one of the more one-sided trades in NFL history.

3. Bart Starr (1956 to 1971)

Starr won five NFL championships with the Packers in seven seasons, in 1961, 1962, 1965, 1966 and 1967, a run no quarterback matched until Tom Brady. He was the NFL’s MVP in 1966 and was named MVP of the first two Super Bowls ever played, after the 1966 and 1967 seasons.

His signature moment came on December 31, 1967, in a game known as the Ice Bowl. With the temperature at thirteen degrees below zero and sixteen seconds left on the clock, Starr called his own number and sneaked into the end zone to beat the Dallas Cowboys for the NFL championship. It remains one of the most famous plays in football history.

Starr played in an era built around defense and the running game, with Vince Lombardi calling the shots and Hall of Famers like Jim Taylor and Paul Hornung in the backfield. His job was to protect the ball and win the moments that mattered, and he did both about as well as anyone ever has.

What people forget

Starr almost did not start that 1959 season. Lombardi planned to open the year with Lamar McHan at quarterback, and Starr only took over the job after McHan got hurt. He never gave it back.

The case for the other order

Put Starr first and the argument is simple: five championships in seven seasons and two Super Bowl MVP trophies. Rings settle debates for a lot of fans, and Starr has more of them than Rodgers and Favre combined.

Put Favre first and the case rests on availability and dominance at the same time. Three straight MVP awards has never happened before or since, and 253 consecutive starts means he was never the reason the Packers lost a game to injury. A quarterback who is both the best player in the league and never misses a snap is about as valuable as the position gets.

The verdict

Rodgers gets the top spot here because accuracy at his level changes an offense in a way volume and toughness do not. Favre and Starr both won more team titles, and both arguments hold up. This is a debate Packers fans will keep having at bars and tailgates for as long as the team plays football, and that is part of what makes it fun.

Read more Green Bay Packers history on the Packers history page, or test what you know at the trivia hub.