Barry Sanders and Brett Favre: the two NFL MVPs to chalk off a historic season in '97
Barry Sanders and Brett Favre unorthodoxically shared the MVP in one of the most shocking sporting award decisions the world has ever seen following the conclusion of the 1997 NFL season.
Dec 27, 1997: @packers Brett Favre set NFL history by winning the AP NFL MVP Award for the third consecutive year. He and Detroit’s Barry Sanders tied for the honor with 18 votes each. Favre was 241/356, 35 TD passes, only 16 interceptions. https://t.co/pxvCviCRN7
Favre threw for 3,800 yards and 35 touchdowns and led the Green Bay Packers to a 13-3 record. Sanders rushed for 2,053 yards and 11 touchdowns on a 9-7 Detroit Lions squad that had little means of creating offense outside of him. While Favre was awarded for his team's success, Sanders was the only reason for any smidge of his team's accomplishment.
In winning the award, Brett Favre became the first three-time MVP in the league's 41-year history in 1997. The Packers signal-caller won the prize for a third straight season after claiming the award in 1995 and 1996. It was Sanders' only year being named MVP.
After joining Favre in the most elite of company, Sanders joked about Favre finally sharing the award after hoarding it for himself the previous two seasons:
"I guess it puts me in elite company. I'm glad he let me share it with him this year, because the last couple he's taken it for himself."
He'd go on to compare Brett Favre to Michael Jordan—who was amid a second three-peat at that point in the late 1990s—as the best player in his respective sport:
"He reminds me a lot of Michael Jordan. No matter how successful he's been, he's still always the most competitive person on the field. Outside of his incredible talent and everything, he's always just really competitive."
Favre's answer was a bit more self-centered, talking about being unsure if he can reach his own standard of excellence:
"Going into this year, I was like, 'Thank God, I've won two, and I don't have to worry about it anymore.' I didn't know if I could maintain the lofty standards I'd set. I'm moving around better. I'm able to throw the ball with people hanging on me. I feel much better than last year. I thought I was in great shape last year, and I was, but actually I was too light."
Brett Favre and Barry Sanders were not equals in 1997
NFL.com writer Elliot Harrison discussed the mistake made in the 1997 NFL MVP vote two decades later in 2017. His piece was essentially an admission by the league that they wrongfully robbed Barry Sanders of sole MVP ownership.
Harrison believes that Brett Favre's positive relationship with MVP voters and Sanders' inverse relationship with them swayed the vote:
"Now, I like the Co-MVP more than most other people I know, but this was one year when Favre could have been left at the door. After all, he already won the award in both 1995 and '96. By '97, the media love affair with the Packers quarterback was somewhere between 'An Officer and a Gentleman' and 'Ghost.' Meanwhile, Barry Sanders ghosted enough dudes to make any girl on Bumble proud."
Harrison would call Sanders' performance that season the peak of his career. He would illustrate his invaluableness to that year's Lions squad:
"The 1997 season represented the apex of the most elusive running back the NFL has ever known. Sanders rushed for 2,053 yards at an astonishing 6.1 yards per carry. While the '90s Lions had a few solid teams -- Sanders was not always the one-man army revisionist historians claim he was -- there were times Sanders carried Detroit. In '97, he went over 100 yards in each of the last 14 regular-season games (averaging 22 carries for 143 yards in that span). But when the Bucs sold out on defense to shut down the running back in the Wild Card Round, Scott Mitchell couldn't pick up the slack."
While the vote indicated that the two were on par during the 1997 NFL season, the reality is that Sanders transcended his position and deserved to go down as one of the 16 running backs to have solely won the award.
Brett Favre and Barry Sanders went in different directions following 1997 season
Brett Favre and Barry Sanders were MVP candidates in 1998, but only the former would make it to the 21st century. Sanders played another year in 1998 before hanging up the helmet, pads, and cleats. Favre played until 2010 and led the Vikings in the 2009 NFC Championship game.
The two spoke on SiriusXM this past December, and both retired greats were highly complementary to their co-MVPs. Favre described Sanders as elusive, using some humor to get his point across:
"The best description I could give of Barry Sanders is you could put him in a phone booth with 11 guys and it will take them five minutes to touch him. And I don't think anyone who played against you or knows you would disagree."
Thanks to my friend @BrettFavre - I loved competing against you, but being interviewed was easier. @NFL @SiriusXMNFL twitter.com/SIRIUSXM/statu…
As for Sanders, he primarily focused on the impact Reggie White had on the Packers defense when his Lions would battle Green Bay during the mid-late 1990s. Facing the likes of White and the other linebacker greats of the 1990s forced White into early retirement before the age of 30. Favre famously played well into his forties after faux retirement for three straight years from 2008 to 2010.
Brett Favre and Barry Sanders will go down as greats at their positions, and their 1997 seasons will always be linked for being MVP seasons, though to varying degrees.
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