Who is number four?

Brett Favre.

He's overcome so much in his career to keep his consecutive starts streak alive. His wife battled cancer and his father passed away right before a Monday Night Football game, not to mention the countless injuries.

Recently, Favre has had his share of off the field issues, centered on the scandal involving a former New York Jets employee.

I've noticed recently that the distractions in Favre's life are blowing up on the 41-year old. Whether it's a possible league suspension for the sexting scandal or a body that's starting to fail him, it seems as though Favre's consecutive starts streak will soon come to an end.

It could be as soon as this Sunday, due to the two fractures in his ankle. This would end his streak at 291 games (315 if you include playoff games).

I've got some advice for the old man: take a break.

The fact that he is playing right now makes me respect him that much more, but how can he possibly play football with so much going on around him?

Everyone needs to take time off. Just ask Tiger Woods.

Favre may feel healthy enough to play, but there is no way his body can recover the same way it did when he was young. That ankle is just not right, and it's showing in his play.

Favre has been inconsistent, for the most part, this season, but he has shown flashes of his old gun-slinging self. His team is sitting at 2-4, and he's taking a lot of the heat from the media.

What might be worse than the scrutiny he's received from the media for his play is the public revelation of his personal life.

No athlete will ever have as much about his personal life revealed as Tiger did, but Favre's only a couple of strokes back.

It has to be mentally draining to have your secrets become public knowledge, and if it doesn't bother him, he has some serious issues.

Even if he could play through it all you would think it would be desirable for Brett to take a game off. Just one game. If you're not able to perform at your best, you're only hurting the team. So why play at all?

In life, it's healthy to take a day off every now and then. I'm never sick, but I've taken days off from work if I don't feel that I can perform my job properly. That's life. We all need to get away at some point.

Sure, it's impressive that Favre has been able to play that many football games in a row. But it's really unnecessary.

Give Favre a week to rest his ankle and his mind. The pressure of the streak will be over, and he will be better for it. Trust me, Brett, we all know you're a tough guy. You don't need to prove it anymore.

Like his coach Brad Childress said, "We've got to protect him from himself."

When he comes back with Randy Moss and Percy Harvin to throw to, I'm confident he'll regain his swagger.

We won't think less of you, Brett. Just sit one out.

E-mail: chris.rahn@ubspectrum.com