He's definitely played through pain and injury - no question about it.
Sadly though, what Favre will end up being remembered for will be the last 3-4 years of his career, the ordeal with the Packers, retire-no-wait-well-maybe-nah, crying on TV, texting his winky to some honey on the Jets, and then the back-and-forth soap opera with the Vikings.
Favre could have been held in the same esteem as Joe Montana, Steve Young, Johnny Unitas, (etc.), if he'd made his mind, retired, and gotten his gold Hall-of-Fame jacket.
When I moved to Wisconsin in 2005, Brett was a demi-god up here. It didn't matter what he did, he was Brett. People whined because he forced passes and threw INTs, but they'd reverse themselves on the next possession when he tossed some amazing 50-yard pass to a receiver for a TD. Green Bay fans (and they're as rabid as Yankees, Red Sox, Raiders, Celtics, fans) were sympathetic when he left to go to the Jets, blaming it on the Packers front office. But when he went to the Vikings, he became reviled.
I'm 30 minutes from Lambeau. I'm not a Packers fan, I'm a NYer, but its pretty obvious to anyone who follows football.
J