NEW YORK -- The Minnesota Vikings acquired Brett Favre to get them to their first Super Bowl in more than three decades.
He led them to a 12-4 record and the NFC North title and showed he's still one of the top quarterbacks in the game. He was one of five QBs to finish the regular season with at least 4,000 yards passing, 25 TDs passing and a QB rating of at least 100.
Favre was joined by the Saints' Drew Brees, the Chargers' Philip Rivers, the Packers' Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger. All but Roethlisberger led their teams to the playoffs.
The regular season featured 10 QBs with at least 4,000 yards passing, 12 with at least 25 TDs passing, and five with QB ratings of at least 100. All are records for a single season.
The previous record for 4,000-yard passers was seven in 2007. The old mark for QBs with at least 25 TD passes was 10 also in 2007. And four QBs had at least a 100 rating in 1998 and 2004.
Favre finished with regular season with 4,202 yards, 33 TDs and a rating of 107.2. Brees had 4,388 yards, 34 TDs and 109.6. Rivers had 4,254, 28 TDs and 104.4. Rodgers was at 4,434, 30 and 103.2 and Roethlisberger finished 4,328, 26 and 100.5.
The Texans' Matt Schaub, the Colts' Peyton Manning, the Giants' Eli Manning, the Cowboys' Tony Romo and the Patriots' Tom Brady also broke 4,000 yards passing. And the Bears' Jay Cutler and the Cardinals' Kurt Warner also had at least 25 TDs passing.
Scoring was down a little across the league. Teams combined to average 42.9 points per game this season, compared with 44.1 in 2008. Teams also combined to average 670.3 yards per game in 2009, up from 654.5 in the previous season.
Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press
