Packer fans brace yourselves. What I am about to say may cause some of you to cringe and/or erupt in anger.

I’m going to need all you cheeseheads to look at this piece objectively and then come to your own conclusion.

What am I talking about? The fact that now is the time for Brett Favre to retire. Actually, before the 2005 season would have been a better time, but now it’s truly a no-brainer.

Yes, Favre has had a great career. Nobody would ever dispute that. But, there comes a time when you have to ask yourself: Is Favre helping or hurting Green Bay’s future?

I would say, at this point, No. 4 is holding his franchise hostage. Sure, Favre is in the midst of an unbelievable consecutive games played streak. The final week of the season against Seattle, Favre started his 221st straight game (236 counting the playoffs).

That said, every great run does have to come to an end. Just look at Cal Ripkin’s streak in baseball, the Dallas Cowboys of the mid-90s and, of course, Nick and Jessica.

Yes, nothing lasts forever (well, almost nothing but we’ll get to that later).

In Green Bay these days, there are not many things to look forward to as the Packers finished with one of the worst records in the NFL at 4-12. This was the first time during the Favre streak that Green Bay has had a sub-.500 record.

Enter quarterback protégée Aaron Rogers. General Manager Ted Thompson drafted Rogers out of California in the first round of the ’05 draft for a reason: He is the future.

We all saw how poorly Favre performed this past season and with a team needing to get on with the rebuilding process, the old gunslinger needs to realize that the franchise needs him to move on.

Green Bay could have taken a much-needed defensive player in the first round, but it didn’t. Rogers was the pick and after a year of learning from the sidelines, he deserves to ring in a new era in Titletown.

The fact that the Packers had such an awful year wasn’t only Favre’s fault. It was due to many factors. The most important of those -- besides poor quarterback play -- are probably lack of talent on the offensive line and the secondary, and injuries.

With Ahman Green, Javon Walker, Najeh Davenport and others lost for the season early on, the Packers were in a tough spot. Yes, they were close in most of their losses, but the NFL is a league of parity. Translation: most teams with losing records have a lot of close losses.

The problem with Favre in ‘05 was that he consistently hurt his team just as much as he has helped it, maybe more. Favre led the NFL in interceptions with 29 and many of them came at very bad times for the Packers.

If Favre were a basketball player, he would score on a spectacular dunk then give up an easy lay-up on the other end. Favre was a wash last year and it was obvious that he cancelled his great plays out with awful ones. Anyone see the game at Philadelphia or the Monday nighter against the Vikings or… well, you get the idea.

By playing Rodgers this year, what would the Packers really lose? He couldn’t possibly throw any more interceptions, that’s for sure.

Currently, Favre ranks second only to Dan Marino in all-time in touchdown passes (396), completions (nearly 4,700) and is nine victories behind John Elway’s league record of 148 for quarterbacks. These numbers beg the question: What would Favre come back for?

The money? The records? Another shot at a Super Bowl? Simply for the love of the game?

It’s hard to think that Favre looked at the 2005 Green Bay roster before training camp in July and actually thought this team had a legitimate shot at a championship. When the Packers selected Rogers last April, I thought for sure that would be the last straw for Favre and that he would ride off into the sunset on his lawn mower in his home state of Mississippi.

Hey, it is the NFL, so maybe Favre is thinking that he wants to come back in ’06 to a healthy team with a clean slate (and maybe Memphis’ talented running back DeAngelo Williams as a new teammate). If that’s the case, nobody will stop him from doing so, but Favre should realize that he can help his team by leaving the game now (and making that decision before March so the team can plan accordingly for the draft).

Anyone who thinks Green Bay is close to being a contender is kidding themselves. Chicago and Minnesota are head and shoulders above the Packers at this point in the NFC North and a winning season in ’06 is a long shot no matter who the quarterback is.

If the sport in question was golf or tennis, I wouldn’t be writing this column because Favre would have only himself to worry about, not an entire team.

Make no mistake; Favre – easily the biggest celebrity in Wisconsin over the past decade -- will not be benched by a new coach, Thompson or anyone else in the organization. Favre will have to step aside himself and he should do just that. It’s the right thing to do for the franchise’s future.

Besides, all things -- except, of course, The Rolling Stones -- must come to an end.