 2011 : In January , Favre filed retirement papers with the NFL . In December , a report from ESPN @-@ Chicago indicated that Favre would be open to coming back from retirement if the Chicago Bears were interested . However , head coach Lovie Smith and Favre denied the report . Favre said " In spite of reports about playing with various teams , I 'm enjoying retirement with my family and have no plans to play football . " 
