Brett Favre is scheduled to have his No. 4 retired by Lambeau Field on Sept. 8. Brett Favre is scheduled to have his No. 4 retired by Lambeau Field on Sept. 8. (Jim Slosiarek/Associated Press)

The Green Bay Packers might have to postpone a pre-game ceremony in which quarterback Brett Favre's No. 4 will be retired.

The Packers had planned to honour Favre, the most prolific passer in NFL history, prior to the Sept. 8 season opener against the Minnesota Vikings at Lambeau Field.

Problem is, Favre, who retired March 6, wants to resume playing in the NFL — and not necessarily with Green Bay.

"We have not made a decision yet on whether to cancel it," Packers president Mark Murphy told reporters Thursday. "But we're coming up to a point where we're going to have to make a decision pretty quickly.

"We're going to retire Brett's number at some point. Regardless of whether it is this year, it will be sometime in the future.

"We will wait and see. But I think it is still enough up in the air that we want to wait and see how things play out."

Favre, 38, recently requested to be released because the Packers offered him the backup role behind Aaron Rodgers rather than the No. 1 job he has held since 1992.

That resulted in a public rift between Packers management and Favre, who hinted last week that he might show up at training camp to call the team's "bluff."

Remains on retired list

Favre remains on Green Bay's reserve/retired list, so he must request in writing to be reinstated by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell.

However, Bus Cook, Favre's agent, told ESPN last Tuesday that the future Hall of Famer has "no definite plans to ask for reinstatement," leaving it up to the Packers to either keep him, trade him or release him.

Favre holds the NFL record for consecutive starts (253), having started every game for Green Bay in the last 15 seasons.

He also owns the league marks for completions (5,377), attempts (8,358), passing yards (61,655) and touchdown passes (442).

Favre was drafted out of Southern Mississippi by Atlanta in the second round (33rd overall) in 1991, and played two games for the Falcons before being traded to the Packers for a first-round draft pick on Feb. 11, 1992.

He has been named to nine Pro Bowls and voted the NFL's most valuable player three times (1995-97), and led Green Bay to a 35-21 victory over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXI.

Favre is one of two NFL quarterbacks to surpass 60,000 yards, the other being Hall of Famer Dan Marino (61,361).

With files from the Associated Press