When Brett Favre retired in March, there was much reminiscing about the player, the competitor, the quarterback he was, the Hall of Fame career he was ending with perhaps a season or two of quality play left in him.

On Thursday, Ravens QB Steve McNair retired with less fanfare, and with less doubt that indeed he had nothing left to give. Like Favre, McNair never held anything back on the football field.

But Favre was adept at avoiding the big hit. In his prime, McNair sought contact, relished it, dished it out.

“I played the game with a lot of passion,” McNair said Thursday. “I played the game with a lot of heart.”

He came out of Alcorn State 13 years ago with the nickname “Air McNair.” There wasn’t much television footage of him, which only added to the intrigue. The Oilers, seeking a quarterback after Cody Carlson, Bucky Richardson and Billy Joe Tolliver all shared the position in a 2-14 season in 1994, drafted him third overall.

For much of his first two seasons, McNair sat on the bench. He took over the full-time starting job in 1997. Even then, there was something of an air of mystery about him. The Oilers had moved to Tennessee, playing the ’97 season at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis and the ’98 campaign at Vanderbilt Stadium in Nashville. It was easy to lose sight of player and team in the shuffle. The Oilers went 8-8 in each of McNair’s first two seasons as a starter.

But his star turn came the following season. The Oilers were now the Titans, and McNair was now one of the leaders of a team that made an unlikely run to Super Bowl XXXIV. McNair’s game really started to take off as the stakes grew bigger. In the AFC title game at Jacksonville, McNair took the life out of the Jaguars with a 51-yard dash that set up his game-clinching 1-yard touchdown.

In the Super Bowl, the Titans sputtered early and looked on the verge of being blown out by the Rams. Then, trailing 16-0, the Titans delivered an object lesson in rewards that can come from sticking to the game plan. McNair led the Titans on methodical 12- and 13-play TD drives that got Tennessee back in the game. Later, with the Rams leading 23-16 and 22 seconds left on the clock, McNair pulled one of the great escape acts in Super Bowl history, breaking free of Rams DE Kevin Carter and delivering a strike to WR Kevin Dyson that put the Titans on the St. Louis 10-yard-line with six seconds left.

Tennessee’s comeback attempt would fall one-yard short, of course. And McNair would never get back to the Super Bowl.

But his career was only starting to take off. He was a much more accurate passer in the years to come. His best season was in 2003, when he earned league co-MVP after playing through calf, ankle, knee and finger injuries to toss 24 TD passes and only seven interceptions in 14 starts and lead Tennessee to the playoffs.

The Titans lost a hard-fought game at New England in the divisional playoffs, and they would not return to the postseason in McNair’s final two seasons with the club. His Tennessee career ended ingloriously, with the Titans barring him from the facility in a contract dispute. Eventually, he was traded to Baltimore. His mobility was gone, but his accuracy wasn’t, and he could still command a huddle. The Ravens, who suffered across-the-board ineffectiveness at the position for so many years, finally had a quarterback who could carry his weight.

The Ravens won 13 games in McNair's first season. But they were drummed out of the playoffs by the Colts in divisional round, and McNair played poorly against a young, fast defense.

In his final season in Baltimore, McNair’s skills appeared to be in rapid decline. He could no longer consistently avoid the rush. He lost seven fumbles in six starts, more than he had ever lost in a full 16-game slate. And the injuries were again a concern — first a thigh injury, then a shoulder ailment that ended his season.

Were he to have played another year, much would have had to break correctly for him to succeed. The Ravens’ young offensive line was going to have to improve in pass protection. The receivers were going to have to be more dependable, more able to gain separation.

That's too many "ifs" for a quarterback who spent his career making his own breaks: buying time for receivers for his feet here, sprinting to get a key first down there, and never flinching when it was time to stand and deliver in the pocket. He decided to retire when he concluded he couldn't physically play the position the way he wanted to anymore. It is fitting, and it is right, that he got to author his own exit. He played the game with pride, and he deserved to step aside with his pride.

McNair is unlikely to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Other passers of his generation compiled gaudier statistics. But he was one of the distinctive players of his time, a throwback in his mentality and style of play. What shouldn’t go forgotten, either, is the way he improved and adapted over the years. His legs started to go in his thirties, but his game didn’t go with it.

If you remembered when upon Brett Favre’s exit from the game, do the same for Steve McNair.