The Green Bay Packers honoured legendary quarterback Brett Favre by retiring his famous No. 4 jersey on Thursday.

Favre's jersey retirement ceremony occurred at half-time of Thursday's game against their NFC North arch-rivals the Chicago Bears, with the Packers trailing 14-13. 

Favre is just the sixth Packers player to have his number retired — joining Tony Canadeo, Bart Starr, Don Hutson, Ray Nitschke and Reggie White. 

The 81-year-old Starr, who led the Packers to five NFL championships from 1961-67, was in attendance for the ceremony. Favre was greeted at midfield by several of his former team-mates from the Packers' 1996 and '97 Super Bowl teams. 

Packers president Mark Murphy introduced Favre to a celebratory crowd by saying, "Welcome home."

"It is Thanksgiving and I have so much to be thankful for," Favre said. "I think back to our time in Green Bay. I certainly thank God for giving me the opportunity to play the game for so long and in the best place to play football."

Originally drafted out of Southern Mississippi by the Falcons in the second round of the 1991 NFL Draft, Favre was traded to the Packers in 1992 in a deal orchestrated by former general manager Ron Wolf, who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame earlier this year. 

Four years after joining the Packers, Favre helped Green Bay become Titletown yet again after the Packers won their first championship since 1967. 

During his time with the Packers, Favre led the team to consecutive Super Bowls, with the one title, and became the first player to win three NFL MVP awards. When the Packers inducted Favre into the team's hall of fame earlier this summer, Wolf called Favre the greatest player to ever play for the Packers.

Favre was selected to 11 Pro Bowls and retired in 2010 as the NFL's all-time leader in passing yards, completions, attempts, touchdowns and wins. Favre set an NFL record with 321 consecutive games played, including the play-offs.