Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre, 12 years into a career that will eventually earn him a bronzed bust in the Hall of Fame but still playing at a high level, acknowledged on Wednesday that he has begun to think about the scenario under which he will exit the game.

	Favre

No one, however, should expect any pending retirement announcements.

"I am to a point where I do think about retirement," Favre conceded during the NFL's weekly national conference call. "I think that's only fair, and in saying that, I know some people say 'retirement?' I don't want them to get the wrong impression. ... But a lot of things go into it."

Favre will celebrate his 33rd birthday on Thursday, but continues to perform like a player 10 years his junior -- both in his passion for the game and his results on the field. He currently ranks fourth in the NFL in passer efficiency among the quarterbacks who have a minimum of 100 attempts. And he plays every week with the same level of enthusiasm with which he entered the league.

On Sunday at New England, he will start his 163rd consecutive game, simply lengthening his own record, which is unlikely to ever be broken.

Still, there has been plenty of rhetoric over the past month, some of its instigated by Favre, as to how much longer he will play. This summer he said he thought "more often than in the past" about when and how his NFL tenure will conclude. Clearly he is more committed now to spending more time with his wife and two children.

That said, there are no tangible signs the end is near. His current contract runs through the 2010 season, but the last four years are "dummy" seasons, at inflated salaries, and he has hinted he will be gone by the time those years roll around.

During last Monday night's victory over the Chicago Bears, ABC's Al Michaels and John Madden discussed the possibility that Favre will play into his 40s. The suggestion came in the wake of remarks Favre made earlier to the two, about the likelihood he would be gone from the Packers in three years.

Favre on Wednesday suggested that, while he will leave the NFL on his own terms, his decision on retirement will be the combination of many factors.

"As I was telling my wife the other night, I said, 'Look, one thing that I know for sure is that I am playing well right now and the obvious talk is that (the Packers) don't want me to retire,' " Favre said. "Well, it's easy for them to say that when you are playing well. I don't ever want to get to a point where I am not playing well and that, in and of itself, forces me out.

"I mean, 12 years is a long time and I am happy I have been playing well, making good decisions, helping our team win. But at some point, either an injury or lack of performance will step in. And I just hope that I will leave the game before that happens. When that will be, I don't know, but I hope I know (when to quit) before that happens."

Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer for ESPN.com.