Brent Yarina, BTN.com Senior Editor, October 7, 2012

Drew Brees
US Presswire

Former Purdue star and current New Orleans QB Drew Brees set an NFL record Sunday night by throwing a touchdown pass for the 48th consecutive game. The record, previously held by NFL Hall of Famer Johnny Unitas, stood since 1960. Brees set the record on 40-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter of Sunday's 31-24 victory over San Diego, Brees' old team (Watch the TD | Brees talks record).

The record-setting performance was extra sweet because it came in a winning effort, New Orleans' first in the opening five weeks. Brees also had one of the better days of his career, completing 29-of-45 passes (64 percent) for 370 yards and four touchdowns.

It's Brees' record, of course, but another former Big Ten quarterback is on his heels. Michigan product Tom Brady threw a touchdown pass Sunday for the 37th consecutive game, making him and Brees the only players ever to get within 10 of Unitas' record that stood for more than a half-century.

As expected, people went to Twitter to congratulate Brees on his record. Here are some of the tweets:

And Brees hit Twitter to thank all of his fans:

BTN.com web editor Brent Yarina covers football and men's basketball for BTN.com. He writes the popular uniform feature "Clothes Call," which also focuses on the latest cosmetic changes across Big Ten arenas and stadiums. Read all of his latest work here. You can subscribe to Yarina's RSS feed and follow him on Twitter @BTNBrentYarina.