Packers History: Part II
The savior? The hard-nosed, attention to detail, fear-inducing, but complex and compassionate coach: Vince Lombardi.
Lombardi took over the team in 1959 and led the Packers to a 7-5 record — a dramatic step in the right direction after the franchise-worst 1958 season (1-10-1). After some uncertainly, Lombardi appointed Bart Starr as the team’s quarterback and, with his duo of ball carriers in Jim Taylor and Paul Hornung, they formed perhaps the greatest backfield in NFL history. All three are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and each won AP MVP Awards in the 1960s. It simply doesn’t get better than that.
Starr was the one player that had the courage to standup to Lombardi and he forever earned his coach’s respect. That courage earned himself the right to lead that unparalleled team. And he did with near perfection.
Offensive linemen Jim Ringo, Forrest Gregg, Jerry Kramer, Fred “Fuzzy” Thurston, Bob Skoronski, and others paved the way for the iconic backfield as the Lombardi era unfolded. These linemen led what was known as the “Packers Power Sweep” with brutal consistency.
Ringo, Gregg and Kramer are in the Hall of Fame (although it took Kramer much longer to get in that it should have). On the outside, Boyd Dowler was a standout pass-catcher and Max McGee certainly left his mark on Packers history catching the ball, too (catching the first touchdown in Super Bowl history). Carroll Dale would become Starr’s best deep threat as the 1960s rolled on.
By 1960, the Packers were already in the championship game. They lost, but Lombardi vowed that it would never happen again. He was right.
The Packers won the 1961 and 1962 World Championships, refocused, and then won World Championships in 1965, 1966, and 1967 too. Lombardi’s lofty goal of winning three in a row was finally accomplished.
The team captured five championships in a seven-year span, a mark no other team in NFL history has ever come close to matching. The 1966 and 1967 championships were also the first two Super Bowls in league history. Starr became known as, arguably, the most clutch quarterback in league history, going 9-1 in playoff games and leading the famed “Ice Bowl” drive. Lombardi became a mythical figure as the turbulent and revolutionary 1960s transpired.
However the 1962 Packers specifically stand out as the best team of the Lombardi era. That team went 13-1 and is widely considered one of the best teams of all-time.
But the Packers of the 1960s didn’t just win because of their coach, quarterback, and stacked offense; it had an elite defense as well led by captain and defensive end Willie Davis, linebacker Ray Nitschke, linebacker Dave Robinson, defensive lineman Henry Jordan, safety Willie Wood, and cornerback Herb Adderley — all of whom are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Cornerback Bob Jeter and linebackers Bill Forester and Lee Roy Caffey are more than worthy of remembrance, too.
After the Packers won three straight championships (and the “Ice Bowl” along the way) Lombardi left the team to head elsewhere — as the greats often do, even in Green Bay. It is because of the success during the 1960s that the term “Titletown” really stuck as an official moniker of Green Bay, Wisconsin.
In 1965, Curly Lambeau died and the Packers’ “New” City Stadium was renamed Lambeau Field.
Following Lombardi’s departure, the Packers once again fell on hard times on the field. His death in 1970 prompted the NFL to rename it’s Super Bowl championship trophy after him — the Vince Lombardi Trophy. But the sadness for Packers fans didn’t end in 1970.
In Green Bay, the years 1968-1992 are often referred to as “The Lean Years” in which the team won just a singular playoff game. Once again, the same old question was raised. Some asked if the Packers could (or should) remain in their small-town and aging stadium, in an exciting and growing NFL. Television deals were getting larger and the big markets were more attractive than ever.
The Packers, thanks to its loyal fans, remained.
Despite the memory of the Glory Years fading quickly, Green Bay did feature some truly great players during those years of relative suffering.
Fullback John Brockington was perhaps the most bruising runner in team history, but injuries shortened his career to just seven years in the 1970s. After him came Gerry Ellis in the 1980s, but the Packers continued to fail. Neither Brockington or Ellis were as great as wide receiver James Lofton, a Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee and the Packers’ second-leading receiver all-time. The era also featured the best tight end in Packers history, Paul Coffman. Both players dominated in the early 1980s.
On defense, the Packers had some impressive players as well. John Anderson at linebacker, safeties Mark Murphy and Jonnie Gray, cornerbacks Mark Lee, Willie Buchanon and Ken Ellis, and defensive end Robert Brown all at various times, but the losing continued.
Even two of the more legendary players from the Lombardi Era couldn’t turn the Packers around. Both Starr and Gregg received opportunities as the team’s head coach, but neither could deliver sustained success.
At quarterback, the team looked to Lynn Dickey to change the fortunes from the late-1970s to the early-1980s and, although he had some impressive seasons, the wins didn’t come. However, one draft pick in the late-80s served as a metaphor for the “The Lean Years” as a whole in Green Bay.
In 1989, the Packers infamously drafted offensive lineman Tony Mandarich second-overall; a player that did not come close to living up to expectations. His designation as a “bust” was intensified by the fact that the three players chosen after him were Barry Sanders, Derrick Thomas, and Deion Sanders — all Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees.
But a light at the end of the tunnel was appearing for the Green Bay Packers.
As “The Lean Years” were coming to a close, quarterback Don Majkowski had the Packers headed in the right direction. Although an injury to Majkowski in 1992 really opened the door for Green Bay’s return to glory.
That injury, serendipitously, brought an inexperienced Brett Favre into the game (a game in which he brought the Packers back to win). Despite losing consistently for the previous 25 years, every game at Lambeau Field sold out with ease. But with Favre at quarterback, real excitement was buzzing in Green Bay once again. But Favre never would have been there without General Manager Ron Wolf dismissing the naysayers and trading for him earlier that year.
Favre had Sterling Sharpe to throw to, a player that was on pace to be one of the all-time greats at his position, until his neck injury in 1994. He also had a great duo of running backs in Dorsey Levens and Edgar Bennett and a strong offensive line, led by center Frank Winters, in front of him.
Wolf and head coach Mike Holmgren were assembling an impressive team in the early 1990s, but something was missing.
That something was Reggie White.
White, the greatest pass rusher in NFL history and a highly-coveted free agent, unexpectedly joined the Packers in the summer of 1993. After that, the team finally started to dominate on the field like it had during the Lombardi era. Favre, and his reckless style of play, attracted nationwide attention as he unorthodoxly heaved deep balls to wide receivers Robert Brooks and Antonio Freeman.
This is the era when the Packers stopped playing at least two home games a season in Milwaukee. The final Packers game played in Wisconsin’s biggest city came in 1994, as Favre ran in the game-winning touchdown to end an era. By 1995, expectations were rising for the young and talented Packers.
In 1996, safety LeRoy Butler, along with White, helped lead the team’s defense to new heights. They combined with defensive end Sean Jones, safety Eugene Robinson, defensive tackles Santana Dotson and Gilbert Brown, linebacker George Koonce, and cornerback Doug Evans to create the league’s top scoring defense in 1996. The team’s offense was also the No. 1 ranked unit in the league in 1996. Not to mention, the special teams unit was led by the electrifying return man man Desmond Howard.
The team had no weaknesses.
Green Bay’s 1996 team was the first NFL team since 1969 to lead the NFL in offensive and defensive points. No team has accomplished the feat since.
That year, the Packers won Super Bowl XXXI (their first Super Bowl since 1967) and the Lombardi Trophy was finally home. The next year the Packers got back to the Super Bowl but lost to the Denver Broncos. Favre and Holmgren failed to duplicate Starr and Lombardi’s Super Bowl success, but the future still looked incredibly bright as the team was led by a three-time AP MVP quarterback.