Records & History - NFL.com

THE PACKERS STORYCOMMUNITYADMIN. &COACHESVETERANSDRAFT &FREE AGENTS2012 REVIEWPACKERSSTORYLAMBEAUFIELDMISC.1995 Packers put together one of the hallmark seasons in theirhistory. Winning six of their last seven games, they captured theirfirst NFC Central Division crown since 1972, then made their bestpostseason showing in more than 28 years, forging all the way to theNFC Championship Game.En route, they closed the regular season 11-5 – their best marksince the 1966 NFL championship club (12-2) – and followedby dispatching the Falcons, 37-20, in a first-round playoff atLambeau Field. Building on that win, the Packers mounted one of thepremier performances in their postseason history, formally dethroningthe defending Super Bowl champion San Francisco 49ers in their ownstadium, 3Com Park, 27-17. Again, however, dreams of a Super Bowlfloundered in Dallas, 38-27, in the NFC title game, after the Packersled 27-24 at the end of three quarters.Putting nearly three decades of disappointment emphaticallybehind, the Packers rewarded their long-patient faithful in 1996.Shunting aside eight of their first nine foes, they swept to a 13-3record and their second straight division championship. Then, theycaptured their first NFL title since 1967, dispatching New England,35-21, in Super Bowl XXXI at the Louisiana Superdome.Displaying impressive consistency on both sides of the ball, theydocumented their superiority, outscoring three opponents 100-48 in apostseason sweep. Appropriately, the first two wins were before theirLambeau loyalists – a 35-14 divisional triumph over the 49ers and a30-13 win over the upstart Carolina Panthers in the NFC title game.In winning a 12th NFL championship, extending their own leaguerecord, the Packers joined an elite group of teams with three ormore Super Bowls (Dallas, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Oakland andWashington).The Packers thus entered 1997 with an opportunity to win backto-backSuper Bowls for a second time – and came breathtakinglyclose to achieving their objective. Sweeping to a second consecutive13-3 mark, tying a club record with 13 wins, they primed for theplayoffs by ending the season with five straight wins. After a thirdconsecutive division title, they launched their bid at Lambeau Fieldin workmanlike fashion, turning back Tampa Bay in the divisionalplayoff, 21-7. The win padded their all-time home-field postseasonrecord to 12-0, extending the longest such winning streak in profootball history.Forced to win on the road for a return to the ultimate game, thePackers smothered the 49ers on a soggy, rain-swept afternoon in SanFrancisco, 23-10. Garnering a berth in the Super Bowl, Green Bay heldthe Niners without an offensive touchdown.In a see-saw affair, Super Bowl XXXII in San Diego found thePackers trailing Denver at halftime, 17-14. Hopes of a repeat werehigh, however, when quarterback Brett Favre engineered an 85-yarddrive, knotting the contest, 24-24, early in the fourth quarter. Butthe Broncos later scored with only 1:45 remaining and a last-minutePackers drive fell short when Favre’s pass for tight end Mark Chmurafell incomplete inside the Denver 20, with only 28 seconds left, sealingthe Broncos’ 31-24 win.A third straight Super Bowl trip, a realistic goal at the outset,eluded the Packers in 1998, their 80th season. Historic accomplishment,however, did not, as they advanced to the playoffs for the sixthyear in a row, a team record, while posting a seventh consecutivewinning season. Green Bay overcame multiple injuries, includingthe loss of Pro Bowl running back Dorsey Levens (out nine games)and center Frank Winters (stretch run and postseason), each with abroken leg. They set another team record by stretching their LambeauField winning streak to 25 games – the second longest in NFL history– before falling to the Minnesota Vikings Oct. 5. They finished 11-5,equaling another team standard by posting a double-digit victorytotal for the fourth consecutive year (11-5 in 1995, 13-3 in both 1996and 1997). The only other time Green Bay had strung together fourseasons of 10-plus wins was 67 years earlier – Lambeau’s triple NFLchampions of 1929-32 (12-0-1 in 1929, 10-3-1 in 1930, 12-2 in 1931and 10-3-1 in 1932).In the wake of these considerable achievements, the Packers’510season came to a dramaticand painful end in an NFCWild Card game at SanFrancisco, when a 27-23lead abruptly dissolved intoa 30-27 49ers victory. SteveYoung’s 25-yard touchdownpass to Terrell Owenssealed the game with justthree seconds left.Only five days later,Holmgren resigned tobecome head coachand director of footballoperations for the SeattleSeahawks.ROUGH RHODE(S)Moving swiftly, Wolf tabbed Ray Rhodes, former Eagles headcoach and Green Bay defensive coordinator, as the Packers’ 12th headcoach, Jan. 11, 1999. The Packers launched 1999 under Rhodes inbreathtaking fashion, winning three of the first four games in the lastminute. Fate, however, suddenly stopped smiling as Green Bay (8-8)missed the playoffs for the first time since 1992, ending seven straightwinning seasons. Saying the Packers lacked the needed toughnessand fire, Wolf relieved Rhodes soon after the season finale.THE SHERMAN TENUREAfter searching more than two weeks, Wolf surprised many NFLobservers by naming Mike Sherman as the Packers’ 13th head coach,Jan. 18, 2000. Sherman in 2000 surmounted multiple injuries, includingFavre’s prolonged bout with elbow tendinitis, and finished 9-7,inches from the playoffs.One month after a stirring finish – a four-game winning streak– Wolf retired as the team’s executive vice president and general manager,Feb. 1, 2001, and President Bob Harlan quickly named Shermanto replace Wolf. Sherman became the first head coach with the GMtitle since Starr in 1980.Wolf’s impressive nine-year tenure included 101 total victories(including eight in the playoffs) and the NFL’s best regular-seasonrecord (83-45) since the 1993 advent of free agency.Now with full authority over football, Sherman answered in 2001by returning the Packers to the playoffs, improving his winningpercentage to .656 (21-11), best ever over a Packers coach’s first twoyears. Behind Favre and explosive Ahman Green (1,981 yards fromscrimmage), the Packers went 12-4, but couldn’t grasp the divisiontitle, despite sweeping the division champion Bears. The Packersknocked off the Niners in a Wild Card playoff, but couldn’t get pasteventual NFC champion St. Louis.In 2002, Green Bay overcame an injury-plagued season to tie forthe league’s best record at 12-4. Despite injured starters missing 63combined games, the Packers clinched their division, the inauguralNFC North title, on Dec. 1. Favre finished two votes shy of a fourthMVP, and defensively, behind Pro Bowler Darren Sharper, the teamranked third in the NFL against the pass and led the league with 45takeaways, six more than any other team. But Michael Vick and theFalcons became the first team ever to beat the Packers at home inthe playoffs.A return to the NFC Championship slipped painfully through thePackers’ fingers in 2003. Donovan McNabb led the Eagles to a comefrom-behind,20-17 overtime win to end an emotional Packers run inthe Divisional playoffs.The loss snapped a memorable five-game winning streak. Thestretch included changes to three of the most-revered records inPackers history (Gregg’s 33-year-old consecutive-games streak, brokenby Favre; Jim Taylor’s 41-year-old season rushing record, Green;and Don Hutson’s 58-year-old career scoring mark, Ryan Longwell).Green Bay captured an improbable division title in the last two minutesof the season, when Arizona upset Minnesota and the Lambeau Fieldcrowd broke the news to the Packers.Adding to the hallmark of Sherman’s tenure, the Packers overcamea 1-4 start in 2004, the club’s roughest since 1991, to finish 10-6and win a third straight division title. The 9-2 stretch run featuredfour wins on last-second field goals by Longwell, including a 34-31division-clinching win in Minnesota on Christmas Eve.However, just two weeks later the same Vikings avenged the losswith a 31-17 win in a Wild Card playoff at Lambeau Field.On Jan. 14, 2005, Harlan restructured the team’s football operations,naming Ted Thompson general manager, with full authorityover football decisions. Harlan said he based the decision on his beliefin a preferred structure – separate individuals for the GM and headcoachpositions.Only 37 minutes into the 2005 regular season, the Packers lost