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The
GLORY YEARS
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With good financial backing during the 1920s Lambeau began to sign up, not only college stars from all over the country, but also some unknowns who turned out to be "greats." Finally in 1929 Green Bay won the national professional football championship for the first time. It went on to repeat this feat in 1930 and 1931. These teams were hailed all over the country as some of the greatest ever. They included all-time pro greats such as Red Dunn, Verne Lewellen, Cal Hubbard, Bo Molenda, Francis "Jug" Earp, Mike Michalske, Johnny "Blood" McNally, Bill Kern, Arnie Herber, Clarke Hinkle, Lavvie Dilweg, Tom Nash, Milt Gantenbein and Hank Bruder. When the NFL's first "super-end" Don
Hutson came to the club in 1935 he had an immediate impact. Literally
from his first game he became the "terror of the league" and the secret
of Green Bay's next three championships. With Herber In 1959 the Packers announced the signing of New York Giants assistant Vince Lombardi as head coach and general manager. In his first season, Lombardi lifted the Packers to a 7-5 record and unanimously was voted 'Coach of the Year'. Then in 1960, the Packers captured the Western Division title and went on to win World Championships in 1961, 1962, 1965, 1966 and 1967. (The later two being Superbowls I & II)
Never finishing lower than second since 1960, his teams became the standard of football excellence and the Packer franchise one of the most successful. Over a nine-year span as head coach, Lombardi's teams racked up 98 victories against 30 losses and 4 ties for a remarkable .758 winning percentage. Even more noteworthy, however, is the record of Lombardi coached teams in postseason play. In 10 division playoffs and World Championship games, the Packers emerged victorious nine times. 1992-98 ~ Wolf-Holmgren Era The grim and miserable period of the 1970s & 80's only resulted in five winning seasons. As this malaise started to creep into the early 90's, it was generally regarded that the Packers organisation could not win because it was too rooted to the Titletown Days of the 60's, haunted by the ghosts of Lombardi. As the stadium would fill regardless of the results they lacked a motivation to win. So too the era of unrestricted free agency would swamp the tiny town of Green Bay who would be unable to attract big name players. These myths began to be unravelled initially by Bob Harlan who hired Ron Wolf in November 1991 as executive vice-president and general manager. A month later Wolf sacked the hapless Lindy Infante and appointed Mike Holmgren (offensive coordinator for the extremely successful San Francisco 49ers) as the 11th head coach in Packers history. This move augured well for the club as Holmgren directed the Packers to a 9-and-7 record and within striking range of the playoffs in his first season. This was only the third time in Packer's history that a head coach had posted a winning record in his first season, a record which was also dominated by a six-game winning streak, the longest by a Packers team since 1965. After three more winning seasons, the Packers put together one of the hallmark seasons in their history in 1995. Winning six of their last seven games, they captured their first NFC Central Division championship since 1972, then made their best postseason showing in over a quarter-century, forging all the way to the National Football Conference Championship Game for the first time since 1967. En route, they closed out the regular season with an 11-5 record - their best since 1966, when they posted a 12-2 mark in capturing the NFL title. (Interestingly that year despite the efforts of Holmgren, it was Ray Rhodes who won the Coach of the Year award!)
One by one the various myths about the Packers had been debunked by Wolf and Holmgren. The only lingering question lay about their Superbowl aspirations. With nearly three decades of disappointment and frustration emphatically behind them, the Packer's 1996 season richly rewarded their long-patient faithful. In sweeping to a 13-3 record and their second consecutive NFC Central Division championship, the Packers had extended their own league record of 12 NFL championships. After two playoff victories, the team secureed the winningest season in the franchise's history. They then proceeded on to their first Super Bowl title since 1967, where they dispatched the New England Patriots 35-21 in SB XXXI at the Louisiana Superdome.
With this victory the Packers joined an elite group of teams which have won three-or-more Super Bowls namely- the Dallas Cowboys, San Francisco 49ers, Pittsburgh Steelers, Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders and Washington Redskins. The Packers followed up in 1997 with a 13-3 season, their 3rd consecutive NFC Championship and a return trip to the Superbowl. Unfortunatly the Denver Broncos hadn't read the script and became the first AFC team since 1981 to take out the Superbowl with a 31-24 victory over the Green and Gold. 1998 started as a year full of promise following an undefeated
preseason. And despite some brilliant individual performances through the
season including Reggie White's 16 sacks, a variety of factors including
injury woes, salary cap restrictions and a depleted secondary saw the team's
form drop to a 11-5 season. Scraping into the playoffs as a Wild card the
Pack went down to the 49ers in what proved to be a controversial game.
The Packers players and fans finished out the season wondering what might
have been.
Off the field, the Packers remain a
financially-sound, competitive and historically-rich franchise. On the
field the "GLORY Years" are back! And despite the loss of many of the coaching
staff (not to mention the retirement of Reggie
White ) and the sacking of Head coach Ray Rhodes after only one season,
2000 still holds a lot of promise under new coach Mike Sherman for the
many thousands of Packer's fans around the world.
Stay tuned good reader for the next exciting installment
of this compelling team.
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and Cecil Isbell pitching and Hutson catching anything they threw at him
despite any kind of a 'stop-Hutson defense', Green Bay won championships
in 1936, 1939 and 1944, and all during the Hutson era the Packers always
finished in the first division.
