It takes the Super Bowl to validate greatness in the National Football League. And that fact will never, ever change. But after winning 13 games in the regular season, then destroying the San Francisco 49ers on Jan. 4 and the Carolina Panthers, 30-13, on Sunday in the National Football Conference Championship Game at Lambeau Field, the irrepressible Green Bay Packers are dead on course to thrust themselves onto the list of the more dominant teams of the modern era. The Packers' final opportunity to leave an indelible impression will come in New Orleans in two weeks when the emerging force from the NFL's smallest city will return to the Super Bowl for the first time in 29 years.
Perhaps one of the most enjoyable games for Packer fans against the Seahawks was the Jan. 12, 2008, divisional game that pushed Green Bay to the NFC championship game the following week at home against the Giants. (No need to go into detail about THAT game.) Despite the Packers falling behind Seattle 14-0 early in the game and heavy snow falling on Lambeau Field, the Packers then scored six touchdowns on consecutive drives to put the game away.
The eyes of America gazed upon Brett Favre Monday night in his hour of immense personal grief. Somehow, some way, Favre found a way to play one of the greatest games of his fabulous career. Playing just one day after his father, Irvin, died in Mississippi of heart attack, Favre threw for 399 yards and four touchdowns as the Green Bay Packers swept away the Oakland Raiders, 41-7, at sold-out Network Associates Coliseum.
With temperatures hovering near zero, the Packers earn their first Super Bowl berth in 29 years with a convincing performance, rolling up 476 total yards of offense while holding the Panthers to just 251 yards. The Packers rushed for 201 yards, led by Edgar Bennett with 99 yards and a touchdown. Dorsey Levens ran for 88 yards and had 117 receiving yards, including touchdown. “I don’t think anybody can stop us,” said Favre, who passed for 292 yards and two TDs.
Packers QB Brett Favre (4) replaced an injured Don Majkowski against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sept. 20, 1992, at Lambeau Field. Down 23-17 late, Favre threw a game-winning 35-yard TD pass to Kitrick Taylor with 13 seconds remaining. The Packers defeated the Bengals, 24-23, and the following week Favre began his record-setting streak of consecutive starts at QB.
Al Harris never got a chance for a Lambeau Leap. By the time he thought about it, he was buried under an avalanche of teammates. His long dreadlocks flapping outside his helmet in the frigid wind, Harris streamed down the sideline with a 52-yard interception return in overtime. That touchdown lifted the Green Bay Packers past the Seattle Seahawks 33-27 Sunday in a first-round NFC playoff game. The cornerback picked off Matt Hasselbeck's throw and headed to the end zone -- directly past former Packers coach Mike Holmgren. Only Hasselbeck had a chance to tackle Harris, but he couldn't get there. Harris scored the first defensive touchdown to win an overtime playoff game in NFL history.
The Packers knock the 49ers out of the playoffs for the third consecutive season behind a dominating defensive performance, holding them to 33 rushing yards, forcing four fumbles and sacking Steve Young four times. San Francisco’s only TD came on a kickoff return in the fourth quarter. Levens rushed for a then team playoff record 116 yards and a touchdown and Ryan Longwell, who was cut by the 49ers, kicked three field goals.
On a chilly October night in 1983, Lambeau Field turned into an offensive wonderland. The Green Bay Packers (3-3) and Washington Redskins (5-1) lit up Monday Night Football that evening with the show's greatest scoring explosion ever. The teams combined for 95 points, 771 yards passing and 254 yards on the ground. And though they posted 10 fewer first downs than the Redskins' 33, coach Bart Starr's Packers held on for a 48-47 win.
For this one Sunday, for this one must-win game, for this performance that combined guts and efficiency, all doubt is suspended on the topic of Brett Favre. If he had been playing on two sound ankles, you would have said he was great. The way it was, with his left ankle badly sprained, with his mobility limited, with the Chicago Bears sending everybody but the ghost of George Halas at him, you would have to say he was somewhere between great and perfect. The Green Bay Packers quarterback tied a franchise record with five touchdown passes Sunday. On one good wheel, he led the Packers to a 35-28 victory over the Bears.
Chris Jacke, a laconic individual sometimes labeled as a a selfish player by his friends and colleagues, became a hero Monday night. Jacke's lackluster start to his eighth season in Green Bay turned to jubilation when he kicked a 53-yard field goal 3 minutes 41 seconds into overtime to give the Packers a gripping, 23-20 victory over the game San Francisco 49ers before a record crowd of 60,716 at Lambeau Field. It was the fifth field goal of the night for Jacke, who had missed three of his first 10 field goals plus an extra point in the first six games. All was forgotten, however, when Jacke ended one of the more memorable games of the Ron Wolf-Mike Holmgren era in Green Bay.