Are the Packers set for another 10-YEAR LOVE IN?
THE Green Bay Packers do things differently. As the only NFL team without an owner — the Packers have been a publicly owned, nonprofit corporation since 1923 — Lambeau Field is considered a community resource which is open 363 days a year.
The 81,441 seater stadium is named after Earl ‘Curly’ Lambeau who co-founded the franchise on August 11, 1919. The Packers joined the NFL two years later and are its third oldest team, behind only the Chicago Cardinals (now of Arizona) and the Decatur Staleys (now the Chicago Bears).
Situated in the town of Green Bay, Wisconsin (population 107,000), the Packers are so called because Lambeau worked for the Indian Packing Company, the team’s original sponsors.
They hold an NFL-record 13 championships, including four Super Bowls, and moved to City Field in 1957. That was renamed Lambeau Field in 1965.
By then, Vince Lombardi had taken three titles to Titletown, before winning the first two AFL–NFL World Championship Games — retroactively christened Super Bowls I and II.
But when Lombardi left Green Bay in 1968 the success did too.
An ice age — known as the lean years — lasted until 1992, when then general manager Ron Wolf took a punt on a loveable rogue with an incredible arm. Brett Lorenzo Favre was a second round draft pick by the Atlanta Falcons in 1991. Disparagingly nicknamed ‘Mississippi’ by head coach Jerry Glanville (Favre attended rivals Southern Miss), he had thrown four passes in his rookie year — two were intercepted, the other two went incomplete.
Yet Wolf saw something and the Packers traded a first-round pick in exchange for an overweight party animal who failed his medical. It proved an absolute steal.
In his 16 seasons in Green Bay, Favre played in 321 consecutive games, including the playoffs — an NFL record – was a threetime MVP and reached back-to-back Super Bowls, winning Super Bowl XXXI in 1997.
No 4 became a god in green and gold. He was box office — a gunslinging open book who appeared in There’s Something About
Mary, overcame Vicodin addiction and in 2001 played against the Oakland Raiders on Monday Night Football, a day after his father’s death.
After throwing for four touchdowns and 399 yards, Favre said: ‘I knew my dad would have wanted me to play. I know he was watching.’
Fast forward to 2005. April’s draft sees California native and University of California quarterback Aaron Rodgers widely tipped to go to San Francisco as the No 1 overall pick. But the 49ers take Utah’s Alex Smith instead.
As the cameras focus on a sullen Rodgers — one of only six players invited to attend the draft in New York — team after team pass him by. Until Green Bay at 24.
Asked if he was disappointed that he wasn’t staying on the west coast, he replied: ‘Not as disappointed as the 49ers will be that they didn’t draft me.’
Favre was 35 at the time. After going 10-6 and losing in the wild card round thanks to a disastrous performance against the Vikings, retirement rumours swirled.
When Favre met Rodgers, he was greeted by the words: ‘Good morning, Grandpa.’ Relations nosedived from there.
Favre, a practical joker, did nothing to help his backup and would ritually humiliate him at every opportunity. But while Rodgers was cocky, he had talent. With an arm that was almost as good as Favre’s, his decision-making was better.
He sat for three long seasons, but his time came when the team decided not to re-sign a 38-year-old Favre in March 2008.
Rodgers became the face of the franchise for 15 years. He led Green Bay to Super Bowl XLV, was a four-time MVP and is considered one of the best quarterbacks of the modern era.
But like Favre, a second Super Bowl win proved elusive. Green Bay and Rodgers reached the NFC Championship game four times in seven seasons, losing them all.
In another parallel with his predecessor, Green Bay had become weary of Rodgers’ off-field antics — his future was a constant saga and he attracted widespread fury for misleading the public over his Covid vaccination status — and planned for the future.
In the 2020 draft, the Packers had the 30th overall pick. They coveted wide receiver Justin Jefferson, but watched as the Vikings took him at 22. Three picks later, another wideout, Brandon Aiyuk, went to the 49ers. In a move that was widely derided, bold general manager Brian Gutekunst traded to move up to 26, taking Utah State quarterback Jordan Love. On a 40-minute conference call the following month, Rodgers said he was not ‘thrilled by the pick, necessarily’. He had a point. Green Bay haven’t used their first round pick on a wide receiver since Javon Howard in 2002.
But history repeated itself in Green Bay — albeit without Favre’s hostility towards his successor — as Love quietly went about his business, sitting behind Rodgers for three years until he got the nod.
That happened when, like Favre, Rodgers left for the Jets, signing a two-year deal last July.
This season began ignominiously for both parties. Rodgers only lasted four snaps before tearing his ACL. And few predicted a postseason place when Green Bay limped to 3-6 after defeat by Pittsburgh.
But after six wins in their last eight games, they stole the No 7 seed thanks to some tremendous performances from Love down the stretch. Aided by a superior, offensively-minded coach in Matt LaFleur, Green Bay are clicking at the right time.
They went into Dallas — who hadn’t lost at home in 491 days — as the NFL’s youngest team with nothing to lose and trounced the Cowboys on wild card weekend.
Much of that was due to the poise of their quarterback, who has consistently made outstanding throws after going through the correct reads.
‘Jordan Love. Wow,’ LaFleur said after Love threw for three touchdowns and 272 yards in his playoff bow. ‘That’s about all I can say. What he did and the poise he shows. The command he shows... I’m just so proud and happy for him.
‘It just shows the growth he’s had from his first start vs KC until now. He’s a dude.’
In a cyclical league built for parity, to have one franchise quarterback in a decade is fortunate. These are early days for Love, but three in 30 is extraordinary.
They do things differently in Green Bay, but it certainly seems to work.