Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Packer Plus
It’s full speed ahead for Packers
Editor’s note: This column was published Jan. 5, 1997.
Green Bay — Suddenly the road from Green Bay to New Orleans has eight lanes and no speed limit.
It’s too early to assume the Green Bay Packers will travel it to the Super Bowl but when a team’s worst problem at this stage of the season is laundry, the prospects are blindingly bright.
The Packers still aren’t infallible, as they proved Saturday when Desmond Howard arrived late for the second-half kickoff searching for dry clothes. They just seem a good deal closer to it than any of their remaining competitors.
Certainly they seemed that way to remnants of the San Francisco 49ers, whom they skipped like a flat rock across the lake known as Lambeau Field. It’s one thing to beat the storied Californians in a playoff game but to own them in every aspect of the sport requires something exceptional.
“Our offense put points on the board and we kept them off,” explained Reggie White, defensive end and advocate of the direct approach. “We play well in every facet of the game and if we can do that in the rest of our games, we can celebrate for the rest of our lives.”
He might have mentioned the special teams as well, but it’s not as if Howard’s record-setting 117 yards in punt returns escaped anyone’s notice. If his 71-yard touchdown cruise wasn’t the beginning of the end for the 49ers, then it came when Steve Young’s cracked ribs yielded to reason and White’s playmates after the next series.
Young’s absence deprived the 49ers of their best offensive player and later during the first quarter, they lost their best defensive lineman as Bryant Young exited with a back injury.
Young-less and hopeless, the 49ers did take advantage of a couple of Green Bay special teams gaffes to pull within a touchdown. But that’s when the Packers proved their heads and their hearts have caught up with their physical gifts, which doesn’t leave much in the way of deficiencies.
Starting from their own 28-yard line, they traveled 72 yards in 12 plays, an amazing 10 of which did not involve a forward pass. The 49ers must have felt as if they’d been stomped by a sparrow.
“That was a big drive,” Packers coach Mike Holmgren said. “It was a new ball game and I was really proud of our football team. It would have been easy to get down a little but they didn’t.”
Down is not the direction of choice for any of the Packers at the moment. There have been times this season when the defense carried the offense, or the offense kept the defense off the field, or the special teams made enough big plays to rescue both. But never has the whole package functioned this effec
tively together, and there’s no happier time for that kind of coincidence.
Playing with a lead and a wet ball, Brett Favre bordered on the ordinary with 11 completions in 15 passes, but he spread them among seven receivers and took maximum advantage of the five turnovers thoughtfully provided by his defense.
Favre’s aerial gifts were generously complemented by a running game that produced 139 yards. Edgar Bennett got 80 of those, along with two touchdowns, which was quite enough to loosen his tongue after a monthlong silence.
“We went into the game trying to gain respect,” he said. “That’s what it’s all about.”
Well, not exactly. It’s about winning two more games and a National Football League championship, a task for which the Packers seemed admirably qualified
Saturday.
“I think it’s just time that people start realizing that the Green Bay Packers are a pretty good football team,” Favre said.
“That’s a damn good team,” 49ers coach George Seifert corrected.
Apparently the Packers have made their point.