Packers Playoff Defeats: Not This Year - The End of an Era
- Tim Muma
- Dec 29, 2015
- 6 min read
We pick up our look at the unfortunate array of playoff losses by the Green Bay Packers by going back to the 1998 season. After consecutive trips to the Super Bowl, the Packers would fail to even reach the second round of the playoffs.
For the last time, Mike Holmgren, Reggie White and Robert Brooks would be called Packers as Green Bay wouldn't see another playoff game in the 20th century after this season.
The postseason defeat would end in controversial and heartbreaking fashion, but we'll get to those details a bit later. First, how did the Packers end up in the playoffs for a 6th straight season, but on the road to open the dance?
Green Bay's offense ranked 5th in yards and 6th in points in '98, though it was all on the arm of Brett Favre. The running game was absent, finishing 25th in the NFL as no one had more than 400 yards on the ground. Darick Holmes (who?) led the team with 386 rushing yards.
Dorsey Levens injured his knee during the season and played just 7 games, with William Henderson, Travis Jervey and Raymont Harris trying to pick up the slack.
With no threat of a run game, Favre fell into the old habits of a gunslinger by tossing 23 INTs - the most he had in a season since 1993. Coming off an unprecedented 3 straight MVP awards, some regression was expected, but he still led the league with 4,212 yards and was 3rd with 31 TD passes.
Antonio Freeman had his best season as a pro with career highs in receptions (84), yards (1,424) and TDs (14). He finished 1st in the NFL in receiving yards and 2nd in TDs behind Randy Moss.
The defense dropped to 11th in points allowed, but still ranked 4th in yards in what was a mixed bag of performances for the group. The season would end on a terribly sour note for them, of course.
Green Bay got off to a 4-0 start before a huge Monday night tilt with the 4-0 Minnesota Vikings. In what was considered Moss' coming out party, he racked up 190 yards and 2 TDs on only 5 catches as the Vikings took down the Packers 37-24.
That snapped the Packers' 25-game home winning streak and signaled a changing of the guard. The Vikings would go on to finish 15-1 that season, while Green Bay would win its final 3 games to fight into a Wild Card spot with an 11-5 record.
Their standing as the 5th seed meant the Packers would head west to take on the San Francisco 49ers, the place Green Bay won its 2nd straight NFC Championship a year earlier.
Heading into this Wild Card contest, the Packers had knocked the 49ers out of the playoffs the past 3 years. In fact, Green Bay had never lost to San Francisco with Favre as the quarterback (5-0). Much like with the Vikings, things changed here as well.
Wild Card Round - Owens Stuns Packers After Rice Non-Fumble
49ers 30, Packers 27
The world knew Holmgren had one foot out the door, but I'm sure he wanted desperately to beat his former team once more...and take down the 49ers' head man Steve Mariucci, the ex-Packers' coach and Favre's good friend (photo below from an earlier game).
It was an extremely entertaining contest that saw the Packers take a 17-10 lead into halftime as Levens capped an 83-yard drive with a 2-yard TD run with just :36 left in the 2nd quarter.
The 49ers, 12-4 in the regular season, shut out the Packers 10-0 in the 3rd, setting up a wild finish to the game that saw a pair of dramatic marches down the field, one each by Hall of Fame quarterbacks.
Ryan Longwell tied the game at 20 in the 4th, before Wade Richey kicked his 3rd field goal to give San Fran a 23-20 lead with just over 7 minutes to play.
On the first play following the kickoff, Favre underthrew Tyrone Davis and was intercepted at the Green Bay 40 yard line. However, the defense stiffened to force a three-and-out and a punt, setting up Favre for a comeback strike.
The Packers would go 89 yards in 9 plays to take the lead. Green Bay converted a 4th-and-1 on its own 21 with 3:30 to go. On the next play, the Packers picked up 47 yards as Favre threw a perfect bomb to Corey Bradford down to the 49ers' 31 yard line.
Bradford had 3 catches during the regular season for 27 yards.
Four plays later, Favre would find Freeman on a 15-yard pass to put the Packers in front 27-23 with under 2 minutes remaining. It was Freeman's first catch of the 2nd half and the play was a bit of an improvisation by the veteran teammates.
Favre and Freeman knew that the 49ers defense knew their audibles due to the similarity of the offenses that were run between the two teams. So they called the audible for a quick slant, but Freeman spun and turned up field instead, leaving the defender stuck trying to jump the slant.
It was thing of beauty, and the San Fran faithful had to be thinking, "Not again!"
Unfortunately for Packers fans, history wasn't repeating itself as San Francisco would take advantage of a huge break to finally get the monkey off its back against the Packers.
From the Green Bay 47 with under :50 to play, Young hit Hall-of-Famer Jerry Rice on an underneath crossing route - his only catch of the contest. As Bernardo Harris reached Rice and began to drag him down, Scott McGarrahan stripped the ball clean from Rice's grasp.
Harris picked up the loose rock, and for a moment, it looked like the Packers were moving on...except the officials had blown the play dead and ruled that Rice was down before the ball popped out.
There was no replay system in place (it would return the next season, in part due to this game), so despite clear evidence of a fumble, San Francisco retained possession at the Packers' 41 yard line. Today's system would've given Green Bay the ball - and no, we will not forget the injustice!
Three plays later, Craig Newsome nearly ended the game with an interception. Newsome had great coverage and got two hands on the ball, but as he slipped to the ground (and had his helmet grabbed by the receiver) he couldn't hang on. It all set up the ever-frustrating finish. On the next play from the Green Bay 25, with just :08 to go, the seemingly improbable happened.
Young dropped back and stumbled momentarily. He regained his balance, looked up in time to see Terrell Owens streak down the middle, and hit him in the chest between a handful of defenders for the game-winning touchdown.
Owens had trouble all game catching the ball, but he held on when it mattered most.
The Packers whiffed on a few chances to stop the 49ers short on that last drive, missing some tackles that would've made a comeback near impossible.
On the last play, Darren Sharper and LeRoy Butler said Sharper was the culprit on the TD, as he was too wide and deep, allowing Owens to find the hole in the zone. It appeared a couple of underneath guys could've been deeper as well, but they were late to help.
Overall, the defense was gashed for 178 rushing yards and the team played a mistake-filled game. They still nearly won and would've been dangerous had they advanced and played up to par.
Among the issues in their 30-27 loss...
Levens' 1st-quarter fumble led to a TD and a 7-3 49ers' lead
Roell Preston fumbled a punt at the San Francisco 43 yard line in the 2nd quarter
Favre's 1st interception led to a game-tying TD in the 3rd quarter (17-17)
Longwell missed a field goal in the 2nd quarter - so in theory, the game would've been tied
Following the loss, Holmgren would eventually head to the Seattle Seahawks and the Packers wouldn't return to the playoffs until 2001, missing the postseason for the first time since 1992 - Holmgren and Favre's first year in Green Bay.
If you want to check out the other "Packers Playoff Defeats" we've done so far, just go to the Green Bay Packers page on the Wisconsin SportsNight site.
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