Most Heartbreaking Playoff Loss in Packers History?

[Shawnsta3]

Hate to bring up such a sour topic but somebody brought up 4th and 26 (which I still have nightmares about to this day) So I decided to start this thread.

What in your opinion is the most heartbreaking loss/losses in Packers history?

Here's mine:

#3 2003 NFC Wild Card Game @ Green Bay
All I can remember of this game is Micheal Vick running up and down the Packers all game for their first home playoff loss in history. And getting a punt blocked. And how I never wanted to feel that feeling again. It was new for me, but gross.

#2 2008 NFC Championship Game @ Green Bay
Brett Favre brought us back late in the game as our hero. And aided by a missed Lawrence Tynes missed field goal we headed to overtime. We won the toss we elected to recieve. Yeah I thought as long as Brett doesn't make a stupid play we'll win were my exact thoughts. Then Brett Favre dropped back and threw what was just an ill-advised throw to Greg Jennings (I think) which ended up being tremendously under thrown and got picked off. The Giants already in our territory only had to kick a chip in field goal. (Which admittedly was no easy task that night with that weather)

#1 2004 NFC Divisional Game @ Green Bay
Ahh. Yes. I'm just gonna post this video and let us never speak of this travesty again.

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[ivo610]

2008 I am still hurting over. It was awful.

 

[Pat4DaPack]

Both of the most recent losses to the Giants.

In '08 if we woulda won, I think we woulda won the Super Bowl.

In '12 I think we would have made a run at it, I mean 15-1!!!

 

[Bensalama21]

'08 because you knew it was the last time with Favre in a uniform...

2nd would be '12 because of all of the hype of going 19-0 and losing 2 of the last 4 games.

3rd would be the Eagles 4th and 26.

Between those 3, I don't know how I'm still alive...

 

[longtimefan]

4th and 26

Bronco SB loss

Both Giants playoff losses

 

[MidnightToker]

2008 vs. Giants for sure. It could have changed the course of Packers history. If we had won and gone on to win the Super Bowl, I believe Favre would have retired as a Packer and we wouldn't have all this drama.

 

[El Guapo]

I don't know. I'd still go with the '98 loss to the 49ers. We owned the 49ers for years, it was looking like a third straight trip to the Super Bowl, Jerry Rice fumbled, and then Owens caught that unbelievable game-winning TD at the end. Holmgren then left and the Packers were never the same. It was so disappointing.

 

[VolvoD]

2008 vs. Giants for sure. It could have changed the course of Packers history. If we had won and gone on to win the Super Bowl, I believe Favre would have retired as a Packer and we wouldn't have all this drama.

im not so sure he would have...he really let his true colors shine when he went to the vikings.

 

[Packfan14]

'08 because you knew it was the last time with Favre in a uniform...

2nd would be '12 because of all of the hype of going 19-0 and losing 2 of the last 4 games.

3rd would be the Eagles 4th and 26.

Between those 3, I don't know how I'm still alive...

And the 09-10 Wild Card against Arizona.
That fumble caused this girl (cards fan) i was talking to rub it in my face just as bad as 2 of the 3 giants fans at my work did about the playoffs last season.

 

[LAG]

Hurts the most ? The 2008 NFC Championship loss at LF. That still hurts even now.

That darn QB we had threw it to the other team near the end of the game, doggone it.

 

[Bensalama21]

And the 09-10 Wild Card against Arizona.
That fumble caused this girl (cards fan) i was talking to rub it in my face just as bad as 2 of the 3 giants fans at my work did about the playoffs last season.

OMG I forgot all about that for some reason! That was so exciting.. Except it wasn't like the others because I counted it as a loss and the going to overtime was just satisfying by itself haha

 

[Dan115]

Hands down losing a super bowl like a death in the family.

 

[JTheGreat]

1.Giants NFC CHampionship game
2.Eagles game(4th n 26)
3.Last years giants playoff game

 

[packnutt]

How about the loss to the queens in 2005? That game set the tempo for the following 6 win season.
Home losses are a kick to the gut. However, the latest one always hurts the most.

 

[milani]

They all hurt! But heartbreaking is the key word. Losing when you are simply outplayed is one thing but choking in crunch time is the hardest pill to swallow. Let's see.
1) 4th and 26 game. Sherman struck out 3 times. 1st and goal at the 4yd. line. 4th and 1 inside the Eagle 40. And of course 4th and 26. Add to it another Favre INT.
2) 2007 Championship. Giants miss 2 FGs, fumble a punt, and we can't capitize. Then another Favre INT
3) Owens caught it game. Yes, we got robbed on the Rice fumble, but we can't tackle the fullback on 3rd and long. Fritz Shurmur decides on a 3 man rush on the last play. Sharper plays too deep. We needed Eugene Robison back there.
4) Viking playoff loss. We beat them twice in the season and even in the dome and we get manhandled two weeks later.
5) 1960 Championship, 17-13. You may forget this one but I did not. Getting stopped at the 8 yard line on the last play of the game. Lombardi's only playoff loss. We had so many chances in the first half and should have put up 30.
6) 1972 playoff loss to the Skins. Devine was insistent on just hammering Brockington. If he would have listened to asst. coach Starr, who knew how to attack NFL secondaries, it could have been us trying to spoil the Dolphins perfect season.
7) Dallas 95 championship. We are ahead going into the 4th quarter. We just plain choked. Another Favre INT.
8) Vick torches us in 1st round. We beat Atlanta that year in OT. But in our last 2 games of the season we just died. Vick looked like the Galloping Ghost.
9) Giants 37-20. Not so much heartbreaking as just plain sickening. They kicked our butts in every way, shape, and form. Sure this team went 15-1?
10) SB XXXII We can't stop Terrell Davis. 2 critical 4th quarter penalties. A Favre INT and fumble in the first half. We recover a fumble and only get 3. We loved Elway that day.

 

[weeds]

I don't know. I'd still go with the '98 loss to the 49ers. We owned the 49ers for years, it was looking like a third straight trip to the Super Bowl, Jerry Rice fumbled, and then Owens caught that unbelievable game-winning TD at the end. Holmgren then left and the Packers were never the same. It was so disappointing.

Exactly what came to my mind immediately except that it was pretty much believed by all that Holmgren's mind was 3/4 of the way to Seattle most of that season anyway...I still can't believe that the Seahawks didn't get nailed for tampering.

Make no mistake about it -- Jerry Rice f'n FUMBLED....it should have never come down to Darren Sharper standing there watching Owens (at least Sharper didn't trail him into the endzone which was all too familiar a sight back then).

 

[Leonardo]

The game against Cardinals in first playoff appearance of Aaron Rodgers, it was heartbreaking because we did a big comeback in the last minutes and we couldnt won in the overtime with a BIG mistake of the referee, those facemask hurt us.

 

[gwh11]

They all hurt! But heartbreaking is the key word. Losing when you are simply outplayed is one thing but choking in crunch time is the hardest pill to swallow. Let's see.
1) 4th and 26 game. Sherman struck out 3 times. 1st and goal at the 4yd. line. 4th and 1 inside the Eagle 40. And of course 4th and 26. Add to it another Favre INT.
2) 2007 Championship. Giants miss 2 FGs, fumble a punt, and we can't capitize. Then another Favre INT
3) Owens caught it game. Yes, we got robbed on the Rice fumble, but we can't tackle the fullback on 3rd and long. Fritz Shurmur decides on a 3 man rush on the last play. Sharper plays too deep. We needed Eugene Robison back there.
4) Viking playoff loss. We beat them twice in the season and even in the dome and we get manhandled two weeks later.
5) 1960 Championship, 17-13. You may forget this one but I did not. Getting stopped at the 8 yard line on the last play of the game. Lombardi's only playoff loss. We had so many chances in the first half and should have put up 30.
6) 1972 playoff loss to the Skins. Devine was insistent on just hammering Brockington. If he would have listened to asst. coach Starr, who knew how to attack NFL secondaries, it could have been us trying to spoil the Dolphins perfect season.
7) Dallas 95 championship. We are ahead going into the 4th quarter. We just plain choked. Another Favre INT.
8) Vick torches us in 1st round. We beat Atlanta that year in OT. But in our last 2 games of the season we just died. Vick looked like the Galloping Ghost.
9) Giants 37-20. Not so much heartbreaking as just plain sickening. They kicked our butts in every way, shape, and form. Sure this team went 15-1?
10) SB XXXII We can't stop Terrell Davis. 2 critical 4th quarter penalties. A Favre INT and fumble in the first half. We recover a fumble and only get 3. We loved Elway that day.

I'm glad you mentioned some of the older games, but I want to clear up a misconception about the '72 playoff loss. I know the standard narrative is that Devine was stubbornly running against the Redskins' five-man front, but the Packers threw more often in that game than most people realize. In fact, Scott Hunter attempted 24 passes, more than in any other game during the '72 season, except the 10/8 game against the Bears.
Hunter went 12 for 24 (with one INT) in that playoff loss, practically an aerial circus compared to the rest of that season.

 

[milani]

I'm glad you mentioned some of the older games, but I want to clear up a misconception about the '72 playoff loss. I know the standard narrative is that Devine was stubbornly running against the Redskins' five-man front, but the Packers threw more often in that game than most people realize. In fact, Scott Hunter attempted 24 passes, more than in any other game during the '72 season, except the 10/8 game against the Bears.
Hunter went 12 for 24 (with one INT) in that playoff loss, practically an aerial circus compared to the rest of that season.

Devine did not have a lot of faith in either Hunter or Tagge. He did throw 24 times because we had too many long yardage situations while the Skins were chewing up clock with precision passing and Larry Brown. Starr was trying to get Devine to use more play action and isolate the other back or TE to the weak side of the formation. Starr ate teams up with those kind of play in his time with Hornung, Taylor, and Tom Moore. Devine was too vanilla. He was too intimidated by Billy Kilmer and George Allen on the other side of the field.

 

[GeeDogWarrior]

those sherman playoff games were always disappointing.... Grew up during the Holmgren Superbowl years, being a Teen during the sherman "We're gonna lose painfully come playoff time" years were awful... team would get on a roll and then 4th & 26 would happen... Favre's 6 interception game, the awful Moss Mooning game... smh. It's like a darn storm cloud of awful'ness

 

[gwh11]

Devine did not have a lot of faith in either Hunter or Tagge. He did throw 24 times because we had too many long yardage situations while the Skins were chewing up clock with precision passing and Larry Brown. Starr was trying to get Devine to use more play action and isolate the other back or TE to the weak side of the formation. Starr ate teams up with those kind of play in his time with Hornung, Taylor, and Tom Moore. Devine was too vanilla. He was too intimidated by Billy Kilmer and George Allen on the other side of the field.

That wasn't necessarily the case. For example, in the first half alone, Hunter threw on 1st down four times, and on 2nd down three times. Keep in mind that this was when there was still no score in the game, and the Skins weren't chewing up the clock at this point. Hunter had already attempted 14 passes by the time of the first score in the game (a Marcol field goal later in the 2nd quarter).

 

[milani]

That wasn't necessarily the case. For example, in the first half alone, Hunter threw on 1st down four times, and on 2nd down three times. Keep in mind that this was when there was still no score in the game, and the Skins weren't chewing up the clock at this point. Hunter had already attempted 14 passes by the time of the first score in the game (a Marcol field goal later in the 2nd quarter).

That Marcol score was our only score. Not a lot to write home about.

To get the real low down there was an article in Packer Report a number of years ago ( I cannot pinpoint the date ) that interviews a number of the players who were there that day. I guess the consensus for that season was that Dave Hanner ran the defense, Starr ran the offense, and Devine did nothing. ( Except that day ).

 

[milani]

I'm glad you mentioned some of the older games, but I want to clear up a misconception about the '72 playoff loss. I know the standard narrative is that Devine was stubbornly running against the Redskins' five-man front, but the Packers threw more often in that game than most people realize. In fact, Scott Hunter attempted 24 passes, more than in any other game during the '72 season, except the 10/8 game against the Bears.
Hunter went 12 for 24 (with one INT) in that playoff loss, practically an aerial circus compared to the rest of that season.

I recall that 10/8 game. I watched it from a bar in Rhinelander that day. How I wound up there I can't recall.
Marcol hit a long FG in the final seconds to win it. Neither team did much to move the ball. Butkus and co. were keying on our run game, of course. But it was great to beat the Bears twice in any season! When yoy saw what Hunter did at Bama you knew he did not have a rocket of an arm ( not unlike Starr ). But he was accurate. Too bad it never translated.

 

[ivo610]

Pretty sure I see the TO catch game once a month and it kills me every time

 

[jerryricefumbled]

I don't know. I'd still go with the '98 loss to the 49ers. We owned the 49ers for years, it was looking like a third straight trip to the Super Bowl, Jerry Rice fumbled, and then Owens caught that unbelievable game-winning TD at the end.

Who's talking about me? bwhaha. SB32 loss, 4th n 26!, both Giant losses but especially the first one because I think we woulda beaten the Patriots.