The sorry years

[Deleted member 6794]

Great article by Gary D'Amato about the 1970s and '80s Packers:

http://t.co/fJZzwiz7OR

 

[PackerDNA]

Ahhhh yes, I still have the occasional nightmare.

 

[weeds]

Old joke from that era:

Guy: "Officer, I had two Packer tickets on the dashboard of my car and someone smashed my windshield."

Cop: "They smashed your windshield and took the two Packer tickets."

Guy: "No, they smashed the windshield and put two MORE Packer tickets on the dashboard."

Oddly enough, as bad as the Pack were ... and make no mistake, BAD doesn't begin to describe the state of Packers football at that time ... we still went to the games. Most certainly there was a lot of grumbling, but we were there every week that the Pack were playing - same deal in Milwaukee. Never missed a game in Green Bay from '75 thru '95.

Another old joke goes something like this: "They may be a steaming pile of dog sh*t, but they're OUR steaming pile of dog sh*t." Man, tailgating during that time was a blast. If you got there early enough, you could drive right into the parking lot off of Oneida or Lombardi, pay your parking fee and tailgate right by the stadium ... you could walk right up the stadiums and rub the galvanized steel that was the outside wall... I mean TOUCH the icon...

We used to bring a generator to the last home game, put a row of two by fours between vehicles, and watch the game happening 100 yards away, in the parking lot ... grills going all game long, TV on, alcohol flowing freely ... different time to be sure.

1983 was by FAR the worst year in my estimation... a high powered Super Bowl caliber offense and a defense that could make the cast of "Up With People" hit their knees and break down sobbing.

 

[Sky King]

Being out of the State of WI for much of that time I was fortunate to be spared some of that futility first-hand. Packer Report was my only solid link to the misery. Although we got to view a few games every week we rarely got to see the Packers. They were so bad that the networks almost never featured them outside of their local market. It was as if the team did not exist outside of WI. The Wolf/Holmgren/Favre era saved the franchise from itself -- something that shouldn't be ignored or taken for granted. Without any of them this franchise might not have survived. Not like this, anyway.

 

[Packerlifer]

Being out of the State of WI for much of that time I was fortunate to be spared some of that futility first-hand. Packer Report was my only solid link to the misery. Although we got to view a few games every week we rarely got to see the Packers. They were so bad that the networks almost never featured them outside of their local market. It was as if the team did not exist outside of WI. The Wolf/Holmgren/Favre era saved the franchise from itself -- something that shouldn't be ignored or taken for granted. Without any of them this franchise might not have survived. Not like this, anyway.

Why so little credit for the man who really set the resurrection in motion with the Wolf hire- Bob Harlan?

And I think a little mention of the Reggie White free agent signing in 1993 is also in order. That put the Packers "back on the map" in the NFL. Wolf-Holmgren-Favre-Reggie were the four big turning points. All, though, started with the club president and ceo.

 

[PackerDNA]

Why so little credit for the man who really set the resurrection in motion with the Wolf hire- Bob Harlan?

Absolutely. Harlan did so much with so little fanfare to keep this franchise going strong.Murphy is doing a fine job following in his footsteps.

 

[Sky King]

Why so little credit for the man who really set the resurrection in motion with the Wolf hire- Bob Harlan?

No reason. Just an oversight.

 

[TJV]

Why so little credit for the man who really set the resurrection in motion with the Wolf hire- Bob Harlan?

Harlan has received his due from some of us. I for (just) one, have praised him many times for changing the structure of the organization – no small matter considering the power of the executive committee at the time and their proclivity to meddle. For example, I posted this within a few months of joining this board in 2011: “Bob Harlan was the one to change the organizational structure of the Packers so that one person was in charge of all football operations. IMO that was the key to the turnaround. His hiring of the right man, Ron Wolf, confirmed how correct the change in structure was. Then Wolf hit a homerun with his choice of Holmgren, who put together a staff which has become his "coaching tree" in the league, including Reid, Gruden and others.” https://www.packerforum.com/threads/retiring-favres-4.22286/page-4#post-301998

I was lucky, I became a Packers fan in the late fifties, shortly before Lombardi’s arrival. Of course what made the dark ages even more difficult was we Packers fans took success for granted under Lombardi. My reward was watching every game Lombardi coached for the Packers and my penance was watching every game during the dark ages. I feel extremely lucky to have been able to watch every game of the Harlan-revived Packers since.

1983 was by FAR the worst year in my estimation... a high powered Super Bowl caliber offense and a defense that could make the cast of "Up With People" hit their knees and break down sobbing.

 

[Raptorman]

One thing I always remember from that time. On my barbers door he had a sign that read. "Welcome, unless you are Dan Devine." He was one coach that the fans did not like.

 

[Sky King]

He panicked when he made the Hadl trade. He lied about the dog. My least favorite Packer coach by a mile.

 

[TJV]

It's close but during the dark ages, my least favorite coach was the great OT Forrest Gregg (who Lombardi said was the best player he ever coached). It's one thing to be completely unprepared to be a HC as Starr was, and it's another to make an incredibly short-sighted trade with long term negative repercussions like Devine did. But IMO Gregg lacked class to the point of encouraging thuggish behavior by his players, culminating in the Martin BS. It was the first time I was ashamed of a Packers team.

 

[Zeck180]

I was born in 1991 so I have only seen three losing records, two of which I remember. Though since I always go through past seasons on wikipedia, and those of us who have no memory of bad years have been very lucky to know only winning for almost 25 years.

The only season I have to look at to sum up the time between 1067 and 1992 is the 1986 Packers, whew a 1-9 start.

 

[TJV]

The only season I have to look at to sum up the time between 1067 and 1992 is the 1986 Packers, whew a 1-9 start.

The 1067 team was particularly brutal. 12 players were murdered on the battle playing field, one was beaten to death with a severed limb - it was the last time the Vikings won it all.

 

[Raptorman]

The 1067 team was particularly brutal. 12 players were murdered on the battle playing field, one was beaten to death with a severed limb - it was the last time the Vikings won it all.

That was a brutal year for football.

 

[El Guapo]

They had 433 rounds in the 1067 draft

 

[Packerlifer]

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x21lkxg_out-of-the-pack-the-1989-green-bay-packers_sport

Yeah, they had many sorry years during those two-plus decades but they had some bright moments, too. Whenever it looked like the Pack might be coming back it wasn't just Packers fans who were cheered. I think many hoped to see Green Bay relevant again; even if they wouldn't admit it.

 

[Packerlifer]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrSteR_2xos

Another moment of light in the darkness.

 

[Sky King]

We were ahead of our time. We knew then what Bears fans feel like now.

 

[Packerlifer]

http://www.packershistory.net/1972PACKERS.html

Somewhere there's a season yearbook video "The Year the Pack Came Back" on this one.

 

[HardRightEdge]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrSteR_2xos

Another moment of light in the darkness.

The 1972 team should not be overlooked. They pounded the rock all day with Brockington and Lane; the defense was outstanding with good players at all three levels...McCoy and Robert Brown, Robinson and Carr, Buchanon and Ellis. This was the 3-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust era, so Scott Hunter at QB was nothing like the liability of a poor passer today. As a point of reference, the 14-0 Dolphins threw for about 2,000 yards (compared to the Packers 1,400), ran with Csonka, Morris and Kiick, and played stout defense.

Alas, the Packers lost 16-3 in a grind-it-out playoff game to the Kilmer Redskins. The two teams combined for 443 yds. from scrimmage.

Dan Devine's dog was murdered and the team sank to 5-7-2 the following year, followed by the long wait for the next playoff appearance in the strike-shortened 1982 season.

And lets not forget 1989, the season of the Majik man. The 10-6 record did not earn a playoff berth, but it provided a lot of exciting moments and some hope for the future, such hopes only to be dashed upon the rocks of futility and until the Holmgren era.

 

[weeds]

The 1067 team was particularly brutal. 12 players were murdered on the battle playing field, one was beaten to death with a severed limb - it was the last time the Vikings won it all.

OHH EMMM GEEE ... *****

 

[Raptorman]

The 1067 team was particularly brutal. 12 players were murdered on the battle playing field, one was beaten to death with a severed limb - it was the last time the Vikings won it all.

I think Bud Grant played on that team.

 

[HardRightEdge]

The 1067 team was particularly brutal. 12 players were murdered on the battle playing field, one was beaten to death with a severed limb - it was the last time the Vikings won it all.

William the Conqueror had a huge year in the previous season, leading the Normans to the "championship".

 

[Poppa San]

The 1972 team should not be overlooked. They pounded the rock all day with Brockington and Lane; the defense was outstanding with good players at all three levels...McCoy and Robert Brown, Robinson and Carr, Buchanon and Ellis. This was the 3-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust era, so Scott Hunter at QB was nothing like the liability of a poor passer today. As a point of reference, the 14-0 Dolphins threw for about 2,000 yards (compared to the Packers 1,400), ran with Csonka, Morris and Kiick, and played stout defense.

Alas, the Packers lost 16-3 in a grind-it-out playoff game to the Kilmer Redskins. The two teams combined for 443 yds. from scrimmage.

Dan Devine's dog was murdered and the team sank to 5-7-2 the following year, followed by the long wait for the next playoff appearance in the strike-shortened 1982 season.

And lets not forget 1989, the season of the Majik man. The 10-6 record did not earn a playoff berth, but it provided a lot of exciting moments and some hope for the future, such hopes only to be dashed upon the rocks of futility and until the Holmgren era.

Just missed the playoffs that year. IIRC, the NFL added another wildcard spot the following year.

 

[yooperpackfan]

It's just a really good thing we didn't have the internet back in those days!