Saturday, March 10, 2012

46 Years of Media Guides — Part I

Since we’re in the time of year where there really isn’t a whole lot going on (unless you’re Peyton Manning), we thought it was time for a Green Bay Packers Media Guide cover retrospective. Starting with this past season’s cover (2011), and going back through our collection to 1965, we’re going to share with you each year’s cover. It’s interesting to look back through the years and see who (or what) was depicted, which showed who was “cover-worthy” at the time. 2011 RECORD: 15-1

2010 RECORD: 10-6 • WORLD CHAMPIONS! • NFC Defensive Player of the Year Charles Woodson is on the cover. It’s too bad he couldn’t play the whole Super Bowl XLV game.

2009 RECORD: 11-5 • Not a whole lot of time and effort went into this cover. Apparently, Aaron Rodgers was not worthy of a cover photo yet.

2008 RECORD: 6-10 • The cover features photos from the 2007 NFC Divisional Playoff vs. Seattle, known as the “Snow Globe” game; Brett Favre’s second-to-last game at Lambeau Field for the Packers.

2007 RECORD: 13-3 • In a season where the Packers would fall one Brett Favre O.T. INT away from a Super Bowl berth, Lambeau Field celebrated its 50th anniversary. Favre would “retire” in March of 2008.

2006 RECORD: 8-8 • New Packers coach Mike McCarthy took over the reigns from Mike Sherman, and in a year of transition, positioned Green Bay for major success in years to come.

2005 RECORD: 4-12 • It’s all-Brett-Favre on this year’s media guide, but even his talent couldn’t rescue the team from it’s worst record since 1991, before the arrival of Mike Holmgren.

2004 RECORD: 10-6 • A mix of old and new are on this year’s cover. But who wants to go back and relive the home playoff loss to the Vikings with Randy Moss “mooning” the Lambeau crowd which ended this season? Us neither.

2003 RECORD: 10-6 • Another year of relative success on the field, ending with the “4th and 26” in Philadelphia. The renovated Lambeau Field is “reborn” this year, and is featured on the media guide.

2002 RECORD: 12-4 • An embarrassing home loss to the Falcons ends this season, which started with Brett Favre surrounded by the “ghosts” of Don Hutson (left) and Jim Taylor (right) on the cover of the media guide.

To be continued...