It was almost another year before the Packers graced the cover of Sports Illustrated for the ninth time. The occasion was the pre-Super Bowl II issue, in which the now infamous “Ice Bowl” NFL Championship game was covered, as well as the Raiders 40-7 rout of the Houston Oilers in the AFL Championship game. The split cover featured Packers’ running back Chuck Mercein fighting for some frozen yardage.
Under the title, “The Old Pro Goes in for Six,” the article’s subhead stated, “On a frigid field and against an ice-hard Dallas Cowboy defense, Bart Starr climaxed a last-minute drive by clawing across for the touchdown that put Green Bay in the Super Bowl.” The article goes on to state that “...marshalled into something resembling a hot streak... the Packers shook off more than two quarters of almost total ineffectiveness and in the final frozen moments toiled 68 yards in four minutes and 37 seconds to score... with only 13 seconds to play, Green Bay won 21-17 to take the National Football League championship for the third straight year.”
It was then off to Miami to face the Raiders in temperatures that were almost 100 degrees warmer than that frigid New Year’s Eve 1967 in Green Bay.
