The Packers’ made their twenty-first appearance on the cover of Sports Illustrated in the “Super Bowl XXXI Preview Issue” — only one week after being on the cover before. Shown on the front are quarterback Brett Favre and head coach Mike Holmgren “dining” together at Kroll’s Restaurant (a Green Bay landmark), across Ridge Avenue on the West side of Lambeau Field. The cover states: “The Missing Links... Brett Favre and Mike Holmgren... Green Bay was going nowhere until they arrived in ’92.” How true that is.
Inside, in the “Super Bowl XXXI Preview” section of the magazine, a two-page spread photo of Holmgren and Favre is accompanied by the text: “Warmed Up... After getting off to a chilly start, Packers coach Mike Holmgren and quarterback Brett Favre have found their comfort zone.” The article starts off by describing the low point of their relationship. “Brett Favre sat on the end of the bench, stewing. It was the night of October 20, 1994, during a game against the Minnesota Vikings at the Metrodome, and Favre seemed close to losing his starting quarterback job. He had been sidelined after the first quarter by a bruised left hip, but the way he figured it, the injury gave Green Bay coaches what they wanted: a convenient excuse to begin the Mark Brunell era... Minnesota won the game 13-10 in overtime. ‘Good,’ Favre recalls thinking, ‘we lose the rest of the games this year, that’s fine with me.’ ”
“I struggled and I struggled for a long time,’ Favre says. ‘But think about it. I got thrown into the toughest offense in the game as a starter at 22. Every other guy who’s played it (the 49ers offense) sat for a year or two and learned. Joe Montana sat behind Steve DeBerg. Steve Young sat behind Joe. Steve Bono sat behind both of them. Ty Detmer and Mark Brunell sat behind me. That’s why it was so frustrating when people would get on me.’ ”
“The next few days were dicey around Packers headquarters. Favre was frustrated in trying to master the complex offense. ‘The lowest point of his Packers career,’ former quarterbacks coach Steve Mariucci says. At the coaches meeting that week, Holmgren polled each member of the coaching staff on who should be the starting quarterback. Brunell won the vote. So what did Holmgren do? Later, he called Favre into his office and told him, ‘Buddy, it’s your job.’ Holmgren’s decision was based largely on his belief that Favre was close to mastering the offense and that the only thing holding him back — a tendency to force situations — was correctable. ‘We’re joined at the hip,’ Holmgren told Favre. ‘Either we’re going to the Super Bowl together, or we’re going down together.’ ”
Well, they were going to Super Bowl XXXI together, and that story will be covered next — the Packers’ third consecutive week on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
