We’re back with Part II of our Green Bay Packers Media Guides, starting where we left off in 2001:2001 RECORD: 12-4 • The season was one game old (a rainy victory over the Lions) when the 9/11 attacks occurred and turned the world upside down. Mike Sherman’s team beat the 49ers at home in the Wild Card Playoff, and then tanked in the 45-17 NFC Divisional Playoff loss in St. Louis, with Brett Favre throwing six INTs.
2000 RECORD: 9-7 • New Head Coach Mike Sherman takes control and the team wins one more game than it did in ’99. They finished third in the NFC Central behind Minnesota and Tampa Bay.
1999 RECORD: 8-8 • Do you think that Ron Wolf would like to have a do-over on his choice to replace Mike Holmgren in 1999? He probably cringes when he sees the photo on the cover of that year’s media guide. Former defensive coordinator Ray Rhodes let the team’s discipline lapse so much in one season that Wolf saw no option but to relieve him of his duties.
1998 RECORD: 11-5 • In what turned out to be Mike Holmgren’s last season in Green Bay, they finished second in the division (behind a 15-1 Minnesota team) and then lost in San Francisco on a last-second TD pass to a young Terrell Owens. This was Brett Favre’s second Packers’ media guide cover.
1997 RECORD: 13-3 • As the defending World Champions, they cruised to a division title with only a few bumps in the road, and were poised to repeat in Super Bowl XXXII. Then they met the Denver Broncos, and it fell apart in the end. That’s still the defeat that few Packer fans we’ve met want to talk about.
1996 RECORD: 13-3 • All the years of suffering (29 to be exact) were pushed to the background when the Packers had all the pieces in place and the window of opportunity was open wide enough for them to take advantage and win Super Bowl XXXI. Not everything went smoothly, but in the end they were the best team in football. 29 years seemed like a long time, but those losers in Minnesota are at 0-52 for championships going into this year.
1995 RECORD: 11-5 • We thought that this was “the year,” but a disheartening loss in Dallas (again) ended just short of the Super Bowl. They captured their first divisional title in a long time this year, and it’s not often that you see an offensive lineman featured on a team’s media guide. But Ken Ruettgers beat those odds and was featured prominently that season.
1994 RECORD: 9-7 • The third of three 9-7 seasons in a row saw the team finish second in the division (one game behind Minnesota). After a playoff victory in Detroit, they lost the Divisional battle in Dallas, in what continued to be a familiar theme over these years. S LeRoy Butler was on the cover that year, and he would continue to be a major force on the defensive side of the ball for many more seasons.
1993 RECORD: 9-7 • QB Brett Favre made his first appearance on the media guide cover after his breakout season the year before, replacing an injured Don Majkowski. Another 9-7 finish left them in third place in the division (behind Detroit and Minnesota). They would meet — and beat — the Lions in the Wild Card Playoff, but then drop the Divisional Playoff in Dallas for the first time.
1992 RECORD: 9-7 • Mike Holmgren and Ron Wolf brought a different attitude to Green Bay, Wisconsin in 1992, and you could see and feel that things were going to change. It was a new era in Packers football. The personnel would change a lot in those first few years, but success came in the form of a winning season and a second place in the NFC Central. Oh yeah, they found a new QB too, in a youngster named Brett Favre.
2000 RECORD: 9-7 • New Head Coach Mike Sherman takes control and the team wins one more game than it did in ’99. They finished third in the NFC Central behind Minnesota and Tampa Bay.
1999 RECORD: 8-8 • Do you think that Ron Wolf would like to have a do-over on his choice to replace Mike Holmgren in 1999? He probably cringes when he sees the photo on the cover of that year’s media guide. Former defensive coordinator Ray Rhodes let the team’s discipline lapse so much in one season that Wolf saw no option but to relieve him of his duties.
1998 RECORD: 11-5 • In what turned out to be Mike Holmgren’s last season in Green Bay, they finished second in the division (behind a 15-1 Minnesota team) and then lost in San Francisco on a last-second TD pass to a young Terrell Owens. This was Brett Favre’s second Packers’ media guide cover.
1997 RECORD: 13-3 • As the defending World Champions, they cruised to a division title with only a few bumps in the road, and were poised to repeat in Super Bowl XXXII. Then they met the Denver Broncos, and it fell apart in the end. That’s still the defeat that few Packer fans we’ve met want to talk about.
1996 RECORD: 13-3 • All the years of suffering (29 to be exact) were pushed to the background when the Packers had all the pieces in place and the window of opportunity was open wide enough for them to take advantage and win Super Bowl XXXI. Not everything went smoothly, but in the end they were the best team in football. 29 years seemed like a long time, but those losers in Minnesota are at 0-52 for championships going into this year.
1995 RECORD: 11-5 • We thought that this was “the year,” but a disheartening loss in Dallas (again) ended just short of the Super Bowl. They captured their first divisional title in a long time this year, and it’s not often that you see an offensive lineman featured on a team’s media guide. But Ken Ruettgers beat those odds and was featured prominently that season.
1994 RECORD: 9-7 • The third of three 9-7 seasons in a row saw the team finish second in the division (one game behind Minnesota). After a playoff victory in Detroit, they lost the Divisional battle in Dallas, in what continued to be a familiar theme over these years. S LeRoy Butler was on the cover that year, and he would continue to be a major force on the defensive side of the ball for many more seasons.
1993 RECORD: 9-7 • QB Brett Favre made his first appearance on the media guide cover after his breakout season the year before, replacing an injured Don Majkowski. Another 9-7 finish left them in third place in the division (behind Detroit and Minnesota). They would meet — and beat — the Lions in the Wild Card Playoff, but then drop the Divisional Playoff in Dallas for the first time.
1992 RECORD: 9-7 • Mike Holmgren and Ron Wolf brought a different attitude to Green Bay, Wisconsin in 1992, and you could see and feel that things were going to change. It was a new era in Packers football. The personnel would change a lot in those first few years, but success came in the form of a winning season and a second place in the NFC Central. Oh yeah, they found a new QB too, in a youngster named Brett Favre.
