Sports Illustrated: December 16, 1996

The nineteenth appearance on the cover of Sports Illustrated for the Green Bay Packers was in December of 1996, as they were headed towards the NFL Playoffs again. On the cover, quarterback Brett Favre is shown in passing form with the headline, “The Team to Beat... Why Brett Favre and the Packers are Looking Super.”

Inside, as the article opens with a two-page photo spread of Dorsey Levens leaping for yardage, the headline reads: “Back in Gear... The Packers turned it up a notch to rout the Broncos and move closer to earning the (frigid) home field advantage in the Playoffs.”

The article states: “By day’s end Lambeau seemed more daunting than it had all season. After rolling to a 41-6 win, the Packers — now 11-3 — had moved a step closer to securing home field advantage... a pressing quest given their 15-game winning streak at Lambeau. A few hours later, after San Francisco (lost) to Carolina, and the Cowboys had escaped with a victory over Arizona, Green Bay had become the conference’s clear-cut favorite to reach the Super Bowl... and Sunday’s game, viewed by many as a Super Bowl preview, sent a Pack-is-back message to NFL rivals.”

“Against all logic, Green Bay has become a garden spot for players from less successful organizations (like Andre Rison). ‘It’s like a home for the refuse of society,’ says safety Eugene Robinson, a 12-year veteran acquired in an off-season trade with Seattle. The nightlife options may be slim and the weather may be grim, but, in Rison’s words, ‘the vibe here is incredible.’ Defensive tackle Santana Dotson, who spent his first four years with Tampa Bay, says he loves playing for the Packers because ‘everyone from the front office executives to the janitor tries to get the players whatever they need to win.’ ”

Yes... these were swell times to be a Packer fan... as long as you didn’t believe in the Sports Illustrated “cover jinx.”

Sports Illustrated: January 15, 1996

The Packers’ eighteenth appearance on the cover of Sports Illustrated came in the fourth year of the Mike Holmgren-Ron Wolf era. The event which put them there was their somewhat surprising manhandling of the 49ers 27-17 in the NFC Divisional Playoff game in San Francisco at the end of the 1995 season. Pictured on the cover is quarterback Brett Favre, with the headline: “Bring on the Cowboys... Brett Favre and the Packers Dethrone the 49ers.”

In the two-page photo spread which opens the article, SI states: “True to its word, Green Bay whipped defending champion San Francisco.” The article says, “Mike Holmgren, the Green Bay Packer coach, had spent a week assuring his players — and anyone else who would listen — that they were capable of dethroning the Super Bowl champion San Francisco 49ers in last Saturday’s NFC Divisional game.”

“Before the game, Holmgren told his team, ‘We can beat these guys, but it’s not about outsmarting them or having a better scheme... football is about kicking someone’s (butt), Football is about physically pounding the opponent. If you want to win this game, you have to beat the crap out of these guys.”

“While there were many logical explanations for the stunning outcome — beginning with Green Bay defensive coordinator Fritz Shurmur’s ingenuity and extending to the offensive blueprint drawn up by Holmgren and his offensive coordinator, Sherman Lewis — the Pack also rode intangibles to this victory. ‘I’ve never been around a team quite like this,’ Holmgren said afterward. ‘I think this team is special because the players are so unselfish.’ ”

The win propelled the Packers into the national NFL consciousness as a potential force to be dealt with, after decades of ineptitude. They would go to Dallas the next week to play the Cowboys for the right to represent the NFC in Super Bowl XXX... however, they would fall short after leading into the fourth quarter, 38-27.

Sports Illustrated: September 28, 1992

The Tony Mandarich saga continues. The seventeenth appearance of the Packers on the cover of Sports Illustrated was one I’m sure the Green Bay front office never wanted to see. By the time this issue appeared on newsstands, general manager Tom Braatz (who drafted Mandarich) was gone and replaced by Ron Wolf. Head coach Lindy Infante was also gone and was replaced by Mike Holmgren, who sat at 2-2 in the standings at this time in his first season as head coach.

Mandarich appears on the cover of the magazine with the headline: “The NFL’s Incredible BUST,” a play on the cover of the last time he appeared there. “Three years after being hailed as a surefire star, Packer Tony Mandarich struggles to salvage his career.” Considering the things that were said about him in the previous posting, in four years he had become a laughingstock in the League.

“Tony the Terrible,” the headline reads as the article inside begins, “Once hyped as an outrageously talented lineman, Tony Mandarich of the Packers is still outrageous, but he’s not much of a talent.” Words from Mandarich himself: “A lot of people would have bet their bottom dollar that I would have been in the Pro Bowl three times by now,” he says, “but instead I’m known as one of the biggest busts in football... if you keep reading (in the papers) about what a bust you’ve been, after a while you start to believe it. The truth hurts.” “Now in the final year of his four-year $4.4 million contract, Mandarich is a pale, sullen, and soft 295-pounder on the brink of falling out of the game... he has lacked the strength and technique to stop pass rushers, and he candidly admits that even with hard work and a lot of luck, he’ll probably never amount to anything more than an average NFL lineman.” He was exactly right. “I have nobody to blame but myself,” he says.

After suffering a concussion in the 1992 preseason, Mandarich missed the entire season and was released on February 26, 1993. He returned to football in 1996, playing three years for the Colts (coached by his former Green Bay coach Lindy Infante), mostly as a starting guard before a shoulder injury ended his career with retirement in 1998.

Hopefully, the Packers will never fail on a high draft pick like they did with Mandarich.

Sports Illustrated: April 24, 1989

While not a member of the team’s roster yet, the sixteenth appearance of the Packers on the cover of Sports Illustrated was with Tony Mandarich, right before he was selected by Green Bay with the second pick in the 1989 Draft. A shirtless Mandarich is shown on the cover with the headline, “The Incredible Bulk... the Best Offensive Line Prospect Ever.”

Inside, the article calls him “the BIG enchilada,” and shows him pushing two grocery carts filled with food to supply his “49 meals a week.” The article praises his accomplishments and his positioning himself to become the highest paid offensive lineman ever — and also discusses at length all the rumors of his steroid abuse. According to one Big Ten assistant coach, “Pro scouts come in and ask about Mandarich, I tell them (about the steroids), but they don’t care. It’s really sad he’s getting so much publicity.”

“At any rate,” the article says, “a diploma doesn’t have much to do with his career at the moment. He says he’ll play even in rustic Green Bay ‘if the price is right.’ And what’s right? Bet on $8 million for five years. Would he live year-round in Green Bay? ‘Hah! I’m back here (in Los Angeles) the day the season’s over.’ ”

Also in the article: “That afternoon as Mandarich relaxes in the condo, a telegram arrives from the Green Bay Packers. It reads: ‘Tony, please call (position coach) Charlie Davis or (GM) Tom Braatz concerning travel to Green Bay for pre-draft physical before end of week.’ ‘Yeah right!’ hoots Mandarich.”

What became of Mandarich after being selected by the Packers (who, by the way passed up Barry Sanders) will be covered in a later installment. In defense of the Packers and GM Tom Braatz, here is a small sampling of what other NFL personnel “experts” were saying at the time about Mandarich:

“He’s the best college football player I’ve ever seen... this kid is better than Anthony Munoz.”
— Tom Boisture, N.Y. Giants

“Maybe the fastest offensive tackle in history... and just maybe the best.”
— San Diego GM Steve Ortmayer

“He’s always working on his techniques, which are almost perfect anyway.”
— Dick Steinberg, New England Patriots

It goes to show that the “experts” certainly don’t know everything.

Sports Illustrated: August 25, 1975

It was five years until the Packers appeared on the cover of Sports Illustated again for the fifteenth time. The occasion was the hiring of Bart Starr as head coach and the seeming optimism that brought to the Green Bay organization in the summer of 1975. Starr, of course, had been the Packers’ quarterback from 1956-1971, and was at the helm for all five of Lombardi’s world championships of the 1960’s.

Starr is pictured on the magazine’s cover, running out with several players for a preseason game in Milwaukee, with the headline, “Bart Starr Takes Charge of the Packers.” Inside, the article starts under the heading, “A Fresh Start With Bart... Optimism permeates the summer air of Green Bay. Fans are sporting buttons and bumper stickers celebrating the return of Bart Starr, Mr. Nice Guy, and hoping for a renaissance of Lombardi’s winning ways.”

The article continues, “After spending 16 years as a player of heroic stature in Green Bay, Starr has returned to the Packers as general manager and head coach, the announcement being made fittingly enough last Christmas Eve (1974). Probably no first-time head coach has ever put more on the line... no one is more aware of this than Starr himself... he is in the position of trying to persuade the fans not to expect too much too soon.”

Starr later stated, “This job at Green Bay is like undertaking a personal quest for me. I owe a tremendous amount to the Packers. I want to hear them talked about with pride. I wouldn’t be coaching professional football if it wasn’t at Green Bay. I’ve been offered several head coaching jobs for more money than I’m getting here, and on teams that might have better players, but those teams aren‘t the Packers.”

Starr admitted years later that he wasn’t prepared for the head coaching position offered him in 1975, but that he was “intrigued” by the challenge. He would last until 1983, compiling a 52-76-3 record, with one postseason trip to the Playoffs — in the strike-shortened 1982 season.

Sports Illustrated: March 3, 1969

The fourteenth Sports Illustrated cover for the Packers was when former head coach and then-current general manager Vince Lombardi announced that he was taking the job of turning around the fortunes of the Washington Redskins in March of 1969. A smiling Lombardi is depicted on the cover along with the headline, “Vince Lombardi Puts a Legend on the Line.”

After only one season off the sidelines, Lombardi couldn’t stand being cooped up in the press box on Sundays and only tending to the mundane duties of the average general manager during the week. By many accounts, giving up coaching was for him a “horrible mistake.” But leaving the successful history of his Green Bay teams and the town where he was revered as “St. Vincent” meant starting over and putting his reputation in jeopardy.

As SI said, “Vince Lombardi knows full well that, however rich the idolatry may be now, his reputation as America’s leading Success Symbol and Dean of Champions is on the line in Washington. Insisting that he is spurred less by profit motives than by internal complusion, he passes off his $100,000 salary and his $500,000 worth of Redskin stock by saying ‘I don’t need the money. Money I’ve got. I need to COACH!’ ”

“Lombardi’s own version of why he quit coaching in January 1968 offers an insight into the weird and unexpected pressure a man encounters at a pinnacle of success. ‘When I quit,’ says Lombardi, ‘I knew I’d never be back coaching. I knew I wouldn’t be able to take it again. The pressures were so horrible. The pressure of losing is bad — awful... but the pressure of winning is worse — infinitely worse, because it keeps on torturing you and torturing you. At Green Bay, I was winning one championship after another (he quit after three straight). I couldn’t take it because I blamed myself after every loss. I felt I’d let them down. You know, if we’d just won every other title, or if we’d lost to Dallas in ’66 or ’67, I’d still be in Green Bay. Forever.’ ”

In 1969, Lombardi did turn the Redskins around that season to some degree, improving them from a 5-9 record in 1968 to a 7-5-2 record. But before he could accomplish more, he was stricken with cancer and died in September 1970.

Sports Illustrated: December 16, 1968

The thirteenth appearance by the Green Bay Packers on the cover of Sports Illustrated came near the end of the 1968 season, after the Packers lost 16-3 to the Baltimore Colts in Lambeau Field. On the cover, running back Donny Anderson is wrapped up by “Baltimore’s Volk and Gaubatz” and the text reads, “A Dynasty Totters.” The article inside begins under the headline “Au Revoir, Packers!,” reflecting the thoughts of football fans everywhere who were tired of the Packers winning the NFL championship the previous three years in a row.

The story states that “the loss snuffed out what dim hope the Packers had to win their fourth straight championship,” and that “the Packers’ defeat by Baltimore was, in a way, a microcosm of the whole unfortunate year for Green Bay... countless words undoubtedly will be written describing the Green Bay debacle as the end of a dynasty, but this is a theory the Packers themselves do not endorse. To them, the disasters of 1968 were an interruption, not an end. All the bad luck Green Bay escaped in the nine years under Vince Lombardi seemed to descend upon the team in Phil Benston’s first season as coach, and the avalanche of injuries, bad bounces, missed field goals and untimely penalties resulted in Green Bay’s first losing season since 1959.”

“If they should fail to recapture their Lombardi years, the problem will very likely be found at quarterback. Starr, when healthy, is still one of the most capable quarterbacks in football, but at 35 he has reached the age where injuries linger, and it would be foolhardy to expect him to grow sturdier in the seasons to come.”

Bart Starr would indeed be injured often after that season and would never recapture the success of the championship years — retiring in 1971. Sports Illustrated would not feature the Packers again for many years.

Sports Illustrated: October 28, 1968

The Packers appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated for the twelfth time in October of 1968, the year of decline after the Lombardi era. Depicted on the cover are defensive tackle Bob Brown (#78) and offensive tackle Forrest Gregg (#75) running out onto the field prior to the game with the Los Angeles Rams in Milwaukee on October 13, 1968. The Packers would lose this game 16-14 and drop to 2-3 on the season at that point, leading to the article inside in which the magazine stated that “the Packers are not dead.”

But they were “dead” as far as their string of championships were concerned. They would go on to win only four more games in that 1968 season.

Bob Brown played for Green Bay from 1966-1973, while future Hall of Famer Forrest Gregg would play two more seasons, retiring in 1970.

Sports Illustrated: July 15, 1968

The Packers’ eleventh appearance on the cover of Sports Illustrated came during Training Camp ’68... the first for the successor to Vince Lombardi’s head coaching position, former defensive coordinator Phil Bengston. On the cover, a close-up of eventual Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke is pictured, along with the headline: “Green Bay’s Best Team Ever,” (by Ray Nitschke). While having not had the opportunity to read the accompanying article, the headline would not fit that year’s Packers’ team, nor any of the Phil Bengston-led teams.

Bengtson’s low-key approach was in sharp contrast to the often-volatile Lombardi. With the aging of key players, this translated into mediocrity for the franchise. For the 1968 season, the optimism of the Sports Illustrated cover ended with a 6-7-1 record, good enough for only third in the NFL Central. Bengston’s Packers were 20-21-1 in his three seasons as head coach. After a 6-8 record in 1970, he was relieved of his duties, replaced by Missouri head coach Dan Devine.

Bengston resurfaced with the San Diego Chargers and New England Patriots, becoming the interim head coach of the Patriots in late 1972. Later, he was named the team's Director of Pro Scouting, staying through the 1974 season.

Phil Bengtson died at age 81 after a long illness at his home in San Diego on December 18, 1994.

Packerville on Break

“Packerville, U.S.A.” will be on hiatus until Monday, February 19th. See you then!