The average age in the United States is close to 40.
That’s also probably about the age of the big division within the Packers Nation. Those in their 40s probably remember the end of the bloody years of the franchise. Those under 40 probably only know the Brett Favre-Aaron Rodgers good-time era Packers.
Of course, those of us 65 years or older lived through all the horrors of that 24-year-old drought, from 1968 to 1991, and we can still recite our own washlists of the lowest of low lights.
Since Lambeau Field’s 40-0 loss to Detroit in the first game of the 1970 season, Phil Bengtson’s last game, which was unshakable truth for all of us, the Glorious Years were over. (The game nearly ended with Greg Landry running 76 yards untouched in a quarterback lead called simply to run time off the clock.) Through Dan Devine’s desperate search for a quarterback, ending with him swapping nine high draft picks in his past 16 months. first two, four seconds, two thirds and one fifth, for John Hadl, Jim Del Gaizo, Dean Carlson and Jack Concannon.
Followed by Bart Starr’s 13-47-1 record against teams that finished better than .500 and 2-27 record against teams that finished with 10 wins or more.
Then, near the end, there was the 13-game losing streak at Lambeau Field, not counting a replacement strike game, under Forrest Gregg and Lindy Infante.
For those who lived through it, these were the causes of their worst nightmares; For those who didn’t, consider this penance for not having to experience it and a reminder of how good you’ve had it.
December 8, 1985: Miami 34, Packers 24 – A week after the Packers’ victory over Tampa Bay in the memorable “Blizzard Bowl,” the sky was clear, the temperature was in the mid-1920s, and the field could not have been in better shape. Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino split the Packers defense with 30 completions in 44 attempts for 345 yards and five touchdowns, the last in the game in the fourth quarter completing a 67-yard drive.
September 7, 1986: Houston Oilers 31, Packers 3 – In a first game of the season against a helpless man coming from a 5-11 finish and heading towards another, there were 2,849 who failed to show up and many of the 54,000 who used their tickets began to flow towards exits in the middle of the fourth trimester. The Oilers, this was after Earl Campbell, could not have been more predictable on offense, executing 27 of 28 first-try plays, but then became 15 of 19 third attempts. Packers quarterback Randy Wright was a brutal 10 of 23 for 155 yards and managed to find James Lofton only twice for 14 yards.
September 22, 1986: Chicago 25, Packers 12 – Without Jim McMahon and with third stringer Steve Fuller getting the call early in the second half, defending Super Bowl champion Bears scored what was a boring victory for them in a national broadcast game on Monday night. Paul Ott Carruth’s cut penalty penalized a 71-yard punt return for a Walter Stanley touchdown.
October 12, 1986: Detroit 21, Packers 14 – The Packers ended day 0-6 for their worst start in their 69-year history. Yes, worse than in his infamous 1958 season 1-10-1. The Lions, who would finish 5-11 and 24 in the league in total offense, ran the ball 52 times for 236 yards, an average of 4.5. Rookie Garry James ran for 140 of those yards, five more than he earned in his first five games.
November 9, 1986: Washington 16, Packers 7 – With their fifth consecutive loss at Green Bay, the Packers set a record. Going back to 1919, they had lost four times in a row five times, most recently under Starr in 1976-77 and Devine in 1973-74, but never as many as five. A total of 8,925 fans who bought tickets did not show up. The loss reduced the Packers to 1-9. On the plus side, though, it was a close game against a playoff-bound opponent and the Packers scored a touchdown, their third and final of the year in their five games at Lambeau. All three came on Wright passes covering 5, 6, and 3 yards. Yes, if you attended all five games at Lambeau in 1986, you wouldn’t have seen the Packers score a TD on a play over six yards.
December 7, 1986: Minnesota 32, Packers 6 – The loss left the Packers winless at Lambeau for the first time since its opening in 1957, not to mention the reduction in the strike in 1982 when they only played one game there. When Gregg played for Vince Lombardi, the Packers were 28-7-1 in games in what was called the new City Stadium until 1965 and a house of horrors for many opponents. Now, Gregg, in his voice full of sarcasm, said that the only team with problems playing there was his. “I think it’s intimidating for the Green Bay Packers … Maybe we will play all of our games away from home,” he growled. The no-show figure on a near-ideal December day of 32 degrees for a match against rival Vikings was 9,113.
September 13, 1987: Los Angeles Raiders 20, Packers 0 – Knowing that the players were ready to go on strike, fans encouraged them to do so as they walked off the field to the chant of “Strike, strike, strike,” after another grim performance in a Green Bay first game. Since the debacle against the Lions in 1970, the Packers were 3-14-1 in their first Lambeau games.
November 8, 1987: Chicago 26, Packers 24 – Technically, because replacement strike games counted in the standings, what remains the record losing streak in Green Bay ended at eight on October 18, when the Packers beat Philadelphia and fans cheered, “Team B , team B. ” -ins left the field for the last time. The week before, Team B had lost to Detroit to extend the record to eight. This loss was a heartbreaker, decided by a Kevin Butler 52-yard field goal when time expired. Of course, it didn’t help that the Packers were penalized 16 times for 125 yards.
December 6, 1987: San Francisco 23, Packers 12 – For the second year in a row, the Packers regulars didn’t win at Lambeau, but fans were entertained during this loss by two all-time greats, Joe Montana and Ronnie Lott, whom Starr had passed in the draft despite pleas. . of your explorers. Montana completed his first 17 passes to set an NFL record with 22 straight games, including the last five from his previous game, and Lott intercepted two passes.
September 4, 1988: Los Angeles Rams 34, Packers 7 – It marked the Packers’ third straight loss in their first Lambeau game. The cumulative score of those games: 85-10. Infante, in his debut with the Packers, saw his team commit seven turnovers and allow seven sacks. New Packers defensive back coach Jerry Gray ended Wright’s day with a 47-yard interception return on the final play of the third quarter to put the Rams up 31-0. “He threw the ball at me instead of the catcher,” Gray said after the game. “They were the six easiest I had in the NFL.”
September 11, 1988: Tampa Bay 13, Packers 10 – The perennially hapless and destined to be 5-11 Bucs also won the rematch at Tampa Bay three weeks later, giving them just their third season sweep of an opponent in their 13-year history. The Bucs also broke a 10-game losing streak, dating to a victory at Milwaukee’s County Stadium a year earlier. Kenneth Davis led the Packers in the run with 18 yards.
September 25, 1988: Chicago 24, Packers 6 – At 0-4, the Packers were the only winless team in the league and would lose again next week for their second worst start in history. It was the Bears’ seventh straight victory in a rivalry dating back to 1921 and they would win the rematch in Chicago two months later for a record eight straight. The Bears ran for 242 yards; the Packers by 34, their second lowest total in 24 years. First-round bust Brent Fullwood gained a total of 14 yards on seven attempts.
November 13, 1988: Indianapolis 20, Packers 13 – It’s been less than a month three years since the last time the Packers won at Lambeau. They would end their streak at age 13 a month later by beating Minnesota. But they would also end the 4-12 season, extending their drought without a winning record on a 16-game schedule to 11 years.