Greatest Packers Ever: 1966 or 1996?
Like so many other fans looking to fill a life utterly devoid of NFL football, I have turned to that pacifier so many football junkies do: Madden’s video football.
Ambitiously have I created a dream league, full of teams representing the best year of their franchise. There’s Chuck Noll’s Pittsburgh Steelers, Jimmy Johnson’s Dallas Cowboys, and Jon Gruden’s Buccaneers. Some slots required decision making, but the entire league is filled. Except one: the Green Bay Packers.
Here, I am faced with a conundrum. Should the Pack play with absolutely immortal Vince Lombardi’s 1966 squad that won Super Bowl I after going 14-2? Or should they flash forward exactly thirty years and take Coach Mike Holmgren’s scoring machine of 1996 that steamrolled through the playoffs?
So what else to do to address this burning issue than make a list? Below runs a comparison of certain notables from both squads. And even you think the quarterback controversy is bad, check out the problem at defensive line.
Kicker: Chris Jacke vs. Don Chandler. Let’s start with an easy one, eh? In 1996, Jacke was 21 for 27 for a 77.8% success rate. In 1966, his eleventh of twelve seasons, Chandler was 12 of 28 for – get this – 78%. Jacke is third in scoring in Green Bay history, but Chandler also did duty as punter. And let’s not forget Super Bowl II, the last game in Chandler’s career and a four field goal performance. Edge: 1966 Packers.
Tight end: Keith Jackson and Mark Chmura vs. Marv Fleming. In 1996, Jackson had a fine season, grabbing 40 catches for 505 yards and a team-leading ten TDs. Chmura spent enough time at TE to rack up 370 yards. At the TE position, Fleming was far less frequently a target in Bart Starr’s offense, grabbing 31 catches for 361 yards. History is unfair. Edge: 1996 Packers.
Wide receivers: Antonio Freeman, Desmond Howard, Robert Brooks and Don Beebe vs. Carroll Dale, Boyd Dowler and Max McGee. At first, this looks like a blowout, but non-household names like Dale and Dowler actually had impressive careers. Dale (35 receptions for 738 yards in 1966) and Dowler (54 for 836) played 14 and 12 seasons respectively, and accumulated five all-pro nods between them. Veteran Max McGee chipped in only three receptions that year, but the Whiskey-A-Go-Go’s favorite client turned in his infamous hungover MVP-level performance in Super Bowl I. Of course, one can help but wonder what sort of havoc Starr might have wreaked with, say, Freeman (56 for 933 in twelve games in 1996). Edge: 1996 Packers.
Running backs: Edgar Bennett and Dorsey Levens vs. Jim Taylor, Elijah Pitts and Paul Hornung. On the 11th ranked running game in the NFL in 1996, Bennett rushed for exactly 899 yards on 222 carries, a 4.0 average. Levens plowed forth for 566, five TDs and a fat 4.7 yards per carry. In 1966, Jim Taylor was the center of the Green Bay running universe with 204 carries for 705 yards; he added 331 receiving yards for over 1,000 total. Elijah Pitts added 393 yards and seven TDs, while once again proving a double threat with 460 yards on 26 receptions. Battling injuries in the last year of his career, Hornung contributed 392 in total yardage. It’s a tough decision here, with the 1996 Packer stats gaudier, but the 66ers more versatile. Edge: 1966 Packers. For Hornung.
Quarterback: Brett Favre vs. Bart Starr. Two Hall of Famers representing two glory eras of Green Bay football, and between them all four Super Bowl appearances. Favre and the 1996 Pack was fifth overall in passing yardage and first in TDs. Favre’s ’96 stats are typically huge: 3,899 yards producing 39 touchdowns against just 13 interceptions. Though Starr’s backup Zeke Bratkowski got a fair amount of playing time that year, Starr was named All-Pro based on his 62.2% completion rate and his incredible 14 TD passes versus just three interceptions. Running through the stats is just a formality, though. Edge: You want a calm, cool and collected passing game, take Starr. You want edge-of-your-seat action and lots of heart palpitations? Go with Favre. You can’t lose.
Onto the defense, then: a much more daunting task. In football, defensive contributions often defy statistical measure, exceptions like tackles, sacks and interceptions aside. Most of the “information” is abstract, and many of today’s taken-for-granted stats weren’t in play back in 1966. I’ll try to stick to the facts, though.
The team statistics kept on these two squads scream one identical fact about both: These were bruising, crushing, all-around defenses. In 1996, while the offense was running up scores like a pinball machine, the defense was numero uno in the league in points allowed and yardage allowed. The 1966 Packers were tops in points allowed and grabbed a neat 28 interceptions in a 14-game season. (By comparison, the 1996ers got 26 in 16 games in the much more pass-happy ’90s.)
Also of note are the five Hall of Famers listed on the 1966 Packer defense, all of whom contributed much in the year of Super Bowl I. History speaks well of 1966; only time can tell about the ’96 names.
Defensive backs: Herb Adderly and Willie Wood vs. Leroy Butler and Eugene Robinson. Butler and Robinson both posted excellent years in the Packers’ championship season in 1996, with the former getting a Pro Bowl nod. Butler notched 87 tackles and five interceptions, one of which he returned for 90 yards and a TD. Robinson was in his twelfth year when he played his first for the ’96 Pack and added six picks.
Thirty years earlier, though, Hall members Adderly and Wood were darn good, too. All-Pro Adderly totaled four picks and a 68-yard TD interception return; he leads the Packers all-time in interceptions returned for touchdowns. Wood was at the peak of his nine-year run as all-NFL cornerback and got three interceptions for the stingy defense. Plus, Bob Jeter (no relation) added five for 142 yards and two TDs. Edge: 1966 Packers.
Linebackers: Ray Nitschke and, say, Dave Robinson vs. âÂ?¦oh, does it matter? Nitschke was named best linebacker of all-time by the NFL back in 1969, and made the all-75th anniversary time as well. Robinson apparently did a bit of staying back in the secondary a bit while Nitschke tortured quarterbacks, getting five interceptions in the process. No matter – Nitschke is enough. Edge: 1966 Packers.
The line: Reggie White and a couple of mortals vs. Willie Davis and Henry Jordan. To be fair, many others contributed to either Packer squad (Santana Dotson and Sean Jones bagged 5.5 and five sacks respectively for the 1996 version), but these are the guys we pay money to see. After chewing over this one for a bit, I still can’t swallow going against the Minister of Defense, one of the most dominant players at any position in my lifetime. The 75th Anniversary Teamer did have an a bit of an “off” year in 1996, with “only” 8.5 sacks to his credit (in 1995, White got 12 and in 1996, 11). Nevertheless, he was an All-Pro and has been universally credited as a key to Green Bay’s Super Bowl season.
In the other corner are two Hall of Famers: Willie Davis and Henry Jordan (no relation). Davis was named All-Pro and Pro Bowler in 1966, nearing the end of a career in which he racked up 162 consecutive games and participated in all five Green Bay championships. Jordan was also a Pro Bowler on the downside of his career. While age was barely beginning to show on White in ’96, Davis and Jordan played at top level while in the twilight of careers. And don’t forget the Minister’s three sacks in Super Bowl XXXIâÂ?¦and don’t forget Willie Davis is the all-time Packer leader in fumble recoveries…and don’t forgetâÂ?¦ah, forget it. I just can’t make the decision here. Edge: no edge.
From this simple categorization and informal comparison, it seems the 1966 Green Bay Packers come out slightly ahead. Not considered in the rundown were coaches, of course, and this would clearly put the guys from the 1960s over the top.
Right, then. Unless anyone convinces me otherwise, it’ll be Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers against Sweetness Payton and the 1985 Chicago Bears next weekâÂ?¦I may have made the incorrect decision, but the nice thing about video games is that you can always hit reset.
