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Green Bay vs. Kansas City
11/10/96 - Chiefs win 27-20
Box Score
If the Packers could have eliminated the second quarter of this game in Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium, they might have been home free. It was during that nightmarish, 15-minute stretch - in the final analysis - that the Chiefs carried the day.
With the score tied 3-3 at the end of the first quarter, the Chiefs abruptly seized control, running up 17 points via three consecutive and unanswered scoring drives to mount a 20-3 lead.
LeRoy Butler wraps up Greg Hill |
Their takeover began innocuously enough with a 22-yard Pete Stoyanovich field goal, capping a 75-yard drive. Then, after the Packers went three-and-out following the kickoff, the Missourians struck again. Put in position this time by a 24-yard Tamarick Vanover punt return, they scored on a 14-yard run by Greg Hill, finishing off a 5-play, 57-yard drive.
When the Packers again went three-and-out on their next possession, Kansas City was back at it, reaching the end zone with a 4-play, 61-yard drive. The score came on a 34-yard Steve Bono pass to Hill at the 7:15 mark, meaning the Chiefs had completed the 17-point operation in a span of 6 minutes and 19 seconds.
The Packers were able to interrupt with a 49-yard Chris Jacke field goal on the final play of the first half, leaving them down 20-6 at the intermission but still in a position to be hopeful of a second half turnaround.
Before that could happen, however, the football fates again proved unkind at the start of the third quarter. Hit from behind by the Chiefs' Neil Smith, quarterback Brett Favre fumbled and KC's Derrick Thomas recovered at the Green Bay 24-yard line. Hill, bursting through the middle, threaded his way to the end zone on the next play. Stoyanovich then added the Chiefs' 27th and final point.
Favre was intercepted on the Packers' following possession, Brian Washington waylaying a pass intended for tight end Keith Jackson. But the still resilient Packers, re-gathered themselves to mount a promising comeback. On their next possession, Favre climaxed an impressive, 8-play, 83-yard drive with a 25-yard scoring pass to flanker Don Beebe up the middle. With Jacke's conversion, the Packers were only 14 points down with 3:50 remaining in the third quarter-ample time, with the defense now holding the Chiefs at bay, to pull out a victory.
The moment of truth came midway through the fourth quarter when, with the Packers in a fourth down-and-2 situation at the Kansas City 33-yard line, Edgar Bennett was halted less than a yard short at right end, the Chiefs taking over on downs.
Packers crush Tamarick Vanover |
The Packers were not through, however. Two possessions later, Favre found rookie Derrick Mayes in the left corner of the end zone with a 6-yard strike, capping a 7-play, 74-yard drive with 1:02 to play. Jacke's PAT closed it to 27-20 but the Chiefs' Bono, on their final possession, was able to take a knee twice and run out the clock.
Favre, making history in the process, completed 27 of 49 passes for 310 yards - his second 300-yard effort of the '96 season - and 2 touchdowns. With his first TD pass of the afternoon - to Don Beebe - he broke a tie with Lynn Dickey and moved into second place on the Packers' career list. His second scoring throw swelled his total to 135, two more than Dickey posted during his 9-year Packers career.
The Packers' 27-year-old field general, who lost tight end Mark Chmura and wideouts Terry Mickens and Anthony Morgan with injuries during the course of the afternoon, thus found it necessary to spread the football around even more widely than usual. He employed 9 different receivers overall, running backs Dorsey Levens and William Henderson becoming his most frequent targets. Each closed out the day with 5 receptions. |
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