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OFFSEASON CAME TOO SOON FOR '99 PACKERS, OUT OF PLAYOFFS FIRST TIME SINCE '92
posted 01/13/00
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| Head Coach Ray Rhodes was not able to get the Packers to the playoffs for the first time in seven seasons. |
The offseason came too soon for the 1999 Green Bay Packers...
Just two years removed from a second consecutive Super Bowl appearance, they find themselves missing from the playoffs for the first time in seven years.
Since the early '90s, the Green and Gold not only have been accustomed to qualifying for the National Football League's annual postseason tournament but, with only one exception, to advancing once the playoffs have begun.
The six consecutive years of success:
-1993: Posted 9-7 record, reached second round (divisional playoff);
-1994: Posted 9-7 record, reached second round (divisional playoff);
-1995: Posted 11-5 record, reached third round (NFC Championship Game);
-1996: Posted 13-3 record, won Super Bowl XXXI;
-1997: Posted 13-3 record, lost Super Bowl XXXII;
-1998: Posted 11-5 record, made playoffs for sixth consecutive year, lost in first round.
After the Packers slipped to an 8-8 record in the 1999 regular season, and failed to make the playoffs for the first time since 1992, Executive Vice President/General Manager Ron Wolf determined that a coaching change was in order and dismissed Head Coach Ray Rhodes and his staff January 3.
Wolf already has begun what he has indicated will be an exhaustive search for the man who will become the 13th field leader in the team's distinguished, 80-year history, asserting, "This is not going to be a speeded-up process by any stretch of the imagination. This is going to take a while. So I'm not going to say any area is out...I'm going to look at a lot of things."
In explaining the need for a change, during a press conference the day after the regular season ended, Wolf said, "For whatever reason, our players did not respond to this program."
He subsequently added, "What I think we have to have here is a well-disciplined, tough, hard-nosed football team. That's the way you're successful in this business. We have to develop that...we have to get that here. We don't have that here."
When asked if the Packers' plans for a new or redeveloped stadium factored into his decision to make a change, Wolf made his position entirely clear.
"This is a tremendous responsibility," he said. "And I hope everybody understands that. But, as far as me with stadium issues, nope. That's somebody else. I'm about football. That's what I'm about here...and the Green Bay Packers. And I'm about what our fans see...what you people (the media) see...in your relationship with the Green Bay Packers.
"That's how we're judged. We're based on what we do. That's why they keep scores...that's why you guys hold us up to such stringent standards. If they didn't keep scores and I didn't know we were 8-and-8, maybe life would go and we'd be happy - everybody would be happy - but they do keep score, and that's what we're judged on. And that's what this is all about.
"It's about winning and it's about losing. And don't let anybody ever forget that. That's what this is all about, because if we don't get this problem answered here, there'll be somebody else sitting up here. I knew that when I took this job eight years ago, and that's the way it is. The minute I stand up and this whole press conference is over with, it's all about winning and it's all about losing."
Asked whether he is "concerned about stability" with the advent of a third different head coach in a three-year span, the Packers' general manager replied, "I'm not concerned about stability...I'm striving for stability. What we're looking for here and what we'd like to be known as - all we try to do is be the best. That's what we're striving for here and that's what we work for here. That's what everybody in this operation does that is connected with the football end of it. That's all we want to do is be the best. And we will continue to strive for that."
Wolf also had a prompt reply to the inevitable question: "How quickly do you think you can turn this around."
"I think we can do it this year," he rejoined.
THE FAVRE FILE: Continuing to entrench himself in NFL archives and the Packers' record book, Brett Favre punctuated his 1999 season by setting an all-time record for most consecutive starts by a quarterback, eclipsing the 15-year-old standard established by former Philadelphia Eagle Ron Jaworski (1977-84), moving up from 17th to 15th place in career touchdown passes with 235 and becoming the third-fastest (126 games) player in league annals to pass for 30,000 yards in a career.
Miami's Dan Marino was the fastest to pass for 30,000 yards, surpassing that total in 114 games, and Warren Moon was next up, accomplishing the feat in 125 games.
Favre also joined Marino (9) as the only two players in NFL history to have posted as many as eight 3,000-yard seasons, became the third quarterback to register as many as three 4,000-yard seasons (4,091), joining Marino (6), Moon (4) and Dan Fouts (3), and recorded his sixth season of 20 or more touchdown passes, tying him with Len Dawson for the second-most in league history behind Marino's 10.
The Packers' freewheeling field general also "improved" no fewer than eight Packers records he already held, with the new totals as follows:
CAREER
- Most 300-yard passing games: 26
- Most passes attempted: 4,352
- Most passes completed, 2,659
- Most yards gained passing: 30,894
- Most touchdown passes, career: 235
- Most games with 4 or more touchdown passes: 14
- Most seasons, 3,000 or more passing yards: 8
- Most 4,000-yard passing seasons: 3 (4,091 in '99)
Favre also finished the '99 season with a host of other significant numbers:
- Most seasons leading team in passing yards, 8 (2nd to Bart Starr's 12 on Packers' career list)
- 595 passing attempts (2nd only to Don Majkowski's record 599 in 1989)
- Six 300-yard passing games (2nd in Packers history to Favre's 7 in 1995)
- Two consecutive 300-yard passing games - 304 vs. Minnesota Sept. 26 and 390 vs. Tampa Bay Oct. 10 (third highest of his career and 5th highest in team history)
Favre added to his 1999 accomplishments by joining wide receiver Antonio Freeman in tying a Packers record Favre already shared - for most joint touchdowns by a quarterback and receiver. His 19-yard scoring strike to Freeman in the second quarter of the Carolina game December 12 matched the total he registered in collaboration with Sterling Sharpe over the 1992, '93 and '94 seasons. The Lynn Dickey-Paul Coffman duo is next up in Green Bay's history with 35 joint touchdowns.
ADD FAVRE FILE: Favre closed out the '90s having made a profound statistical impact upon the NFL as a whole, emerging with a league-high 235 touchdown passes (Marino and Steve Young were co-runnersup with 200 apiece) and the second-highest total of passing yards (30,894 to Marino's 33,508), both remarkable achievements considering he did not enter the NFL until 1991 and threw only 5 passes that season as a rookie with the Atlanta Falcons.
THE LEVENS FILE: Dorsey Levens ensconced himself among the Packers' all-time rushing elite by becoming only the third running back in team annals to record multiple 1,000-yard seasons. He closed out the 1999 season with 1,034 yards, his second such campaign in the last three years, following a career-high, 1,435-yard season in 1997.
He joins Jim Taylor (1958-66), the author of five 1,000-yard seasons, and John Brockington (1971-77), who had three.
In the process, Levens registered three 100-yard rushing games (153 vs. Detroit Sept. 19, 104 vs. Seattle Nov. 1 and 146 vs. Arizona Jan. 2), thus swelling his career total to 10 and lifting him above Tony Canadeo (9) into third place on the Packers' career list behind Taylor (26) and Brockington (13).
Levens also tied a club single-game record by scoring 4 rushing touchdowns in the team's season finale against Arizona.
The sixth-year pro, whose 279 rushing attempts ranked fourth in Packers history, augmented those accomplishments by catching 71 passes, the second-most receptions by a running back in team annals (behind only Edgar Bennett's 78 in 1994) and becoming only the sixth running back in club annals to surpass the 5,000-yard mark in combined rushing and receiving.
From the NFL perspective, Levens finished third in the National Football Conference in total yards from scrimmage with 1,607 (1,034 rushing and 573 receiving).
THE FREEMAN FILE: Flanker Antonio Freeman, with 1,074 yards on 74 receptions in 1999, became only the third receiver in Packers history to post as many as three 1,000-yard seasons, his collection including 1,243 yards in 1997 and a league-leading 1,424 in 1998.
Freeman joins James Lofton and Sterling Sharpe, each of whom had five 1,000-yard receiving seasons.
The 27-year-old Virginia Tech alumnus also teamed with fellow wideout Bill Schroeder, who had 1,051 receiving yards, to provide the Packers with only the second 1,000-yard duo in their history. Freeman also was involved in the first such coupling, in 1997, when he closed out the season with 1,243 yards and teammate Robert Brooks weighed in with 1,010.
Freeman posted three 100-yard receiving games along the way, padding his career total to 16 and leaving him only one behind fifth-ranking Billy Howton (1952-58), who had 17.
THE SCHROEDER FILE: Finally "striking it rich" in his fourth full NFL season (following a season on the Packers' practice squad and another on injured reserve), Bill Schroeder carved out a substantial niche for himself in Packers archives by recording the first 1,000-yard receiving year of his career and becoming only the seventh wideout in team history to have a 1,000-yard campaign.
In so doing, he joined Antonio Freeman (1,074) in creating only the second 1,000-yard tandem in team history. Schroeder shared club honors in receptions with Freeman, each posting 74 catches.
THE LONGWELL FILE: Placekicker Ryan Longwell broke three club records during a productive '99 season. He became the first player in Packers annals to score 100 or more points in three consecutive seasons, following 120 and 128-point seasons in 1997 and 1998 with a 113-point output in the season just past.
Already the tenth-ranking scorer in Packers history, Longwell swelled his career total to 361, lifting him within 18 points of ninth-ranking Clarke Hinkle, the Pro Football Hall of Fame fullback who scored 379 points over a 10-year Green Bay career.
Late in the season, Longwell eclipsed Jan Stenerud's record for most consecutive games scoring one or more points, extending his streak to 48 at season's end. Stenerud set his mark, 45, over the 1980-83 seasons.
Longwell also broke Chris Jacke's career point after touchdown percentage, lifting his mark to 98.44 percent (based on 127 successes in 129 attempts following a 38-for-38 season). Jacke's previous record-holding percentage was 98.378 (301 of 306 conversions).
THE MIKE McKENZIE FILE: Mike McKenzie, the third of three defensive backs Ron Wolf selected in the 1999 NFL draft, paid handsome dividends. Closing out a highly-productive rookie campaign with two interceptions, McKenzie closed out the season with 6, thus becoming the first rookie to lead the team since Jim Bob Morris posted 3 in 1987 to share team honors with Dave Brown.
McKenzie also led the Green Bay defense in another major category, being credited with 18 passes defensed, almost doubling the total of runnerup Tyrone Williams, who had 10.
THE KEITH McKENZIE FILE: Keith McKenzie, who consistently maximizes his opportunities as a major role player on the Packers' defense, emerged from the 1999 season with an impressive "big play" trifecta.
The fourth-year pro from Ball State led his platoon in quarterback sacks (8 for 72 yards in losses), forced fumbles (5) and fumble recoveries (4).
McKenzie complemented those contributions by returning two fumbles for touchdowns, thus becoming the first player in the Packers' 81-season history to score two defensive touchdowns in as many as two seasons, his double-double coming in back-to-back seasons.
THE BASIL MITCHELL FILE: Running back Basil Mitchell, who arrived upon the Green Bay scene as an obscure rookie free agent last spring, closed out the season as one of the team's premier all-around performers.
The confident and highly competitive TCU alumnus led the special teams coverage units in tackles with 17, including 13 solo stops and emerged as the team's leading kickoff returner with a 22.1-yard average for 21 runbacks and fourth-ranking rusher with a 4.0-yard average, gaining 117 yards in 29 attempts.
Mitchell highlighted his kickoff return contributions with an 88-yard scoring runback in the season finale against Arizona, the Packers' longest KOR of the season.
THE 2000 DRAFT: The Packers will make the 14th or 15th selection in the first round of the National Football League's 2000 draft of college players, to be conducted April 15-16.
Because they currently are in a draft-order tie with the Baltimore Ravens, based on identical 127-129 cumulative records of opponents, the issue will be resolved by a coin flip on draft day.
The Packers and/or Ravens will preceded in order by: 1 - Cleveland; 2 - New Orleans; 3 - San Francisco; 4 - Cincinnati; 5 - Atlanta; 6 - Philadelphia; 7 - Arizona; 8 - Pittsburgh; 9 - Chicago; 10 - Denver; 11 - New York Giants; 12 - Carolina; 13 - San Diego.
THE 2000 OPPONENTS: With a fourth-place schedule, based on their 1999 finish in the NFC Central Division, the Packers will face six playoff teams during the 2000 NFL season, the list including three of their division rivals.
In addition to home-and-home dates with Central Division champion Tampa Bay, runnerup Minnesota and third-place Detroit, as well as the fifth-place Chicago Bears, the Packers will host AFC East champion Indianapolis and meet wild card qualifiers Buffalo and Miami on the road.
The Green and Gold also will entertain the New York Jets, Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers and travel to Arizona and Carolina.
NOTE-WORTHY:
-The Packers' season-ending victory over the Arizona Cardinals was their 40th in the history of the 78-year-old series. The Cardinals have won 21 of the 65 meetings and there have been 4 ties.
-The 49 points the Packers registered in the season finale were the most they have scored in a game since October 2, 1983, when they defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 55-14, also in a game played in Lambeau Field.
-Third-year pro Darren Sharper emerged as the team's leading tackler, showing the way in both total tackles (113) and unassisted stops (84). Middle linebacker Bernardo Harris was next up with 108, including 69 solos.
-Rookie Basil Mitchell's 88-yard scoring kickoff return in the third quarter not only was the Packers' longest of the season but was the first scoring KOR by a rookie since Darrell Thompson registered a 76-yard TD runback against the Detroit Lions in "Lambeau" December 22, 1990.
-With a 10-touchdown harvest (9 rushing and one receiving), Dorsey Levens soared from 30th to 18th place on the Packers' lifetime scoring list with 242 points, passing en route such storied names as Tony Canadeo, Elijah Pitts, Carroll Dale, Johnny "Blood" McNally, Paul Coffman and Boyd Dowler.
-The Packers' three rookie defensive backs - Mike McKenzie, Antuan Edwards and Fred Vinson accounted for 12...nearly half...of the Packers' 26 interceptions during the '99 season.
-Rookie Cletidus Hunt made his first NFL start in the season's final game, stepping in at left end for Vaughn Booker, sidelined by a bout with pneumonia. Hunt posted 3 tackles and shared a sack of Arizona quarterback Jake Plummer with defensive tackle Santana Dotson.
-Defensive tackle Billy Lyon made the first interception of his pro career in the second quarter of the game.
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