THE PACKERS FILE
Location: Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA
Home field: Lambeau Field
Coach: Matt LaFleur
Offensive star: QB Aaron Rodgers
Defensive star: CB Jaire Alexander
2021 Season: Failed to Make Playoffs
Super Bowls: 4 Super Bowl wins! 1967, 1968, 1997, 2011.
Greatest Player: E Don Hutson
Factoid: Super Bowl trophy named after former coach Vince Lombardi
By Lenn Robbins
Green Bay calls itself Titletown but really, Uniqueville, would be more accurate.
Nowhere else in America is a professional franchise registered as a non-profit, community-owned entity. Nowhere else among the four major U.S. sports leagues is a franchise located in a town with a population as small as 108,000, give or take. Nowhere else do fans get to jump on a bicycle and pedal their favorite player to and from the practice field. Nowhere else is commonplace to see fans wearing cheese on their heads.
It’s as if time froze in Tundraland and the Packers managed to marry small-town charm with big-city success. Sort of.
For all the terrific quarterback play in recent years – Brett Favre, meet Aaron Rodgers – the Packers haven’t won a Super Bowl since 2010. Favre only won one; ditto Rodgers. The late, great Bart Starr won two under legendary coach Vince Lombardi, for whom the Super Bowl trophy is named.
The Packers might be the third oldest franchise in the NFL (Cardinals, Bears) but from a tradition standpoint Green Bay sets the bar.
Which makes for a riveting scenario in 2022. QB Aaron Rodgers showed up at training camp after having signed a three-year, $150,815,000 deal looking like Cameron Poe from Con Air. Then he acknowledged using psychedelic drugs to enhance his performance.
Coach Lombardi wasn’t rolling over. He was trying to dig his way out.
Bottom line, of course, is simple. If the Packers win their first Super Bowl since 2010, all is right in Green Bay. It’s not called Titletown for nothing.