1966 Green Bay Packers season

1966 Green Bay Packers season
Head coach	Vince Lombardi
General manager	Vince Lombardi
Home field	Lambeau Field Milwaukee County Stadium
Results
Record	12–2
Division place	1st NFL Western
Playoff finish	Won NFL Championship (Cowboys, 34–27) Won Super Bowl I (Chiefs, 35–10)

The 1966 Green Bay Packers season was their 47th in the National Football League. The defending NFL champions had a league-best regular season record of 12–2, led by eighth-year head coach Vince Lombardi and quarterback Bart Starr, in his eleventh NFL season.

The Packers beat the Dallas Cowboys in the NFL championship game, the Packers' second consecutive NFL title, fourth under Lombardi, and tenth for the franchise. Two weeks later, the Packers recorded a 35–10 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in the inaugural AFL-NFL Championship Game, retroactively known as Super Bowl I.

Quarterback Starr was named the league's most valuable player (MVP) in 1966. Said Cold Hard Football Facts about Starr's 1966 season, "Starr, always underappreciated, was at his classic assassin-like best in 1966, his lone MVP season. He led the league in completion percentage, yards per attempt and passer rating, while his 4.7-to-1 [touchdown-to-interception] ratio remains one of the very best in history. Starr, as always, cranked out great performances when he absolutely had to: the 1966 Packers, for example, were the worst rushing team in football, with a meager average of 3.5 [yards-per-attempt] on the ground, despite the reputation Lombardi's Packers still carry with them today as a dominant running team."^[1] Cold Hard Football Facts also notes that 1966 Packers had the best passer rating differential (offensive passer rating minus opponents passer rating), +56.0, in the Super Bowl Era. ^[2]

In 2007, the 1966 Packers were ranked as the 6th greatest Super Bowl champions on the NFL Network's documentary series America's Game: The Super Bowl Champions.

Roster

Green Bay Packers 1966 roster
Quarterbacks 12 Zeke Bratkowski 15 Bart Starr Running Backs 44 Donny Anderson KR 33 Jim Grabowski FB  5 Paul Hornung 22 Elijah Pitts 31 Jim Taylor FB Wide Receivers 86 Boyd Dowler 84 Carroll Dale 80 Bob Long 27 Red Mack 85 Max McGee Tight Ends 88 Bill Anderson 83 Allen Brown 81 Marv Fleming		Offensive Linemen 57 Ken Bowman C 50 Bill Curry C 68 Gale Gillingham G 75 Forrest Gregg T 64 Jerry Kramer G 76 Bob Skoronski T 63 Fuzzy Thurston G 72 Steve Wright T Defensive Linemen 82 Lionel Aldridge DE 78 Bob Brown DT 87 Willie Davis DE 74 Henry Jordan DT 77 Ron Kostelnik DT 73 Jim Weatherwax DE/DT		Linebackers 60 Lee Roy Caffey OLB 56 Tommy Crutcher OLB 66 Ray Nitschke ILB 89 Dave Robinson OLB 37 Phil Vandersea ILB Defensive Backs 26 Herb Adderley CB 40 Tom Brown FS 43 Doug Hart SS/CB 45 Dave Hathcock CB 21 Bob Jeter CB 24 Willie Wood SS/PR Special Teams 34 Don Chandler K/P		Reserve Lists Currently vacant Rookies in italics 41 Active, 0 Inactive

Offseason

The Washington Redskins made overtures to Vince Lombardi about becoming their new head coach. Lombardi refused their offer and the Redskins had to settle for Otto Graham as their new head coach.^[3] Lombardi replaced Graham in Washington in 1969.

NFL Draft

In the 1966 NFL draft, held in late November 1965, the Packers selected running back Jim Grabowski of Illinois with the ninth overall pick.^[4] Common for pro football in the mid-1960s, the Packers found themselves in a bidding war for Grabowski. The expansion Miami Dolphins of the American Football League selected Grabowski with the first overall selection of the AFL Draft, held the same day.^[5] Lombardi's plan was to groom Grabowski to take over for Jim Taylor at fullback. Despite being offered more money by the Dolphins, Grabowski said it was an honor to be drafted by the Packers.^[6] Grabowski signed with the Packers and landed on the cover of Sports Illustrated in August, with veteran backfield tandem Paul Hornung and Taylor on the main cover and rookies Grabowski and Donny Anderson on the foldout.^[7][8] The signing of Grabowski upset Taylor, who felt that he was underpaid and made it publicly known that he would leave Green Bay once his contract expired. Taylor had been given an offer by the expansion Atlanta Falcons, but agreed to honor his contract before moving to another team and played out his option in 1966.^{[9][10][11][12]}

Fellow rookie running back Anderson of Texas Tech was the seventh overall selection of the 1965 draft as an underclassman, and he stayed in school for his senior season in 1965. Due to their large contracts, signed during the height of the pre-merger bidding war with the AFL, as well as their high visibility as the apparent replacements for Hornung and Taylor, Anderson and Grabowski were nicknamed the "Gold Dust Twins."^[13]

The 1966 draft (November 1965) was the last one held separately for the two leagues. Following the merger agreement of June 1966, a common draft was conducted in March 1967.

Round	Selection	Overall	Player	Position	College
1	9	9	Jim Grabowski	RB	Illinois
1	13	13	Gale Gillingham	OL	Minnesota
2	14	30	Tom Cichowski	OL	Maryland
3	13	45	Fred Heron	DL	San Jose State
3	14	46	Tony Jeter	TE	Nebraska
4	14	62	John Roderick	WR	SMU
7	13	108	Ray Miller	DL	Idaho
8	14	124	Ken McLean	WR	Texas A&M
9	13	138	Ron Rector	RB	Northwestern
10	14	154	Sam Montgomery	DL	Southern
11	13	168	Ralph Wenzel	OL	San Diego State
12	14	184	Jim Mankins	RB	Florida State
13	13	198	Ed King	LB	USC
14	14	214	Ron Hanson	WR	North Dakota State
15	13	228	Grady Bolton	OL	Mississippi State
16	14	244	Bob Schultz	DL	Wisconsin–Stevens Point
17	13	258	Dave Hathcock	DB	Memphis State
18	14	274	Jim Jones	DL	Nebraska-Omaha
19	13	288	Dave Moton	WR	USC
20	14	304	Ed Maras	WR	South Dakota State

Preseason

Date

Opponent

Site

Result

Score'

Regular season

The defending champion Packers finished the regular season with a league best record of 12–2, returning them to the NFL championship game as Western Conference champions. Until 1975, NFL playoff sites were rotated, so the Eastern Conference champion Dallas Cowboys (10–3–1) hosted the title game in 1966 at the Cotton Bowl on January 1, 1967.

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Game site	Attendance
1	September 10	Baltimore Colts	W, 24–3	1–0	Milwaukee County Stadium	48,650
2	September 18	at Cleveland Browns	W, 21–20	2–0	Cleveland Stadium	83,943
3	September 25	Los Angeles Rams	W, 24–13	3–0	Lambeau Field	50,861
4	October 2	Detroit Lions	W, 23–14	4–0	Lambeau Field	50,861
5	October 9	at San Francisco 49ers	L, 20–21	4–1	Kezar Stadium	39,290
6	October 16	at Chicago Bears	W, 17–0	5–1	Wrigley Field	48,573
7	October 23	Atlanta Falcons	W, 56–3	6–1	Milwaukee County Stadium	48,623
8	October 30	at Detroit Lions	W, 31–7	7–1	Tiger Stadium	56,954
9	November 6	Minnesota Vikings	L, 17–20	7–2	Lambeau Field	50,861
10	November 13	Bye
11	November 20	Chicago Bears	W, 13–6	8–2	Lambeau Field	50,861
12	November 27	at Minnesota Vikings	W, 28–16	9–2	Metropolitan Stadium	47,426
13	December 4	San Francisco 49ers	W, 20–7	10–2	Milwaukee County Stadium	48,725
14	December 10	at Baltimore Colts	W, 14–10	11–2	Memorial Stadium	60,238
15	December 18	at Los Angeles Rams	W, 27–23	12–2	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum	72,416

• A bye week was necessary in 1966, as the league expanded to an odd-number (15) of teams (Atlanta); one team was idle each week.

Standings

NFL Western Conference
	W	L	T	PCT	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Green Bay Packers	12	2	0	.857	10–2	335	163	W5
Baltimore Colts	9	5	0	.643	7–5	314	226	W1
Los Angeles Rams	8	6	0	.571	6–6	289	212	L1
San Francisco 49ers	6	6	2	.500	5–5–2	320	325	L1
Chicago Bears	5	7	2	.417	4–6–2	234	272	W1
Detroit Lions	4	9	1	.308	3–8–1	206	317	L3
Minnesota Vikings	4	9	1	.308	4–7–1	206	304	L1

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

Game summaries

Week 1: vs. Baltimore Colts

1 2 3 4 Total Colts 0 3 0 0 3 • Packers 0 14 10 0 24 Date: September 10 Location: Milwaukee County Stadium, Milwaukee, Wisconsin Game weather: 64 °F (18 °C); wind 8 mph (13 km/h)

Scoring summary Q2 BAL Michaels 26 yard field goal BAL 3–0 Q2 GB Caffey 52 yard interception return (Chandler kick) GB 7–3 Q2 GB Jeter 46 yard interception return (Chandler kick) GB 14–3 Q3 GB Starr 8 yard run (Chandler kick) GB 21–3 Q3 GB Chandler 15 yard field goal GB 24–3

^[14]

Week 2: at Cleveland Browns

Week 3: vs. Los Angeles Rams

Week 4: vs. Detroit Lions

Week 5: at San Francisco 49ers

Week 6: at Chicago Bears

Week 7: vs. Atlanta Falcons

Week 8: at Detroit Lions

Week 9: vs. Minnesota Vikings

Week 10: vs. Chicago Bears

Week 11: at Minnesota Vikings

Week 12: vs. San Francisco 49ers

Week 13: at Baltimore Colts

Week 14: at Los Angeles Rams

Postseason

NFL Championship Game

Green Bay took an early 14–0 lead on two first-quarter scores; a 17-yard touchdown pass from Bart Starr to Elijah Pitts and an 18-yard fumble return by Jim Grabowski on the ensuing kickoff. The Cowboys tied the score with two touchdowns towards the end of the quarter.

Starr's third touchdown pass of the game gave the Packers a 34–20 lead with 5:20 left in the game, but the Cowboys responded with a 68-yard touchdown pass from Don Meredith to Frank Clarke. Dallas advanced to the Green Bay 22-yard line on their next drive, when a pass interference penalty gave the Cowboys a first down at the Packer 2-yard line. But Green Bay's Tom Brown intercepted a Meredith pass in the end zone with 28 seconds left to play to preserve the victory for the Packers.

With the win, the Packers earned their 10th NFL championship. It was their second in a row and fourth in six seasons.

Super Bowl I

The first ever AFL-NFL World Championship Game in professional American football, later to be known as Super Bowl I, was played on January 15, 1967, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California. The Packers faced the Kansas City Chiefs from the AFL, who finished their regular season at 11–2–1.

The Packers jumped out to an early 7–0 lead with Bart Starr's 37-yard touchdown pass to reserve receiver Max McGee, who had been put into the game just a few plays earlier to fill in for injured starter Boyd Dowler. Early in the second quarter, Kansas City marched 66 yards in 6 plays to tie the game on a 7-yard pass from quarterback Len Dawson to Curtis McClinton. But the Packers responded on their next drive, advancing 73 yards down the field and scoring on fullback Jim Taylor's 14-yard touchdown run with the team's famed "Power Sweep" play. The Chiefs then cut the lead with a minute left in the half, 14–10, on Mike Mercer's 31-yard field goal.

Early in the second half Dawson was intercepted by defensive back Willie Wood. He returned the interception 50 yards to the Kansas City 5-yard line. On the next play Elijah Pitts rushed 5-yards for a touchdown, giving the Packers a 21–10 lead. Max McGee scored his second touchdown of the game with a 13-yard reception from Bart Starr. The Packers held the Chiefs' offense to 12 yards in the third quarter. Elijah Pitts scored another touchdown for the Packers in the third quarter on a one-yard touchdown run. The Packers would win the game 35–10. Quarterback Bart Starr was named the MVP of the game, completing 16 of 23 passes for 250 yards and two touchdowns.

Season statistical leaders

• Passing Yards: Bart Starr, 2,257
• Passing Touchdowns: Bart Starr, 14
• Rushing Yards: Jim Taylor, 705
• Rushing Touchdowns: Elijah Pitts, 7
• Receiving Yards: Carroll Dale, 876
• Receiving Touchdowns: Carroll Dale, 7
• Points: Don Chandler, 77
• Kickoff Return Yards: Donny Anderson, 533
• Punt Return Yards: Donny Anderson, 124
• Interceptions: Bob Jeter and Dave Robinson, 5^[16]

Awards and records

• Bart Starr, NFL Leader, Passing Yards, (2,257 yards)
• Bart Starr, NFL MVP
• Bart Starr, Super Bowl Most Valuable Player

References

External links

• 1966 Green Bay Packers at database football
• 1966 Green Bay Packers at pro football reference