{image1} Only a few hours after Sunday's dispiriting home finale loss to Jacksonville, the Green Bay Packers and their fans -- Packer Nation, if you will -- can now look forward to that annual gridiron tradition: the big Christmas football game.
The Packers and Dec. 25 may not be as synonymous as the Lions and Thanksgiving, but it feels like Green Bay has played an important and memorable game on or around Christmas ever since Brett Favre entered the fold in 1992 (bitter related sidenote: Sunday's loss was the first home finale loss since pre-Favre in 1991).
Friday marks both Christmas Eve and the biggest Packers game of the year, which is only fitting. The winner of the Green Bay-Minnesota game will claim the 2004 NFC North crown, however downgraded it may be, and fans on the winning side will undoubtedly remember 2004 as among the merriest Christmases ever.
'Tis the season, so let's look back at some other Favre era holiday classics, in chronological order.
Dec. 27, 1992: In Favre's maiden season in Green Bay, he rallies the Packers to a 9-6 record after a 3-6 start. Heading to Minnesota for the season finale, the Packers can clinch a playoff spot with a win against the Vikings, who stand at 10-5. An early TD gives the Pack a 7-0 lead, but it falls apart from there in a 27-7 defeat. The Packers miss the playoffs, something they won't do again until 1999.
Dec. 26, 1993: On a frigid day in Lambeau, the 8-6 Packers host the L.A. Raiders; unbelievably, Los Angeles once had not one, but two football teams (non-bitter related sidenote: Green Bay beat them both in '93). Needing a win to clinch a playoff berth, the Packers blank the Raiders, who appear frozen with approximately 10 minutes left in the first period. Late in the game, Reggie White recovers a fumble and laterals to LeRoy Butler, who returns it for an icing score in the 28-0 romp. His subsequent, celebratory leap into the end zone stands begets its own tradition. The Packers let the NFC Central title slip away in Detroit to finish the season, but Green Bay beats the Lions in a wild-card game on a Favre-to-Sterling Sharpe TD pass one week later.
Dec. 24, 1995: The 10-5 Packers need a victory to earn their first division title in 23 years, but the AFC's 11-4 Steelers are in town to visit Lambeau. The Packers scratch and claw to a 24-19 lead, but Pittsburgh threatens to ruin the party in the game's final minute. Then, in a holiday miracle, Steelers WR Yancey Thigpen drops an easy Neil O'Donnell TD pass to end Pittsburgh's chances, giving Green Bay the NFC Central title. Two weeks later, the Packers stun San Francisco in a divisional playoff game to stamp themselves as legitimate NFC challengers. Pittsburgh eventually loses to Dallas in Super Bowl XXX.
Dec. 24, 2000: In order to make the playoffs in their first season under Mike Sherman, the Packers need three things to happen. First, they need to defeat 10-5 Tampa Bay at Lambeau Field; second, they need lowly Chicago to beat the Lions in Detroit; and lastly, they need New Orleans to beat St. Louis in the Superdome. On another frigid day in Green Bay, the Packers find themselves in a 14-14 tie against the Bucs late in regulation. A late Favre interception gives the Bucs' Martin Gramatica a chance to win it from 40 yards out with 14 seconds left. But the hated Gramatica pushes his kick wide right in the swirling wind -- there will be no celebratory dance from him on this day -- allowing the Packers to win in overtime. In Detroit, the Bears stun the Lions on a field goal late in regulation, and the Packers are on the verge of a playoff berth. But the "Christmas Miracle" dies in New Orleans as the Saints fall to the Rams, 26-21, and St. Louis earns the last NFC playoff spot. The Packers miss the playoffs for the second season in a row and for just the third time under Favre.
Dec. 23, 2001: The 9-4 Packers host the Cleveland Browns on a snowy, moderate day in Green Bay. Green Bay needs a win to keep pace with the 10-3 Bears in the NFC Central. After a slow start, the Packers open the floodgates in the second half and win going away, 30-7. The win clinches the team's first playoff appearance under Sherman, and Dorsey Levens makes a sliding, highlight-reel TD catch in a snowy end zone in his final season as a Packer. Green Bay wins out to finish 12-4 but ends up a game behind the 13-3 Bears in the Central. Both teams lose in the divisional playoffs, regardless.
Dec. 22, 2003: One day after Favre's father dies of a heart attack, the indomitable QB plays terrifically in a Monday night game in Oakland. In a career-defining performance, Favre and the offense lead a 41-7 rout of the Raiders. Favre passes for 311 yards and four scores in the first half alone, finishing with 399 yards overall. The Packers improve to 9-6, setting the stage for the incredible, playoff-clinching Sunday just six days later.
Dec. 24, 2004: Before families across Wisconsin sit down to watch "It's a Wonderful Life," a more spirited telecast begins at 2 p.m. Green Bay and Minnesota take turns torching one another's flimsy secondary, and penalty flags fly on seemingly every down. After plenty of yards and points pile up, a winner -- both of the game and the division -- emerges. And hearts and homes in either Wisconsin or Minnesota feel a little warmer as Dec. 25 arrives.
Sports shots columnist Tim Gutowski was born in a hospital in West Allis and his sporting heart never really left. He grew up in a tiny town 30 miles west of the city named Genesee and was in attendance at County Stadium the day the Brewers clinched the 1981 second-half AL East crown. I bet you can't say that.
Though Tim moved away from Wisconsin (to Iowa and eventually the suburbs of Chicago) as a 10-year-old, he eventually found his way back to Milwaukee. He remembers fondly the pre-Web days of listenting to static-filled Brewers games on AM 620 and crying after repeated Bears' victories over the Packers.
