1998 Green Bay Packers season

1998 Green Bay Packers season
Head coach	Mike Holmgren
Home field	Lambeau Field
Results
Record	11–5
Division place	2nd NFC Central
Playoff finish	Lost Wild Card Playoffs (49ers) 30–27

The 1998 Green Bay Packers season ended with a 27–30 loss in the NFC Wild Card playoff game to the San Francisco 49ers, with Steve Young throwing a 25-yard touchdown pass to Terrell Owens with three seconds left.^[1] The season marked the end of an era in many ways for Green Bay; this was the last season for which both head coach Mike Holmgren and Hall of Fame defensive end Reggie White would find themselves on the Packers' sideline.^[2][3] This was the first time the Packers had not won the division in four years. In addition, the Minnesota Vikings brought an end to the Packers 25 game home winning streak in Week 5.

Offseason

1998 NFL draft

Notably, the Packers drafted future all-pro quarterback Matt Hasselbeck in the 6th round (187th overall).^[4]

1998 NFL Draft selections

Round	Sel#	Player	Pos.	College
1	19	Vonnie Holliday	DT	North Carolina
3	90	Jonathan Brown	DE	Tennessee
4	121	Roosevelt Blackmon	CB	Morris Brown
5	150	Corey Bradford	WR	Jackson State
6	156	Scott McGarrahan	SS	New Mexico
6	187	Matt Hasselbeck	QB	Boston College
7	218	Edwin Watson	RB	Purdue

Personnel

Staff

1998 Green Bay Packers staff
	Front office President/Chief Executive Officer – Bob Harlan Executive Vice President/General Manager – Ron Wolf Director of Player Personnel – Ted Thompson Director of Pro Personnel – Reggie McKenzie Director of College Scouting – John Dorsey Pro Personnel Assistant – Will Lewis Head coaches Head Coach – Mike Holmgren Offensive coaches Offensive Coordinator – Sherman Lewis Quarterbacks – Andy Reid Running Backs – Harry Sydney Wide Receivers – Nolan Cromwell Tight Ends/Assistant Offensive Line – Mike Sherman Offensive Line – Tom Lovat Offensive Assistant/Quality Control – Gary Reynolds			Defensive coaches Defensive Coordinator – Fritz Shurmur Defensive Line – Larry Brooks Linebackers – Jim Lind Defensive Backs – Bob Valesente Defensive Assistant/Quality Control – Ken Flajole Special teams coaches Special Teams – Johnny Holland Strength and conditioning Strength and Conditioning – Kent Johnston Strength and Conditioning Assistant – Barry Rubin

^[5]

Roster

1998 Green Bay Packers roster
Quarterbacks  4 Brett Favre 18 Doug Pederson Running Backs 27 Michael Blair 29 Raymont Harris 22 Darick Holmes 32 Travis Jervey 25 Dorsey Levens 33 William Henderson FB 48 Jim Kitts FB Wide Receivers 85 Corey Bradford 87 Robert Brooks 16 Russell Copeland 86 Antonio Freeman 82 Brian Manning 80 Derrick Mayes 84 Bill Schroeder 88 Roell Preston Tight Ends 89 Mark Chmura 81 Tyrone Davis 47 Scott Galbraith 83 Jeff Thomason		Offensive Linemen 72 Earl Dotson T 76 Matt Willig T 78 Ross Verba T 68 Mike Wahle G 70 Joe Andruzzi T 62 Marco Rivera G 63 Adam Timmerman G 67 Jeff Dellenbach C 52 Frank Winters C 58 Mike Flanagan C Defensive Linemen 91 Jonathan Brown DE 90 Vonnie Holliday DE 92 Reggie White DE 96 Vaughn Booker DE 93 Gilbert Brown DT 71 Santana Dotson DT 94 Bob Kuberski DT 98 Billy Lyon DT		Linebackers 55 Bernardo Harris OLB 56 Lamont Hollinquest OLB 53 George Koonce MLB 57 Antonio London OLB 57 Jim Nelson MLB 54 Jude Waddy OLB 51 Brian Williams OLB 95 Keith McKenzie OLB Defensive Backs 23 Roosevelt Blackmon CB 46 Juran Bolden CB 21 Craig Newsome CB 31 Rod Smith CB 37 Tyrone Williams CB 36 LeRoy Butler SS 42 Darren Sharper FS 45 Kerry Cooks CB 43 Scott McGarrahan FS 39 Mike Prior SS 40 Pat Terrell FS/SS Special Teams  8 Ryan Longwell K  7 Sean Landeta P 60 Rob Davis LS Rookies in italics

Schedule

Preseason

In the 1998 NFL Preseason, the Packers traveled to Japan to face off against the Kansas City Chiefs at the Tokyo Dome. It was the ninth American Bowl game to be staged at the 48,000 capacity stadium.^[6]

Date	Opponent	Result	Game site	Record	Attendance
August 1, 1998	Kansas City Chiefs	W 27–24	Tokyo Dome	1–0	42,018
August 8, 1998	New Orleans Saints	W 31–7	Lambeau Field	2–0	60,080
August 16, 1998	Oakland Raiders	L 21–27	Lambeau Field	2–1	60,078
August 24, 1998	at Denver Broncos	L 31–34	Mile High Stadium	2–2	73,183
August 28, 1998	at Miami Dolphins	L 7–21	Pro Player Stadium	2–3	61,915

Regular season

The Packers finished the 1998 regular with an 11–5 record in 2nd place in the NFC Central (qualifying for an NFC Wild Card playoff game), behind the Randall Cunningham-led 15–1 Vikings.^[7]

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Game site	Record	TV Time	Attendance	TV Announcers
1	September 6, 1998	Detroit Lions	W 38–19	Lambeau Field	1–0	FOX 12:00 pm	60,102	FOX Dick Stockton & Matt Millen
2	September 13, 1998	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	W 23–15	Lambeau Field	2–0	FOX 12:00 pm	60,124	FOX Dick Stockton & Matt Millen
3	September 20, 1998	at Cincinnati Bengals	W 13–6	Cinergy Field	3–0	FOX 12:00 pm	56,346	Tim Ryan, Bill Maas, and Ronnie Lott
4	September 27, 1998	at Carolina Panthers	W 37–30	Ericsson Stadium	4–0	FOX 12:00 pm	69,723	FOX Pat Summerall & John Madden
5	October 5, 1998	Minnesota Vikings	L 24–37	Lambeau Field	4–1	ABC 8:00 pm	59,849	ABC Al Michaels, Dan Dierdorf, Boomer Esiason, and Lesley Visser
6	Bye
7	October 15, 1998	at Detroit Lions	L 20–27	Pontiac Silverdome	4–2	ESPN 7:15 pm	77,932	ESPN Mike Patrick, Joe Theismann, Paul Maguire, and Solomon Wilcots
8	October 25, 1998	Baltimore Ravens	W 28–10	Lambeau Field	5–2	CBS 12:00 pm	59,860	CBS Kevin Harlan & Sam Wyche
9	November 1, 1998	San Francisco 49ers	W 36–22	Lambeau Field	6–2	FOX 3:15 pm	59,794	FOX Pat Summerall & John Madden
10	November 9, 1998	at Pittsburgh Steelers	L 20–27	Three Rivers Stadium	6–3	ABC 8:00 pm	60,507	ABC Al Michaels, Dan Dierdorf, Boomer Esiason, & Lesley Visser
11	November 15, 1998	at New York Giants	W 37–3	Giants Stadium	7–3	FOX 3:15 pm	76,272	FOX: Sam Rosen & Jerry Glanville
12	November 22, 1998	at Minnesota Vikings	L 14–28	Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome	7–4	FOX 12:00 pm	64,471	FOX: Pat Summerall & John Madden
13	November 29, 1998	Philadelphia Eagles	W 24–16	Lambeau Field	8–4	FOX 3:15 pm	59,862	FOX Dick Stockton & Matt Millen
14	December 7, 1998	at Tampa Bay Buccaneers	L 22–24	Raymond James Stadium	8–5	ABC 8:00 pm	65,497	ABC Al Michaels, Dan Dierdorf, Boomer Esiason, & Lesley Visser
15	December 13, 1998	Chicago Bears	W 26–20	Lambeau Field	9–5	FOX 12:00 pm	59,813	FOX Dick Stockton & Matt Millen
16	December 20, 1998	Tennessee Oilers	W 30–22	Lambeau Field	10–5	CBS 12:00 pm	59,888	CBS Verne Lundquist, Randy Cross, & Michele Tafoya
17	December 27, 1998	at Chicago Bears	W 16–13	Soldier Field	11–5	FOX 12:00 pm	58,393	FOX Sam Rosen & Jerry Glanville

Standings

NFC Central
	W	L	T	PCT	PF	PA	STK
(1) Minnesota Vikings	15	1	0	.938	556	296	W8
(5) Green Bay Packers	11	5	0	.688	408	319	W3
Tampa Bay Buccaneers	8	8	0	.500	314	295	W1
Detroit Lions	5	11	0	.313	306	378	L4
Chicago Bears	4	12	0	.250	276	368	L1

Playoffs

NFC Wild Card Playoff

San Francisco 49ers 30, Green Bay Packers 27

	1	2	3	4	Total
Packers	3	14	0	10	27
49ers	7	3	10	10	30

at 3Com Park, San Francisco

• Game time: 4:00 p.m. EST/1:00 p.m. PST
• Game weather: 60 °F (16 °C), clear
• Game attendance: 66,506
• Referee: Gerald Austin
• TV announcers (Fox): Pat Summerall (play-by-play) and John Madden (color commentator)

The 49ers defeated the Packers, who had eliminated them from the playoffs in each of the past 3 seasons, in one of the wildest back-and-forth games in league playoff history. After a Brett Favre touchdown to Antonio Freeman with 1:55 to go the Niners behind Steve Young began driving down field; Jerry Rice had just one catch for six yards all game; it came in this drive and when he was downed he appeared to fumble the ball but was ruled down by contact; on the next play Young's pass fell incomplete and was initially ruled intercepted. With eight seconds to go Young from the Packers 25 dropped back, momentarily stumbled, then launched the ball where it was caught in the endzone by Terrell Owens, who had dropped several catches during the game.

Awards and records

• Brett Favre, NFL Leader, Passing Yards, 4,212 Yards
• Brett Favre, NFC Leader, Attempts (551)
• Brett Favre, NFC Leader, Completions (347)
• Brett Favre, NFC Leader, Percentage of Complete Passes (63)
• Brett Favre, NFC Leader (tied), Interceptions (23)
• Reggie White, National Football League Defensive Player of the Year Award
• Reggie White, NFC Leader, Sacks (16.0)

Milestones

• Brett Favre, Second 4,000 Yard Passing Season (finished season with 4,212)

References

1. "Packers lose 30–27". Packers.com. January 3, 1999. Archived from the original on June 18, 2009. Retrieved February 10, 2007.
2. "Mike Holmgren's stats page". profootballreference.com. Retrieved February 10, 2007.
3. "Hall of Famers – Reggie White". Packers.com. Archived from the original on January 25, 2007. Retrieved February 10, 2007.
4. "NFL Draft History – Green Bay Packers". NFL. Archived from the original on January 29, 2007. Retrieved February 10, 2007.
5. "All Time Coaches Database". Packers.com. Retrieved December 26, 2013.
6. "Packers win 27–24". Packers.com. August 1, 1998. Archived from the original on January 17, 2008. Retrieved February 10, 2007.
7. "1998 NFL Standings". NFL. Archived from the original on February 10, 2007. Retrieved February 10, 2007.