Former New York Giants assistant Vince Lombardi was hired as Packers head

coach and general manager on February 2, 1959. Few suspected the hiring
represented the beginning of a remarkable, immediate turnaround. Under Lombardi,
the Packers would become the team of the 1960s, winning five championships over
seven years, including victories in the first two Super Bowls. During the Lombardi
era, the stars of the Packers' offense included Bart Starr, Jim Taylor, Carroll
Dale, Paul Hornung (as halfback and placekicker), Forrest Gregg, and Jerry Kramer.
The defense included Willie Davis, Henry Jordan, Willie Wood, Ray Nitschke, Dave
Robinson, and Herb Adderley.

Ray Nitschke – his No. 66 jersey is one of six

numbers retired by the Packers
The Packers' first regular-season game under Lombardi was on September 27,
1959, a 9–6 victory over the Chicago Bears in Green Bay. After winning their first
three, the Packers lost the next five before finishing strong by sweeping their final
four. The 7–5 record represented the Packers' first winning season since 1947,
enough to earn rookie head coach Lombardi the NFL Coach of the Year.

The next year, the Packers, led by Paul Hornung's 176 points, won the NFL West
title and played in the NFL Championship against the Philadelphia
Eagles at Philadelphia. In a see-saw game, the Packers trailed by only four points
when All-Pro Eagle linebacker Chuck Bednarik tackled Jim Taylor just nine yards
short of the goal line as time expired.

NFL champions (1961, 1962, 1965)

 The "Golden Boy" Paul Hornung, featured on a 1961
sports card
The Packers returned to the NFL Championship game the following season and
faced the New York Giants in the first league title game to be played in Green Bay.
The Packers scored 24-second-quarter points, including a championship-record 19
by Paul Hornung, on special "loan" from the Army (one touchdown, four extra points,
and three field goals), powering the Packers to a 37–0 rout of the Giants, their first
NFL Championship since 1944.[35] It was in 1961 that Green Bay became known as
"Titletown".

The Packers stormed back in the 1962 season, jumping out to a 10–0 start on their
way to a 13–1 season. This consistent level of success would lead to Lombardi's
Packers becoming one of the most prominent teams of their era, and to be featured
as the face of the NFL on the cover of Time on December 21, 1962, as part of the
magazine's cover story on "The Sport of the '60s". [36] Shortly after Time's article, the
Packers faced the Giants in a much more brutal championship game than the
previous year, but the Packers prevailed on the kicking of Jerry Kramer and the
determined running of Jim Taylor. The Packers defeated the Giants in New York,
16–7.

The Packers returned to the championship game in 1965 following a two-year

absence when they defeated the Colts in a playoff for the Western Conference title.
That game would be remembered for Don Chandler's controversial tying field goal in
which the ball allegedly went wide right, but the officials signaled "good". The 13–10
overtime win earned the Packers a trip to the NFL Championship game, where
Hornung and Taylor ran through the defending champion Cleveland Browns, helping
the Packers win, 23–12, to earn their third NFL Championship under Lombardi and
ninth overall. Goalpost uprights would be made taller the next year.

Super Bowl I champions (1966)

 Packers Willie Davis (left) and Henry Jordan tackling a
Chiefs player in the first AFL-NFL Championship (Super Bowl I)
The 1966 season saw the Packers led to the first-ever Super
Bowl by MVP quarterback Bart Starr. The team went 12–2, and as time wound down
in the NFL Championship against the Dallas Cowboys, the Packers clung to a 34–27
lead. Dallas had the ball on the Packers' two-yard line, threatening to tie the
ballgame. But on fourth down the Packers' Tom Brown intercepted Don Meredith's
pass in the end zone to seal the win. The team crowned its season by rolling over
the AFL champion Kansas City Chiefs 35–10 in Super Bowl I.

Super Bowl II champions (1967)

The 1967 season was the last for Lombardi as the Packers' head coach. [37] The NFL
Championship game, a rematch of the 1966 contest against Dallas, became indelibly
known as the "Ice Bowl" as a result of the brutally cold conditions at Lambeau
Field.[38] Still the coldest NFL game ever played, it remains one of the most famous
football games at any level in the history of the sport. [39] With 16 seconds left, Bart
Starr's touchdown on a quarterback sneak brought the Packers a 21–17 victory and
their still unequaled third straight NFL Championship. They then won Super Bowl
II with a 33–14 victory over the Oakland Raiders. Lombardi stepped down as head
coach after the game, and Phil Bengtson was named his successor. Lombardi
remained as general manager for one season but left in 1969 to become head coach
and minority owner of the Washington Redskins.

After Lombardi died of cancer on September 3, 1970, the NFL renamed the Super
Bowl trophy the Vince Lombardi Trophy in recognition of his accomplishments with
the Packers. The city of Green Bay renamed Highland Avenue in his honor in 1968,
placing Lambeau Field at 1265 Lombardi Avenue ever since.

The Packers, pictured against Cardinals in the 1982–83

playoffs, only qualified for the postseason twice during the team's post-Lombardi "dark ages"
(1969–91).
For about a quarter-century after Lombardi's departure, the Packers had relatively
little on-field success. In the 24 seasons from 1968 to 1991, they had only five
seasons with a winning record, one being the shortened 1982 strike season. They
appeared in the playoffs twice, with a 1–2 record. The period saw five different head
coaches—Phil Bengtson, Dan Devine, Bart Starr, Forrest Gregg, and Lindy Infante—
two of whom, Starr and Gregg, were Lombardi's era stars, while Bengtson was a
former Packer coach. Each led the Packers to a worse record than his predecessor.
Poor personnel decisions were rife, notoriously the 1974 trade by acting general
manager Dan Devine which sent five 1975 or 1976 draft picks (two first-rounders,
two-second-rounders and a third) to the Los Angeles Rams for aging
quarterback John Hadl, who would spend only 11⁄2 seasons in Green Bay.[40] Another
came in the 1989 NFL Draft, when offensive lineman Tony Mandarich was taken with
the second overall pick ahead of future Hall of Fame inductees Barry
Sanders, Derrick Thomas, and Deion Sanders. Though rated highly by nearly every
professional scout at the time, Mandarich's performance failed to meet expectations,
earning him ESPN's ranking as the third "biggest sports flop" in the last 25 years. [41]

Packers great Brett Favre played for 16 years in Green

Bay. He had his No. 4 jersey retired by the Packers in 2015.
The Packers' performance in the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s led to a shakeup,
with Ron Wolf hired as general manager and given full control of the team's football
operations to start the 1991 season.

Mike Holmgren years (1992–1998)

In 1992, Wolf hired San Francisco 49ers offensive coordinator Mike Holmgren as the
Packers' new head coach.

Soon afterward, Wolf acquired quarterback Brett Favre from the Atlanta Falcons for
a first-round pick. Favre got the Packers their first win of the 1992 season, stepping
in for injured quarterback Don Majkowski and leading a comeback over
the Cincinnati Bengals. He started the following week, a win against the Pittsburgh
Steelers, and never missed another start for Green Bay through the end of the 2007
season. He would go on to break the record for consecutive starts by an NFL
quarterback, starting 297 consecutive games including stints with the New York
Jets and Minnesota Vikings with the streak finally coming to an end late in the 2010
season.
The Packers had a 9–7 record in 1992 and began to turn heads around the league
when they signed perhaps the most prized free agent in NFL history in Reggie
White on the defense in 1993. White believed that Wolf, Holmgren, and Favre had
the team heading in the right direction with a "total commitment to winning". With
White on board, the Packers made it to the second round of the playoffs during both
the 1993 and 1994 seasons but lost their 2nd-round matches to their playoff rival, the
Dallas Cowboys, playing in Dallas on both occasions. In 1995, the Packers won the
NFC Central Division championship for the first time since 1972. After a home playoff
37–20 win against Favre's former team, the Atlanta Falcons, the Packers defeated
the defending Super Bowl champion San Francisco 49ers 27–17 in San Francisco
on the road to advance to the NFC Championship Game, where they lost again to
the Dallas Cowboys 38–27.

Super Bowl XXXI champions (1996)

Reggie White in 1998. White is widely considered one of

the greatest defensive players in NFL history, and had his number retired by the Packers in
2005.
In 1996, the Packers' turnaround was complete. The team posted a league-best 13–
3 record in the regular season, dominating the competition and securing home-field
advantage throughout the playoffs. They were ranked no. 1 in offense with Brett
Favre leading the way, no. 1 in defense with Reggie White as the leader of the
defense, and no. 1 in special teams with former Heisman Trophy winner Desmond
Howard returning punts and kickoffs for touchdowns. After relatively easy wins
against the San Francisco 49ers in a muddy 35–14 beatdown and Carolina
Panthers 30–13, the Packers advanced to the Super Bowl for the first time in 29
years. In Super Bowl XXXI, Green Bay defeated the New England Patriots 35–21 to
win their 12th championship. Desmond Howard was named MVP of the game for his
kickoff return for a touchdown that ended the Patriots' bid for a comeback. Then-
Packers president Bob Harlan credited Wolf, Holmgren, Favre, and White for
ultimately changing the fortunes of the organization and turning the Green Bay
Packers into a model NFL franchise. A 2007 panel of football experts
at ESPN ranked the 1996 Packers the 6th-greatest team ever to play in the Super
Bowl.

Desmond Howard's 99-yard kick return

touchdown in the Superdome in Super Bowl
XXXI