Packers all-time tournament second round: 1961 (4) vs. 1965 (5)

Second-round matchup in the all-time Green Bay Packers tournament — No. 4 seed 1961 vs. No. 5 seed 1965.

Vince Lombardi’s first championship team easily won the NFL West with an 11-3 record and league-best plus-168 point differential (next best were Detroit at 8-5-1 and San Francisco with a plus-74) before throttling the East winner, the New York Giants, 37-0 in the championship. Jim Taylor ran for 1,307 yards and 15 TDs and caught 25 passes for 175 yards and a TD but it was Paul Hornung who was named the NFL MVP. Hornung rushed for 597 yards and eight TDs, caught 15 passes for 145 yards and two TDs, threw a TD pass (he was 3 for 5 for 42 yards) and, as the team’s kicker, made all 41 of his extra-point attempts and hit 15 of 22 field-goal attempts. Bart Starr didn’t have his best season, throwing as many INTs as TDs – 16. The defense was anchored by the usual suspects and four players – Hank Gremminger, John Symank, Jesse Whittenton and Willie Wood each had five INTs (the team had 29 picks and 46 takeaways, second in the league, overall).

Round 1: 1961 (No. 4 seed) 38, 2014 (No. 13 seed) 20

After missing out on the playoffs the previous two seasons, Green Bay had to make the NFL championship by beating Baltimore, which had tied the Packers for the top spot in the NFL West. A 13-10 win over the Colts followed by a 23-12 victory over Cleveland and Lombardi and Green Bay were champs once again. The defense was a big reason for Green Bay’s success, allowing a league-low 224 points. Herb Adderley, Willie Davis and Wood were all named first-team All-Pro. The offense scored 316 points, which was eighth in a 14-team league. Starr completed just 55.8% of his passes and threw for 2,055 yards. Taylor couldn’t even muster 1,000 total yards (734 rushing, 207 receiving) and had four TDs. Boyd Dowler led with 44 receptions and 610 yards while Hornung had eight combined TDs.

Round 1: 1965 (No. 5 seed) 19, 2019 (No. 12 seed) 13 (overtime)