Packers all-time tournament: 1961 (4) vs. 2014 (13)

First-round matchup in the all-time Green Bay Packers tournament — No. 4 seed 1961 vs. No. 13 seed 2014.

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. 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. 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 Wood each had five INTs (the team had 29 picks and 46 takeaways, second in the league, overall).

Bouncing back after missing seven games in 2013 due to a broken clavicle, Rodgers was back in prime form and won his second MVP award after passing for 4,381 yards with 38 TDs and five INTs with a 65.6% completion percentage while leading the Packers to the most points (486) in the NFL. Randall Cobb (1,287 yards, 12 TDs) and Nelson (1,519, 13 TDs) were the main beneficiaries of Rodgers’ targets. Eddie Lacy paced the ground game with 1,139 yards rushing and nine TDs. Morgan Burnett (130 tackles) and Matthews (11 sacks) starred on defense. The less we talk about the championship game loss in Seattle probably the better.