1998 Green Bay Packers

1998 Green Bay Packers season
Head Coach	Mike Holmgren
Home Field	Lambeau Field
Results
Record	11–5
Place	2nd NFC Central
Playoff Finish	Lost NFC Wild Card (San Francisco 49ers)
Timeline
Previous Season	Next Season
1997	1999

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. 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. This was the first time the Packers had not won the division in four years.

Offseason

1998 NFL draft

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

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	DB	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

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 48 Jim Kitts 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 76 Matt Willig 78 Ross Verba 68 Mike Wahle 70 Joe Andruzzi 62 Marco Rivera 63 Adam Timmerman 67 Jeff Dellenbach 52 Frank Winters 58 Mike Flanagan 60 Rob Davis Defensive Linemen 91 Jonathan Brown 90 Vonnie Holliday 92 Reggie White 96 Vaughn Booker 93 Gilbert Brown 71 Santana Dotson 94 Bob Kuberski 98 Billy Lyon		Linebackers 55 Bernardo Harris 56 Lamont Hollinquest 53 George Koonce 57 Antonio London 57 Jim Nelson 54 Jude Waddy 51 Brian Williams 95 Keith McKenzie Defensive Backs 23 Roosevelt Blackmon 46 Juran Bolden 21 Craig Newsome 31 Rod Smith 37 Tyrone Williams 36 LeRoy Butler 42 Darren Sharper 45 Kerry Cooks 20 Kerry Cooks 43 Scott McGarrahan 39 Mike Prior 40 Pat Terrell Special Teams  8 Ryan Longwell  7 Sean Landeta 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.

Date	Opponent	Result	Game site	Record	Attendance
August 1	Kansas City Chiefs	W 27-24	Tokyo Dome	1-0	42,018
August 8	New Orleans Saints	W 31-7	Lambeau Field	2-0	60,080
August 16	Oakland Raiders	L 21-27	Lambeau Field	2-1	60,078
August 24	at Denver Broncos	L 31-34	Mile High Stadium	2-2	73,183
August 28	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 Minnesota Vikings.

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Game site	Record	Attendance
1	September 6	Detroit Lions	W 38-19	Lambeau Field	1-0	60,102
2	September 13	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	W 23-15	Lambeau Field	2-0	60,124
3	September 20	at Cincinnati Bengals	W 13-6	Cinergy Field	3-0	56,346
4	September 27	at Carolina Panthers	W 37-30	Ericsson Stadium	4-0	69,723
5	October 5	Minnesota Vikings	L 24-37	Lambeau Field	4-1	59,849
6	Bye week
7	October 15	at Detroit Lions	L 20-27	Pontiac Silverdome	4-2	77,932
8	October 25	Baltimore Ravens	W 28-10	Lambeau Field	5-2	59,860
9	November 1	San Francisco 49ers	W 36-22	Lambeau Field	6-2	59,794
10	November 9	at Pittsburgh Steelers	L 20-27	Three Rivers Stadium	6-3	60,507
11	November 15	at New York Giants	W 37-3	Giants Stadium	7-3	76,272
12	November 22	at Minnesota Vikings	L 14-28	Metrodome	7-4	64,471
13	November 29	Philadelphia Eagles	W 24-16	Lambeau Field	8-4	59,862
14	December 7	at Tampa Bay Buccaneers	L 22-24	Raymond James Stadium	8-5	65,497
15	December 13	Chicago Bears	W 26-20	Lambeau Field	9-5	59,813
16	December 20	Tennessee Oilers	W 30-22	Lambeau Field	10-5	59,888
17	December 27	at Chicago Bears	W 16-13	Soldier Field	11-5	58,393

Standings

Template:1998 NFC Central standings

Playoffs

NFC Wild Card Playoff

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

• stadium= 3Com Park, San Francisco
• time= 1:00 p.m. PST
• weather= 60°F, clear
• TV=Fox
• TVAnnouncers= Pat Summerall (play-by-play) and John Madden (color commentator)
• referee= Gerald Austin
• attendance= 66,506

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'd 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)