Green Bay Packers: “It” Trends From Last Time They Missed Playoffs
By Erik Lambert
The Green Bay Packers fans must’ve felt so numb and empty when that field goal sailed wide for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers against the Atlanta Falcons.
That victory by Atlanta assured that their team would miss the NFL playoffs for the first time since 2008, a run of nine years. Only one team has had a longer streak with the Patriots going from 2003 to present. It’s hard to believe it has been that long. Green Bay was a completely different team back then. Aaron Rodgers was 25-years old and in his first year as starter.
Greg Jennings and Donald Driver were their two best wide receivers with a young rookie named Jordy Nelson breaking his way into the lineup. The same went for a tight end named Jermichael Finley. A.J. Hawk was their leading tackler and Aaron Kampman was their sack leader. It was the first year without Brett Favre at quarterback since 1991.
If all that didn’t paint a picture, here’s more tidbits.
World has changed a lot since Packers last missed the playoffs
For starters 2008 was the year American elected its first black president in Barack Obama. The idea of Donald Trump had no even occurred to people back then, save to the creators of The Simpsons. Science began a new era of exploration when the Large Hadron Collider was activated for the first time in September of that year. China hosted its first ever Olympic games in Beijing.
In the field of automobiles the first steps towards the Age of Green was taken with the arrival of the Toyota Prius. High School Musical was taking the country by storm and Harrison Ford returned as Indiana Jones. To end on an NFL note, it was the year Kurt Warner cemented his incredible legacy of resilience when he led the Arizona Cardinals to their only Super Bowl appearance.
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Much has changed since the Packers last felt the sour taste of no January football. Do their fans even know how to handle it after so long? Odds are they won’t have to worry. Likely Green Bay will be back in 2018, but it doesn’t figure to be an enjoyable wait.