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1983 Green Bay Packers season
Head coach Bart Starr
Home field Lambeau Field
Milwaukee County Stadium
Results
Record8–8
Division place2nd NFC Central
Playoff finishDid not qualify

The 1983 Green Bay Packers season was their 65th season overall and their 63rd in the National Football League. The team finished with an 8–8 record under ninth-year head coach Bart Starr to finish second in the NFC Central division. The team set an NFL record for most overtime games played in one season with five, [1] winning two and losing three. On Monday Night Football in October, Green Bay defeated the Washington Redskins, 48–47, in what was at the time the highest-scoring game in MNF history. It was voted one of the ten best Packer games and is featured on the NFL Films collection, "The Green Bay Packers Greatest Games."

Green Bay hovered around the .500 mark all season. Entering their final regular season game on December 18 at Chicago, the Packers (8–7) could secure a playoff berth with a victory. Green Bay scored a touchdown to take a one-point lead with just over three minutes in the game, and Chicago running back Walter Payton was sidelined with a wrist injury. The Bears returned the kickoff to their 38 and drove fifty yards, down to the Packer twelve, with 1:17 remaining. Although Green Bay had all three of its timeouts, they opted not to use any, and the Bears kicked a winning 22-yard field goal with ten seconds on the clock. Green Bay fumbled away the ensuing kickoff, and the Los Angeles Rams (9–7) gained the final playoff slot. [2] [3]

Starr was fired the following day by team president Robert Parins, ending a 26-year association with the team as a player and coach. [4] [5] Former player Forrest Gregg, the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals, was hired before the end of the week, announced on Christmas Eve. [6] [7] Gregg had led the Bengals to Super Bowl XVI two years earlier, but had less success in his four seasons in Green Bay, then left for his alma mater SMU in Dallas in January 1988. [8]

Offseason

NFL draft

1983 Green Bay Packers draft
Round Selection Player Position College Notes
1 11 Tim Lewis CB Pittsburgh
2 48 Dave Drechsler G North Carolina
4 104 Mike Miller WR Tennessee
5 132 Brian Thomas RB Pittsburgh
6 160 Ron Sams G Pittsburgh
7 188 Jessie Clark RB Arkansas
8 216 Carlton Briscoe DB McNeese State
9 243 Robin Ham C West Texas State
10 253 Byron Williams WR Texas Arlington
271 Jimmy Thomas DB Indiana
11 299 Bucky Scribner P Kansas
12 327 John Harvey LB USC

Undrafted free agents

1983 Undrafted free agents of note
Player Position College
Chet Winters Running back Oklahoma

Personnel

Staff

1983 Green Bay Packers staff

Front office

Head coaches

Offensive coaches

Defensive coaches

Special teams coaches


[9]

Roster

1983 Green Bay Packers final roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

Reserve lists


Rookies in italics
00 active, 0 practice squad

Preseason

Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Recap
1 August 6 Cleveland Browns L 20–21 0-1 Lambeau Field Recap
2 August 12 at Seattle Seahawks L 21–28 0-2 Kingdome Recap
3 August 20 at Philadelphia Eagles L 14–27 0-3 Veterans Stadium Recap
4 August 27 St. Louis Cardinals W 39–27 1-3 Lambeau Field Recap

Regular season

Schedule

Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Attendance Recap
1 September 4 at Houston Oilers W 41–38 (OT) 1–0 Astrodome 44,073 Recap
2 September 11 Pittsburgh Steelers L 21–25 1–1 Lambeau Field 55,154 Recap
3 September 18 Los Angeles Rams W 27–24 2–1 Milwaukee County Stadium 54,037 Recap
4 September 26 at New York Giants L 3–27 2–2 Giants Stadium 75,308 Recap
5 October 2 Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 55–14 3–2 Lambeau Field 54,272 Recap
6 October 9 at Detroit Lions L 14–38 3–3 Pontiac Silverdome 67,738 Recap
7 October 17 Washington Redskins W 48–47 4–3 Lambeau Field 55,255 Recap
8 October 23 Minnesota Vikings L 17–20 (OT) 4–4 Lambeau Field 55,236 Recap
9 October 30 at Cincinnati Bengals L 14–34 4–5 Riverfront Stadium 53,349 Recap
10 November 6 Cleveland Browns W 35–21 5–5 Milwaukee County Stadium 54,089 Recap
11 November 13 at Minnesota Vikings W 29–21 6–5 Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome 60,113 Recap
12 November 20 Detroit Lions L 20–23 (OT) 6–6 Milwaukee County Stadium 50,050 Recap
13 November 27 at Atlanta Falcons L 41–47 (OT) 6–7 Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium 35,688 Recap
14 December 4 Chicago Bears W 31–28 7–7 Lambeau Field 51,147 Recap
15 December 12 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 12–9 (OT) 8–7 Tampa Stadium 50,763 Recap
16 December 18 at Chicago Bears L 21–23 8–8 Soldier Field 35,807 Recap

Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 1 at Oilers

Week One: Green Bay Packers (0–0) at Houston Oilers (0–0)
Period 1 2 34OTTotal
Packers 7 21 37341
Oilers 10 0 721038

at Houston Astrodome, Houston, Texas

Game information

Lynn Dickey completed 27 of 31 passes, including 18 straight at one point during the game, for 333 yards and four touchdowns and Jan Stenerud's 42-yard field goal with 9:05 left in overtime give the Packers a successful opening day victory.

Week 16 at Bears

Week 16: Green Bay Packers (8–7) at Chicago Bears (7–8)
Period 1 2 34Total
Packers 7 7 0721
Bears 7 0 7923

at Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois

Game information

Standings

NFC Central
W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK
Detroit Lions(3) 9 7 0 .563 7–1 8–4 347 286 W1
Green Bay Packers 8 8 0 .500 4–4 6–6 429 439 L1
Chicago Bears 8 8 0 .500 4–4 7–7 311 301 W2
Minnesota Vikings 8 8 0 .500 4–4 4–8 316 348 W1
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2 14 0 .125 1–7 1–11 241 380 L3

Statistics

Passing

Player Attempts Completion Percentage Yards Avg Long TD Int Rating
Lynn Dickey 484 289 59.7% 4458 9.21 75 32 29 87.3

Receiving

Player Receptions Yards Average TD Long
James Lofton 58 1300 22.4 8 74
John Jefferson 57 830 14.6 7 36
Paul Coffman 54 814 15.1 11 74
Gerry Ellis 52 603 11.6 2 56

Rushing

Player Attempts Yards avg TD Long
Gerry Ellis 141 696 4.9 4 71
Eddie Lee Ivery 86 340 4.0 2 21
Jessie Clark 71 328 4.6 0 42
Harlan Huckleby 50 182 3.6 4 20

Defensive

Player Sacks INT'S Yards Average TD Long
John Anderson 4.5 5 54 10.8 1 27t
Greg Boyd 2.0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Byron Braggs 5.5 0 0 0.0 0 0
George Cumby 2.0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Mike Douglass 5.5 0 0 0.0 0 0
Johnnie Gray 0.0 2 5 2.5 0 5
Charles Johnson 3.5 0 0 0.0 0 0
Ezra Johnson 14.5 0 0 0.0 0 0
Mike Jolly 0.0 1 0 0.0 0 0
Jim Laughlin 0.0 1 22 22.0 0 22
Mark Lee 0.0 4 23 5.8 0 15
Cliff Lewis 2.0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Tim Lewis 0.0 5 111 22.2 0 46
Randy Scott 0.0 1 12 12.0 0 12

Records

  • Lynn Dickey, club record, most passing yards in one season, 4,458. First NFC Quarterback to ever throw for over 4,000 yards.
  • NFL record, most overtime games played in one season, (5)
  • NFC Central record, most interceptions in a season by a passer other than the quarterback (3, Cliff Lewis).

References

  1. ^ NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book, Workman Publishing Co, New York,NY, ISBN  0-7611-2480-2, p. 388
  2. ^ Feuerherd, Vic (December 19, 1983). "Bears end playoff bid by Packers". Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 1, part 2.
  3. ^ Lea, Bud (December 19, 1983). "Defeat clouds Starr's future". Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 1, part 2.
  4. ^ Feuerherd, Vic (December 20, 1983). "Sad Starr said Pack set to win". Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 1, part 1.
  5. ^ Lea, Bud (December 20, 1983). "Parins shows he runs Pack". Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 1, part 2.
  6. ^ "Gregg replaces Starr at Green Bay". Lakeland Ledger. (Florida). Associated Press. December 25, 1983. p. 8C.
  7. ^ Salituro, Chuck (December 25, 1983). "Gregg shortened Parins' search". Milwaukee Journal. p. 1, sports.
  8. ^ Perkins, Eddie (January 15, 1988). "The rebuilding starts for SMU, Packers". Milwaukee Journal. p. 1C.
  9. ^ "All Time Coaches Database". Packers.com. Archived from the original on December 27, 2013. Retrieved December 26, 2013.

External links