I just picked up a vintage copy of a 1968 special edition of the Green Bay Packer Yearbook titled "The Lombardi Era." With a new football season about to begin, I thought I'd review the accomplishments of the Packers led by Coach Vince Lombardi:

Regular season record of 89 wins, 29 losses and four ties for a winning percentage of .754.

Nine playoff wins and only ONE loss! and that was in Coach Lombardi's first playoff game, just two seasons after he took over a Packer team that had been the worst in the NFL.

Five NFL championships in nine seasons, including the first two NFL championships to be called Super Bowls.

Never a divisional finish lower than second.

Lombardi's Packers combined a tough, unyielding defense with an offense that ran a few basic plays to absolute perfection. Opposing defenses knew what was coming but most often could not stop it because of the great precision teamwork that was the result of hours of practice. The power sweep, with pulling guards Fuzzy Thurston and Jerry Kramer leading running backs Jim Taylor and Paul Hornung (and later, Elijah Pitts, Donny Anderson, and Jim Grabowski) was perhaps their best known play. Bart Starr was the leader of the offense and was particularly good at the play action pass. Then there was the key play of the 1967 NFL playoff game, where Starr simply took the snap from center Ken Bowman and bulled across the goal line behind Bowman and Kramer.

The Packer defense was similar to the offense in that the basic fundmentals were stressed, such as being in the right place and making the tackle (something that many of today's defenses, including my favorites in Green Bay and Ann Arbor, need to focus on more!). Players like Ray Nitschke, Willie Davis, and Herb Adderley typified the Green and Gold Curtain that held opponents in check.

Yes, we may never see the likes of Coach Lombardi or his teams again, although Brett Favre and the Packers of his era have done their best to bring back that spirit. I know that the old coach must have a smile on his face, up there in football heaven, when he sees number 4 going all out on every play, no matter what the situation. And I know that Brett would have fit in just fine on Lombardi's teams...if only they had not already had such a great quarterback as Bart Starr!