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1983 Green Bay Packers season
Head Coach Bart Starr
Home Field Lambeau Field
Milwaukee County Stadium
Results
Record 8–8
Place 2nd NFC Central
Playoff Finish did not qualify
Timeline
Previous season Next season
1982 1984

The 1983 Green Bay Packers season was their 65th season overall and their 63rd in the National Football League. The club posted 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 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] 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.[7]

Offseason[]

NFL draft[]

Pick # Player Position College
11 Tim Lewis Cornerback Pittsburgh
48 Dave Drechsler Guard North Carolina
104 Mike Miller Wide Receiver Tennessee
132 Brian Thomas Running Back Pittsburgh
160 Ron Sams Guard Pittsburgh
188 Jessie Clark Running Back Arkansas
216 Carlton Briscoe Defensive Back McNeese State
243 Robin Ham Center West Texas State
253 Byron Williams Wide Receiver Texas Arlington
271 Jimmy Thomas Defensive Back Indiana
299 Bucky Scribner Punter Kansas
327 John Harvey Linebacker 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


[8]

Roster[]

1983 Green Bay Packers roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

Reserve lists



Practice squad



Rookies in italics
00 Active, 0 Inactive, 0 Practice squad

Regular season[]

Schedule[]

Game Date Opponent Score Record Notes Venue Attendance
1 9-04-1983 at Houston Oilers W, 41–38 O.T. 1–0 Astrodome
44,073
2 9-11-1983 Pittsburgh Steelers L, 21–25 1–1 Lambeau Field
55,154
3 9-18-1983 Los Angeles Rams W, 27–24 2–1 Milwaukee County Stadium
54,037
4 9-26-1983 at New York Giants L, 3–27 2–2 Monday Night Football Giants Stadium
75,308
5 10-02-1983 Tampa Bay Buccaneers W, 55–13 3–2 NFL-record 49 points in 1st half Lambeau Field
54,272
6 10-09-1983 at Detroit Lions L, 14–38 3–3 Pontiac Silverdome
67,738
7 10-17-1983 Washington Redskins W, 48–47 4–3 Lambeau Field
55,255
8 10-23-1983 Minnesota Vikings L, 17–20 O.T. 4–4 Lambeau Field
55,236
9 10-30-1983 at Cincinnati Bengals L, 14–34 4–5 Riverfront Stadium
53,349
10 11-06-1983 Cleveland Browns W, 35–21 5–5 Milwaukee County Stadium
54,089
11 11-13-1983 at Minnesota Vikings W, 29–21 6–5 Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
60,113
12 11-20-1983 Detroit Lions L, 20–23 O.T. 6–6 Milwaukee County Stadium
50,050
13 11-27-1983 at Atlanta Falcons L, 41–47 O.T. 6–7 4th O.T. game Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium
35,688
14 12-04-1983 Chicago Bears W, 31–28 7–7 Lambeau Field
51,147
15 12-12-1983 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers W, 12–9 O.T. 8–7 5th O.T. game, NFL record Tampa Stadium
50,763
16 12-18-1983 at Chicago Bears L, 21–23 8–8 Soldier Field
35,807

Game summaries[]

Week 1[]

by Quarter 1 2 3 4 OT Total
• Packers 7 21 3 7 3 41
Oilers 10 0 7 21 0 38

[9]

Standings[]

Template:1983 NFC Central standings

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[]

External links[]

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NY Jets Seattle Washington Tampa Bay
1983 NFL DraftNFL PlayoffsPro BowlSuper Bowl XVIII
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