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1998 Green Bay Packers season
Head Coach Mike Holmgren
Home Field Lambeau Field
Results
Record 11–5
Place 2nd NFC Central
Playoff Finish Lost Wild Card Playoffs (49ers) 30–27
Timeline
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1997 1999

The 1998 Green Bay Packers season was their 80th season overall and their 78th in the National Football League. It ended with a 30–27 loss in the NFC Wild Card Game to the San Francisco 49ers, with Steve Young throwing a 25-yard touchdown pass to Terrell Owens with three seconds left.[1] 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.[2][3] This was the first time the Packers had not won the division in four years. In addition, the Minnesota Vikings brought an end to the Packers 25 game home winning streak in Week 5.

1998 was the final season that the Packers would qualify for the postseason during the 1990s. They would not return to the playoffs until 2001.

Offseason[]

Additions Subtractions
P Sean Landeta (Buccaneers) FS Eugene Robinson (Falcons)
LB Antonio London (Lions) RB Edgar Bennett (Bears)
CB Doug Evans (Panthers)
DE Gabe Wilkins (49ers)

1998 NFL draft[]

Notably, the Packers drafted future all-pro quarterback Matt Hasselbeck in the 6th round (187th overall).[4]

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 CB 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

Undrafted free agents[]

1998 Undrafted Free Agents of note
Player Position College
Jim Nelson Linebacker Penn State

Staff[]

1998 Green Bay Packers staff
Front office

Head coaches

Offensive coaches

Defensive coaches

Special teams coaches

Strength and conditioning

  • Strength and Conditioning – Kent Johnston
  • Assistant Strength and Conditioning – Barry Rubin

[5]

Roster[]

1998 Green Bay Packers roster
Quarterbacks

Running Backs

Wide Receivers

Tight Ends

Offensive Linemen

Defensive Linemen

Linebackers

Defensive Backs

Special Teams

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.[6]

Date Opponent Result Game site Record Attendance
August 1, 1998 Kansas City Chiefs W 27–24 Tokyo Dome 1–0
42,018
August 8, 1998 New Orleans Saints W 31–7 Lambeau Field 2–0
60,080
August 16, 1998 Oakland Raiders L 21–27 Lambeau Field 2–1
60,078
August 24, 1998 at Denver Broncos L 31–34 Mile High Stadium 2–2
73,183
August 28, 1998 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 Vikings.[7]

Week Date Opponent Result Game site Record TV Time Attendance TV Announcers
1 September 6, 1998 Detroit Lions W 38–19 Lambeau Field 1–0 FOX 12:00 pm
60,102
FOX Dick Stockton & Matt Millen
2 September 13, 1998 Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 23–15 Lambeau Field 2–0 FOX 12:00 pm
60,124
FOX Dick Stockton & Matt Millen
3 September 20, 1998 at Cincinnati Bengals W 13–6 Cinergy Field 3–0 FOX 12:00 pm
56,346

FOX Tim Ryan, Bill Maas, & Ronnie Lott
4 September 27, 1998 at Carolina Panthers W 37–30 Ericsson Stadium 4–0 FOX 12:00 pm
69,723

FOX Pat Summerall & John Madden
5 October 5, 1998 Minnesota Vikings L 24–37 Lambeau Field 4–1 ABC 8:00 pm
59,849
ABC Al Michaels, Dan Dierdorf, Boomer Esiason, and Lesley Visser
6 Bye
7 October 15, 1998 at Detroit Lions L 20–27 Pontiac Silverdome 4–2 ESPN 7:15 pm
77,932
ESPN Mike Patrick, Joe Theismann, Paul Maguire, and Solomon Wilcots
8 October 25, 1998 Baltimore Ravens W 28–10 Lambeau Field 5–2 CBS 12:00 pm
59,860
CBS Kevin Harlan & Sam Wyche
9 November 1, 1998 San Francisco 49ers W 36–22 Lambeau Field 6–2 FOX 3:15 pm
59,794
FOX Pat Summerall & John Madden
10 November 9, 1998 at Pittsburgh Steelers L 20–27 Three Rivers Stadium 6–3 ABC 8:00 pm
60,507
ABC Al Michaels, Dan Dierdorf, Boomer Esiason, & Lesley Visser
11 November 15, 1998 at New York Giants W 37–3 Giants Stadium 7–3 FOX 3:15 pm
76,272
FOX: Sam Rosen & Jerry Glanville
12 November 22, 1998 at Minnesota Vikings L 14–28 Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome 7–4 FOX 12:00 pm
64,471
FOX: Pat Summerall & John Madden
13 November 29, 1998 Philadelphia Eagles W 24–16 Lambeau Field 8–4 FOX 3:15 pm
59,862
FOX Dick Stockton & Matt Millen
14 December 7, 1998 at Tampa Bay Buccaneers L 22–24 Raymond James Stadium 8–5 ABC 8:00 pm
65,497
ABC Al Michaels, Dan Dierdorf, Boomer Esiason, & Lesley Visser
15 December 13, 1998 Chicago Bears W 26–20 Lambeau Field 9–5 FOX 12:00 pm
59,813
FOX Dick Stockton & Matt Millen
16 December 20, 1998 Tennessee Oilers W 30–22 Lambeau Field 10–5 CBS 12:00 pm
59,888
CBS Verne Lundquist, Randy Cross, & Michele Tafoya
17 December 27, 1998 at Chicago Bears W 16–13 Soldier Field 11–5 FOX 12:00 pm
58,393
FOX Sam Rosen & Jerry Glanville

Standings[]

NFC Central
view · talk · edit W L T PCT PF PA
Minnesota Vikings 15 1 0 .938 556 296
Green Bay Packers 11 5 0 .688 408 319
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 8 8 0 .500 314 295
Detroit Lions 5 11 0 .313 306 378
Chicago Bears 4 12 0 .250 276 368

Playoffs[]

NFC Wild Card Playoff[]

San Francisco 49ers 30, Green Bay Packers 27
1 2 3 4 Total
Packers 3 14 0 10

27

49ers 7 3 10 10

30

at 3Com Park, San Francisco

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 had dropped several catches during the game.

Awards and records[]

Milestones[]

  • Brett Favre, Second 4,000 Yard Passing Season (finished season with 4,212)

References[]

AFC East Central West East Central West NFC
Buffalo Baltimore Denver Arizona Chicago Atlanta
Indianapolis Cincinnati Kansas City Dallas Detroit Carolina
Miami Jacksonville Oakland NY Giants Green Bay New Orleans
New England Pittsburgh San Diego Philadelphia Minnesota St. Louis
NY Jets Tennessee Seattle Washington Tampa Bay San Francisco
1998 NFL DraftNFL PlayoffsPro BowlSuper Bowl XXXIII
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