Since the 2003 season began, Packers.com has been paying tribute to the Green Bay Packers' storied past with the Legends of the Green and Gold desktop wallpaper series.
Already, wallpapers have been released honoring each of the 20 members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame who played the majority of their careers for the Packers.
Today, the series continues with a new wallpaper paying tribute to the Packers' 12 world championships -- the most in NFL history.
Winning their first three titles by league standing (1929, 1930 and 1931), and nine since the NFL's playoff system was established in 1933 (1936, 1939, 1944, 1961, 1962, 1965, 1966, 1967 and 1996), Green Bay is the only NFL team to win three straight titles, having done so twice (1929-30-31 and 1965-66-67).
In addition, the Packers won the first two Super Bowls (over Kansas City in 1966, 35-10, and over Oakland in 1967, 33-14), as well as Super Bowl XXXI (over New England in 1996, 35-21).
Since the league implemented a playoff system in 1933, the Packers have played in the NFL's deciding game 12 times (10 NFL title appearances from 1936-67, two Super Bowls after the 1970 merger). Only the Giants (17) have played for more titles.
Super Bowl I Rewind
Green Bay 35, Kansas City 10
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Sunday, Jan. 15, 1967; Attendance: 61,946; Weather: 72 degrees; sunny, hazy
The Packers launched the Super Bowl series by whipping Kansas City's AFL champions, 35-10, behind Bart Starr, Max McGee and a key interception by All-Pro safety Willie Wood.
Vince Lombardi's repeating NFL champions broke open the game with three second-half touchdowns. Wood set up the first, returning an interception 50 yards to the Chiefs' 5, with the Packers up only 14-10. Len Dawson's pass was intended for Kansas City tight end Fred Arbanas.
McGee, replacing Boyd Dowler (injured on the Packers' first series), after having caught only four passes all season, snared seven from Starr for 138 yards and two touchdowns. Elijah Pitts ran for two other scores, one on a 5-yard run in the third quarter, the other on a 1-yard bolt in the final period.
The Chiefs' only touchdown came on a 7-yard pass from Dawson to Curtis McClinton.
Starr, the game's first MVP, completed 16 of 23 passes for 250 yards and two TD. The aging McGee caught both scores, 37 yards in the first quarter and a 13-yard catch in the decisive third period.
The Packers collected $15,000 per man and the Chiefs $7,500 apiece - the largest single-game shares in the history of team sports at the time. The game was not a sellout; more than 30,000 seats remained empty.
Super Bowl II Rewind
Green Bay 33, Oakland 14
Miami Orange Bowl, Sunday, Jan. 14, 1968; Attendance: 75,546; Time: 2:34; Weather: 68 degrees; partly cloudy
Acquiring a third straight NFL championship two weeks earlier, the Packers embellished that record-tying parlay by winning a second consecutive Super Bowl. This time, they dispatched the AFL champion Raiders, 33-14, in a game that drew the first $3-million gate in football history.
Bart Starr again earned the game's most valuable player as he completed 13 of 24 passes for 202 yards and one touchdown, and directed a Packers attack that was in control all the way after building a 16-7 halftime lead.
Don Chandler kicked four field goals (39, 20, 43 and 31 yards), and All-Pro cornerback Herb Adderley returned a Daryle Lamonica interception 60 yards for a touchdown.
Leading 3-0 at the quarter, the Packers got three Chandler field goals and a 62-yard scoring pass from Starr to split end Boyd Dowler before half. They then left the Raiders behind with a 10-point third period, Donny Anderson scoring on a 2-yard run and Chandler with his final field goal.
The game ended Vince Lombardi's nine-year reign as Packers coach. He won six Western Conference championships, five NFL titles and two Super Bowls, a record unprecedented in pro football history.
Super Bowl XXXI Rewind
Green Bay 35, New England 21
Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, La., Sunday, Jan. 26, 1997; Attendance: 72,301; Time: 3:21
Using several momentum-turning big plays, the Packers held off resilient New England to capture their first world championship in 29 years. For Green Bay, the victory also marked its league-high 12th NFL championship as well as its third Super Bowl triumph.
The Packers jumped to an early 10-0 lead. Brett Favre, sensing a Patriots blitz, audibled on Green Bay's second play from scrimmage, hitting late-season pickup Andre Rison on a wide-open post pattern for a 54-yard touchdown pass. On the ensuing New England possession, Doug Evans intercepted Drew Bledsoe at the Patriots' 28, which led to a 37-yard field goal by Chris Jacke.
New England then was able to turn the tide in its favor, however, as Bledsoe took his club on two long drives for touchdowns. The first, which covered 79 yards and culminated in a short pass to Keith Byars, was aided by two long throws to Pats running backs and a 26-yard pass interference penalty. The second, starting at the New England 43, was spurred by a leaping, 44-yard reception by rookie Terry Glenn. When tight end Ben Coates caught a four-yard TD pass from Bledsoe, the Patriots momentarily had their only lead of the game and had completed the highest-scoring first quarter in Super Bowl history.
Green Bay rebounded to re-take the lead when Favre, seeing Patriots' strong safety Lawyer Milloy at the line of scrimmage in tight coverage on Antonio Freeman, watched Freeman elude Milloy's "bump" and lofted a perfect aerial to Freeman along the right sideline. Freeman, able to out-run New England's late-arriving free safety, covered 81 yards for the longest reception in Super Bowl history. After another Jacke field goal, Favre took advantage of a Mike Prior interception and escorted his troops on a nine-play, 74-yard march just before halftime which ended when, on a bootleg left, he lunged the ball over the goal line as he was rolling out of bounds.
Taking a 27-14 edge out of the locker room at halftime, Green Bay maintained that lead until late in the third quarter, when the Patriots' Curtis Martin made a magnificent 18-yard run up the middle of the Packer defense to pull New England to within six points at 27-21.
That margin was short-lived, though, as Desmond Howard returned the ensuing kickoff 99 yards for a back-breaking touchdown (the longest in Super Bowl history), bursting through the center of the Packers' well-blocked wedge, then juking kicker Adam Vinatieri to bolt free. Howard, who had 244 total return yards in the game including key punt runbacks of 32 and 34 yards, was voted the game's most valuable player, becoming the first special teams player to be so honored. A subsequent, successful two-point conversion, where Favre found Mark Chmura along the back of the end zone, gave the Green and Gold an insurmountable two-touchdown lead.
The top-ranked Green Bay defense, which had four interceptions of Bledsoe, was led by Reggie White, who sacked the New England quarterback a Super Bowl-record three times, including twice in a row on the possession immediately following Howard's scoring return.
Favre, playing less than an hour from his hometown of Kiln, Miss., completed 14 of 27 passes for 246 yards and two touchdowns without an interception, while his counterpart, Bledsoe, threw for 253 yards and two scores on 25-of-48 passing.
