The 1982 NFL season will always be remembered as “The Strike Season.”
A 57 day player’s strike reduced the 16 game season to a 9 game season, and turned the playoffs into a tournament style event.
For the die hard football fan, having nearly half of the games eliminated was tough to stomach.
Luckily for Packers fans, this strike shortened season brought the team it’s biggest form of success in a decade, even if the success was short lived.
Head Coach Bart Starr held the reigns for his eighth season in 1982, and was finally able to bring a sliver of success to the Packer faithful. The Packers finished the season 5-3-1, and qualified for the playoffs for the first time since 1972.
Led by Quarterback Lynn Dickey, the Packers offense was one of the best in the league in 1982. James Lofton and John Jefferson were one of the best receiving tandems in the league, and Paul Coffman added to the mix from his TE position. They aired it out with the best of them, and were able to orchestrate a taste of the playoffs.
Following a 41-16 steamrolling of the St. Louis Cardinals in the first round of the tournament, the Packers headed to Dallas to face the Cowboys in their first meeting in the playoffs since the Ice Bowl in 1967.
Unfortunately for the Packers, they were not able to repeat the success of 1967 this go around, and fell to the Cowboys 37-26.
Despite losing to Dallas, optimism was high, as the Packers had finally returned to the playoffs, and secured their first playoff victory since the Lombardi era ended fifteen years earlier.
An interesting factoid about the 1982 season was the strike saw the end of the annual series against the Chicago Bears, making the Packers/Lions the longest running annual series in the league.
So sit back, relax, and enjoy highlights from the strike shortened season of 1982, one which saw the Packers back in the playoffs.
Part one can be seen here:
And part two can be seen here:
When you are done watching, please head over to AllGBP.com and check out this week’s edition of Surviving Sunday: Packers News, Notes and Links for the Football Deprived. It is a must read every Sunday during the off season.
Just keep telling yourselves: only 27 days until the start of Training Camp.
Hope everyone has a great Sunday.
GO PACK GO!
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John Rehor is a writer at PackersTalk.com.
He can also be heard as one of the Co-Hosts of Cheesehead Radio. ---------------------
