You could be right, either way, it was believed to be season ending at the time.

Also, it could have been '97, not positive.

I think it was '97.

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Jon Michaels. First round draft pick, but he was not at all ready for the NFL. One of Ron Wolf's biggest busts. Thankfully, Bruce Wilkerson eventually solidified the position at the end of the season.

A big difference between then and now is that back then (which really wasn't so long ago) there were only a handful of teams that had a good chance of winning the Super Bowl in any given year. This was at the tail end of years of dominance by the Cowboys, 49ers, Redskins, and Giants. So for the Packers to be favored that year meant a lot.

Nowadays, the NFL is a lot more wide open. The Colts, Steelers, and Patriots are the only teams that are in the mix almost every year, but there are always a lot of teams that are capable of going on a tear and winning it all. The Packers are now one of those teams, but so are the Vikings, Cowboys, Jets, Ravens, the Saints again, the Giants again, and possibly some other teams that are still underneath the radar.

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Dude! How can you forget about the undefeated Chiefs!!!!

Just like the prediction was for '96 ... Packers Chiefs Super Bowl baby!!! I still have the SI too!

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I was thinking the same thing, Greg. Again, maybe our memories cloud the reality of the time, but it certainly seemed like teams stayed awful or great for much longer, and the separation between bad, good, and great teams was much more distinct.

I used to recall it being a much larger deal if the lowly undefeated Colts would defeat the Packers...with parity, it seems much more common, and less damning.

Considering the parity, injuries other teams will face (look at the Colts at safety right now) I have at least some optomism and think the packers still have a chance...but please no more season-ending injuries, and once again, NO 18 GAME SEASON!

I don't care if Rodgers, Woodson, Matthews, Jennings, Finley, Sitton, Jenkins and Collins get injured.

We will still win the Super Bowl.

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One thing the '96 team had was a defensive front of Sean Jones, Santana Dotson, Gilbert Brown and Reggie White. That is a dominating front four. Back them up with Leroy Butler and Eugene Robinson and just fill the rest of the positions in with warm bodies.

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'96 had defensive LEADERS.

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And Charles Woodson is chopped liver?

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The '10 team has Jarrett Bush

[youtube]k7phlHG78do[/youtube]

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