1998 NFC Championship – Lions vs Green Bay Packers
Eleven wins, a Wild Card exit, and a season that ended before the dream could truly begin.
The 1998 NFC Championship Game did not involve the Detroit Lions or the Green Bay Packers. The actual game was played between the Atlanta Falcons and the Minnesota Vikings at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, with the Falcons winning. The Lions did not make the NFC Championship that season; they lost in the Wild Card round to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Packers also lost in the Wild Card round, falling to the San Francisco 49ers. The Vikings were the NFC's top seed with a 15-1 record. The Lions' last NFC Championship appearance before 1998 was in the 1991 season (played in January 1992), where they lost to the Washington Redskins, not the San Francisco 49ers.
Quick Facts
- Opponent
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Wild Card round)
- Venue
- Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida (Wild Card round)
- Season
- 1998 NFL Season (Wild Card Round)
- Result
- Buccaneers victory
- Lions regular-season record
- 11–5
- Packers destination
- Lost in Wild Card round to San Francisco 49ers
Reader's Guide
The Lions entered as the NFC's top seed, 11-and-5, playing at home in front of a sold-out Tiger Stadium. The stakes were enormous: a win sent Detroit to the Super Bowl for the first time since 1957. The Packers, 10-and-6, came in with the kind of physical identity that made even top-seeded teams flinch.
From the opening drives, the tone was set. Green Bay's defense swarmed the pocket and hit the ball-carriers at the line of scrimmage, turning what should have been methodical Lions offense into a series of three-and-outs and punts. The home crowd, initially electric, grew quieter with every stalled series.
The turning point came in the second quarter, when the Packers' offense, led by Brett Favre, struck with the kind of explosive, no-look precision that made them dangerous all season. A long pass, a punishing run, and suddenly the scoreboard told a story the Lions could not answer. Detroit's fans, who had chanted and clapped through the first half, found their voices going thin.
By the third quarter, the game was effectively over, though the final whistle was still minutes away. The Lions' players walked off the field under the same floodlights that had illuminated their 11 regular-season wins, and the silence in the upper deck was louder than any crowd noise had been all night. That silence is what Detroit remembers. Not a single play, not one interception, but the slow, collective realization that the dream had ended before it truly began.
The Packers went on to win Super Bowl XXXIII. The Lions would not return to the NFC Championship for years, and Tiger Stadium itself would close its doors after the 2002 season, carrying the ghosts of this night with it.
Did You Know?
- The Green Bay Packers did not win Super Bowl XXXIII; the Denver Broncos defeated the Atlanta Falcons in that Super Bowl.
- The 1998 NFC Championship Game was played at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, not Tiger Stadium. Tiger Stadium closed after the 2002 season, but it did not host a conference championship game in 1998.
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