Green Bay Packers

Lore & Background

The Packers are the last of the 'small-town teams' that were common in the NFL during the league's early days of the 1920s and 1930s. Founded in 1919 by Earl 'Curly' Lambeau and George Whitney Calhoun, the franchise traces its lineage to other semi-professional teams in Green Bay dating back to 1896. Between 1919 and 1920, the Packers competed against other semi-pro clubs from around Wisconsin and the Midwest, before joining the American Professional Football Association (APFA) in 1921. In 1933, the Packers began playing part of their home slate in Milwaukee until changes at Lambeau Field in 1995 made it more lucrative to stay in Green Bay full-time; Milwaukee is still considered a home media market for the team. Although Green Bay is the smallest major league professional sports market in North America, Forbes ranked the Packers as the world's 23rd-most-valuable sports franchise in 2025, with a value of $6.65 billion.

In Their Own Story

The wind howled across Lambeau Field, carrying snow that stung like sandpaper against exposed skin. It was December 1967, and the Rams' offense huddled in a tight circle, breath visible in clouds of white. Roman Gabriel wiped frost from his visor, looking at the scoreboard where the Packers led by a sliver. The cold had numbed fingers to the point where snapping the ball felt like moving through ice water. As the referee blew the whistle for the final play, the roar of the frozen crowd seemed to shake the very ground beneath the gridiron. It was not just a game; it was a test of will between two titans, played in conditions that would break lesser men.

Reader's Guide

The Packers have won 13 league championships, with nine pre-Super Bowl NFL titles and four Super Bowl victories. The Packers, under coach Vince Lombardi, won the first two Super Bowls in 1966 and 1967; they were the only NFL team to defeat the American Football League (AFL) before the AFL–NFL merger. After Lombardi died, the Super Bowl trophy was named for him, but the team struggled through the 1970s and 1980s. The team's performance shifted after acquiring Brett Favre in 1992 and his eventual successor Aaron Rodgers in 2005, beginning a new ongoing era which has been characterized by consistent regular-season success, with 25 playoff appearances and two Super Bowl wins in 1996 and 2010, under head coaches Mike Holmgren and Mike McCarthy, respectively. In addition to the most wins, the Packers hold the second-highest win–loss record (.571) in NFL history, including both regular season and playoff games. The Packers are longstanding adversaries of the Chicago Bears, Minnesota Vikings, and Detroit Lions, who today form the NFL's NFC North division. They have played more than 100 games against each of those teams and have a winning overall record against all of them, a distinction only shared with the Kansas City Chiefs, Dallas Cowboys, and Miami Dolphins. The Bears–Packers rivalry is one of the oldest rivalries in American professional sports history, dating to 1921.

Did You Know?

• The Packers were founded on August 11, 1919, by Earl 'Curly' Lambeau and George Whitney Calhoun.
• The Packers' first NFL title came in 1929 with an undefeated 12–0–1 campaign.
• Don Hutson, who joined the Packers in 1935, invented pass patterns and led the league in receptions in eight seasons.
• Vince Lombardi was hired as Packers head coach and general manager on February 2, 1959.
• The Packers won the first two Super Bowls in 1966 and 1967 under Vince Lombardi.