On this week’s NFL schedule the Green Bay Packers meet the Pittsburgh Steelers, a contest that finds quarterback Aaron Rodgers of Pittsburgh facing his old team. These 2 clubs will also be the feature of this week’s Throwback Thursday post, as we travel back to December 17, 1967 for a game played at legendary Lambeau Field. It was the final week of the regular season, and the Packers had already wrapped up first place in the Central Division, while the Steelers were finishing up another dismal losing season. It’s debatable how much effort Green Bay put into winning this game, although their coach, Vince Lombardi, wasn’t one to accept anything less than maximum effort. A telltale sign might be that Green Bay’s third string quarterback, Don Horn, saw the lion’s share of playing time over Bart Starr and even backup Zeke Bratkowski.
Game program from 12/17/67
Pittsburgh, on the other hand, saw this as a major opportunity to win a little respect against the league’s defending champions. The Steeler defense opened the scoring when defensive lineman Ben McGee intercepted a pass and returned it 21 yards for a touchdown. The Packers got on the board early in the second quarter on a Don Chandler field goal, but Pittsburgh upped their lead to 14-3 when former Packer Earl Gros scored on a 22 yard run. Horn hit speedy back Travis Williams for a 29 yard touchdown pass before the half ended, cutting Green Bay’s deficit to 14-10. Pittsburgh’s defense again clamped down in the third quarter. After Mike Clark connected on a field goal to give his club a 17-10 lead, another Steeler defensive lineman got on the score sheet as Chuck Hinton scooped up a fumble (1 of 5 Packer turnovers on the day) and rambled 27 yards to paydirt. Travis Williams would score the only touchdown of the final quarter to pull the Pack to within a score at 24-17, but that turned out to be the final as the Steelers sent Lombardi off to the playoffs with a loss. Green Bay still finished with a 9-4-1 record, winning their division and fighting all the way through those playoffs to their second consecutive Super Bowl win, while Pittsburgh languished in another losing season with an opposite record than Green Bay’s at 4-9-1.
Motivated Steeler defense awaits the action