The 1996 season was the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

' 76th

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL), their 78th overall and their fifth under

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

Mike Holmgren Michael George Holmgren (born June 15, 1948) is a former American football coach and executive. He began his NFL career as a quarterbacks' coach and later as an offensive coordinator with the San Francisco 49ers, where they won Super Bowls XXI ...

. The franchise won its third Super Bowl and league-record 12th NFL Championship. The Packers posted a league-best 13–3 regular season won-loss record, going 8–0 at home and 5–3 on the road. It was the first time since 1962 that the team went undefeated at home. Additionally, the Packers had the NFL's highest-scoring offense (456) and allowed the fewest points on defense (210). Green Bay was the first team to accomplish both feats in the same season since the undefeated

1972 Miami Dolphins The 1972 Miami Dolphins season was the franchise's seventh season and third in the National Football League (NFL). The team was led by third-year head coach Don Shula and achieved the only perfect season in NFL history. They also led the league ...

. They finished the season with the number one ranked offense, defense, and special teams. They also set a then NFL record for the fewest touchdowns allowed in a 16-game season, with 19. The Packers also allowed the fewest yards in the NFL and set a record for punt return yardage. Brett Favre won his second straight MVP award while also throwing for a career-high and league-leading 39 touchdown passes. In the

postseason The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

, the Packers defeated the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...

in the divisional round and the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. T ...

in the NFC Championship Game. Green Bay beat the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

in Super Bowl XXXI to win their third

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

and twelfth

NFL Championship Throughout its history, the National Football League (NFL) and other rival American football leagues have used several different formats to determine their league champions, including a period of inter-league matchups to determine a true national c ...

. In 2007, the 1996 Packers were ranked as the 16th greatest Super Bowl champions on the

NFL Network NFL Network (occasionally abbreviated on-air as NFLN) is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Football League (NFL) and is part of NFL Media, which also includes NFL.com, NFL Films, NFL Mobile, NFL Now and NFL ...

's documentary series '' America's Game: The Super Bowl Champions''. The 1996 Packers were ranked 6th-greatest Super Bowl team of all time by a similar panel done by

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

and released in 2007. Later, they ranked #20 on the 100 greatest teams of all time presented by the NFL on its 100th anniversary. As of 2020, the Packers are the only team since the implementation of the salary cap to score the most points and allow the fewest in the regular season.

Offseason

NFL draft

Staff

Roster

1996 Green Bay Packers season

Preseason

Regular season

Postseason

Game summaries

Week 1: at. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Week 5: at. Seattle Seahawks

Standings

Season statistical leaders

Brett Favre broke the Packers single-season record for touchdown passes by throwing 39. * Passing yards:

Brett Favre Brett Lorenzo Favre ( ; born October 10, 1969) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons, primarily with the Green Bay Packers. Favre had 321 consecutive starts from 1992 to 20 ...

3,899 yards * Passing touchdowns: Brett Favre 39 TD * Rushing yards:

Edgar Bennett Edgar Bennett III (born February 15, 1969) is an American football coach and former running back who is the wide receivers coach for the Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). Bennett played college football at Florida State ...

, 899 yards * Rushing touchdowns:

Dorsey Levens Herbert Dorsey Levens (born May 21, 1970) is a former American football running back in the National Football League. He was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the fifth round (149th overall) of the 1994 NFL Draft. He helped the Packers win t ...

, 5 TD * Receiving yards:

Antonio Freeman Antonio Michael Freeman (born May 27, 1972) is a former American football wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL), most notably for the Green Bay Packers. He attended the Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and Virginia Tech. College ...

, 933 yards * Receiving touchdowns: Keith Jackson, 10 TD * Points:

Chris Jacke Christopher Lee Jacke (born March 12, 1966) is a former professional American football placekicker best known for playing for the Green Bay Packers in the National Football League. Before his NFL career, Jacke played collegiately at the Univer ...

, 114 points * Kickoff return yards:

Desmond Howard Desmond Kevin Howard (born May 15, 1970) is an American former football wide receiver who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons. He played college football at Michigan, where he won the Heisman Trophy as a senior. Howard w ...

, 460 yards * Punt return yards: Desmond Howard, 875 yards * Tackles:

George Koonce George Koonce (born October 15, 1968) is an American athlete and athletic director. A former linebacker in the National Football League (NFL), he served as the athletic director at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee between 2009 and 2010. Pl ...

, 97 tackles * Sacks:

Reggie White Reginald Howard White (December 19, 1961 – December 26, 2004) was an American professional football player who played defensive end in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons during the 1980s and 1990s. He played college football for ...

, 8.5 sacks * Interceptions:

Eugene Robinson Eugene Keefe Robinson (born May 28, 1963) is a former American football safety who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons. He spent the majority of his career with the Seattle Seahawks, who signed him as an undrafted free age ...

, 6 interceptions

Playoffs

NFC Divisional Playoff vs. San Francisco 49ers

Green Bay was able to win going away on a cold damp day at Lambeau Field. With the weather turning the field into a muddy mess both offenses struggled. San Francisco was able to keep pace offensively and defensively for most of the game, with the score 21–14 in favor of Green Bay in the third quarter, but special teams were decisively dominated by the Packers. Penalties also played a factor as San Francisco had 6 for 42 yards, while Green Bay only had 1 for 5. A muffed kickoff by Green Bay set up a 49ers touchdown, but Green Bay's Desmond Howard returned two kicks for large gains, including one touchdown. The final score was Green Bay 35–14.

NFC Championship Game vs. Carolina Panthers

Super Bowl XXXI vs. New England Patriots

The Packers win their first championship since 1967. Desmond Howard is named the Super Bowl MVP, as he accumulated 244 total yards worth of returns (kick and punt) including a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the 3rd quarter. Patriots Quarterback

Drew Bledsoe Drew McQueen Bledsoe (born February 14, 1972) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons, primarily with the New England Patriots. He played college football at Washington State, whe ...

threw 4 interceptions while Brett Favre threw for 246 yards and 2 touchdowns and ran another one in.

Awards and records

* Brett Favre, club record, most touchdown passes in one season, 39 * Brett Favre, NFC leader, touchdown passes (39) * Brett Favre, NFC leader, passing yardage (3,899) * Brett Favre, NFL MVP * Brett Favre, Bert Bell Award * Brett Favre, Offense,

UPI NFC Player of the Year From 1970 to 1984, United Press International (UPI) awarded the NFC Player of the Year award to players from the National Football League's National Football Conference (NFC). An NFC Defensive Player of the Year was named from 1975 to 1996, and an ...

* Brett Favre, NFC Pro Bowl selection * Brett Favre,

All-Pro All-Pro is an honor bestowed upon professional American football players that designates the best player at each position during a given season. All-Pro players are typically selected by press organizations, who select an "All-Pro team," a list th ...

selection *

Best NFL Player ESPY Award The Best NFL Player ESPY Award has been presented annually since 1993 to the National Football League player adjudged to be the best in a given calendar year, namely in the NFL season immediately precedent to the holding of the ESPY Awards ceremo ...

* Desmond Howard, Super Bowl XXXI MVP * Reggie White, NFC Pro Bowl selection

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1996 Green Bay Packers Season

Green Bay Packers seasons NFC Central championship seasons National Football Conference championship seasons Super Bowl champion seasons

Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...