Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Hey Guys,

We all know that the Packers lost to the Redskins in the first round of the 1972 NFC Playoffs. Let's just imagine for a moment that they were able to defeat the Redskins. Does anyone out there think that they could have won the NFC Championship against Dallas? Would that game have been played at Dallas, or at Green Bay? I'll ask you another hypothetical question: Could those '72 Packers defeat the Dolphins in Super Bowl VII? I can't wait to read your responses. Thanks!

Sincerely,
Joe Zagorski

They would have played in Green Bay if the Packers had upset the Redskins. The Cowboys were the wildcard team so the Packers would have had the home field as a Division winner. It's hard to figure a Packer-Cowboy 1972 NFC Championship game, maybe the Packers would have won as the Cowboys didn't seem to have much left after beating the 49ers.

I can't see the 1972 Packers giving the 1972 Dolphins much trouble. Just my opinion.

SixtiesFan wrote:They would have played in Green Bay if the Packers had upset the Redskins. The Cowboys were the wildcard team so the Packers would have had the home field as a Division winner. It's hard to figure a Packer-Cowboy 1972 NFC Championship game, maybe the Packers would have won as the Cowboys didn't seem to have much left after beating the 49ers.

I can't see the 1972 Packers giving the 1972 Dolphins much trouble. Just my opinion.

I would think that the game maybe would've been played in Milwaukee. In the 70s, the Packers' marquee matchups (and if I remember correctly, every Cowboy game the Packers hosted) was played at County Stadium.

Of Green Bay's four losses that year, three of them came at home. The Pack and Cowboys had actually played each other in Week 3, with the Packers winning 16-13. The Cowboys had the ball at midfield in the last five minutes, but a couple of controversial calls went against them, and they lost the ball on downs.

I think a title game between the Pack and Boys would have been in Green Bay. The only other playoff game in Milwaukee came in 1967, and that was Lombardi throwing the city a bone. Regardless, even if GB won that, they wouldn't have been able to stop the Dolphins.

Bill Kilmer went 14 of 28 for 104 yards and 3 INTs against the Dolphins and the Redskins offense generated zero points. Compared to Scott Hunter, Kilmer is the forerunner to Dan Marino. I don't think the Packers offense would have done much against the No-Name defense in SB VII.

George Allen wrote the book on stopping that Packers team by employing a five-man defensive front, hence John Brockington's 9 yards in 13 carries. It's hard to imagine Tom Landry not swallowing his antipathy toward George Allen and adopting a similar strategy to neutralize Green Bay's lone offensive dimension.

Had they somehow won, though, the conference title game probably would have been held in Milwaukee if it'd had a late-afternoon kickoff time. The lights at Lambeau Field were insufficient for TV, hence no prime-time games there until 1979.

And no, the Packers would have gone nowhere against Miami.

All good points, as expected. Thanks guys!
Joe Zagorski

SixtiesFan wrote:They would have played in Green Bay if the Packers had upset the Redskins. The Cowboys were the wildcard team so the Packers would have had the home field as a Division winner....

Yes. In fact, based on the divisional rotation, had Green Bay defeated Washington, the Packers would have hosted the 1972 NFC Championship game regardless of the Dallas-San Francisco outcome.

The Packers had a huge year on special teams in 1972. Marcol had a great rookie year, a couple of return TDs, I think Ron Widby threw a TD pass. Normal a winning team will have fewer return yards than the opponent since the winners kick off more. Packers were about +500 in return yards because Marcol got so many touchbacks. The one thing Scott Hunter could do is avoid INTs, so the turnover ratio was +19 or something like that.

Redskins were not a great matchup for the Packers, since Allen was willing to play conservative football, and his special teams were always great. Still, that game was 10-3 at the end of the 3rd quarter. Packers defense was solid when they were healthy. Not enough depth to win consistently. But that Packer team played well against good teams the whole 1972 season.

If the playoffs had been seeded, the Packers would have hosted Dallas in the first round with the 49ers going to Washington. I think the Packers would have beaten Dallas. Landry was never willing to grind it out, and Morton would have thrown a pick or two at some point.

The 1972 Packers got screwed by the playoff format of that era.