Former Head Coach Mike Holmgren will be inducted into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame this summer.

It was announced just this morning that Packers former Head Coach Mike Holmgren, who is now the head man of football operations for the Cleveland Browns, will be inducted into The Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame this coming summer.

The 42nd Hall of Fame Induction Banquet will be held Saturday, July 21, in the Lambeau Field Atrium.

We all know what Coach Holmgren brought to the City of Green Bay, the state of Wisconsin and all of Packers Nation. In addition to coaches Vince Lombardi, Curly Lambeau, and current Head Coach Mike McCarthy, Holmgren took the Packers to many NFL Playoff games, including two straight Super Bowls, winning Super Bowl XXXI.

The press release issued by the Packers Hall of Fame this morning offers this description of Holmgren:

Holmgren joined the Green Bay Packers in 1992 and enjoyed a spectacular run as head coach through the 1998 season, including a victory in Super Bowl XXXI following the 1996 campaign. Launching his success with a 9-7 record in ’92, a five-game improvement from the year before, Holmgren led the team to a 84-42 overall record (75-37 regular season; 9-5 postseason); seven consecutive winning seasons, the first such skein since the 1960s; a club-record six consecutive playoff berths; a 47-5 record, including playoffs, in Lambeau Field; a club-record 25 consecutive home-field victories, the second-longest such streak in NFL history; 13 regular-season wins in consecutive years (1996-97) for the first time in team history; three straight NFC Championship Game appearances (1995-97), including back-to-back wins (1996-97); and back-to-back Super Bowl appearances (1996-97), the last such feat by an NFC team.

His overall win total, 84, is the third most in franchise history, trailing only Curly Lambeau, 212, and Vince Lombardi, 98. His winning percentage, .667, is tied with Lambeau for the second best in team history, behind only the .766 mark of Lombardi. With at least one postseason win in five consecutive seasons (1993-97), Holmgren is one of only three coaches in NFL history to have achieved the mark, along with John Madden (Oakland, 1973-77) and Bill Belichick (New England, 2003-07).

His 1996 Super Bowl championship team led the league in both points scored (456) and points allowed (210), becoming one of only 12 teams in NFL history to accomplish the feat and the first since 1972.

Tickets for the banquet, which begins with the doors opening at 4:30 p.m. with a cash bar, and dinner and program to follow at 7 p.m., are $135 each. Tables of 10 also are available for $1,300 and are assigned in the order in which they are purchased. Early reservations are recommended. To purchase tickets, call Gwen Borga at (920) 965-6984, or e-mail her at gwenb@packershalloffame.com.

No refunds are available 30 days prior to the event.

Lombardiave.com offers our congratulations to Coach Holmgren and his family. We also welcome him back to Green Bay as a permanent member of the franchise’s family.

Aaron Rodgers looks to repeat his performance from last year’s game but the Giants hope to put pressure on him.

I always like taking a peek at what the media is saying gameday about the Packers and what the opponent has to do to beat the Packers.

The theme has gotten old, but what they say has a modicum of truth – get to Aaron Rodgers and you can defeat the Green Bay Packers.

Read on … This is from the Daily-Ledger and Jersey.com …

Giants Gameday

By Jorge Castillo

Giants (6-5) vs. Green Bay Packers(11-0)
Week 14
Today, 4:15 p.m.
MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford
TV: FOX
Radio: WFAN 660-AM

THIS WEEK’S GAME REVOLVES AROUND …
The Giants’ pass rush

See much more after the jump … And don’t forget to Like Lombardiave on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

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The Packers and Bears rivarly is the longest in the NFL

I wrote a while back about how Pat Quinn, the governor of that state to the south … oh yeah, they call it Illinois … was making all Bears fans look bad because he was taking jaunts to places like Israel instead of fulfilling his promise to follow through on a bet he made with Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker on the outcome of the Bears vs. Packers championship game back in January.

Well, up until today, Quinn had hidden from the good people of Wisconsin and said he was too busy to follow through.

That came to an end when Quinn visited the Shalom Food Pantry in Kenosha to fulfill the terms of the bet – serving Wisconsin residents at the pantry.

In speaking for all Packers fans, Walker had this to say: “I would like to thank Gov. Quinn for coming to Kenosha this morning to serve at the Shalom Food Pantry. I look forward to having him back when the Green Bay Packers repeat as Super Bowl champions.”

Though I rarely agree with Gov. Walker on policy, I say “hear-hear” in seconding his comments to our Illinois neighbor.

And only reiterate … it’s about time …

It's a travesty that Brian Urlacher was left off the top 10 list put together by Dhani Jones. Raymond T. Rivard photograph

This week, Dhani Jones, that pretty good lookin’, fairly good linebacker put together a really ugly list of what he thought are the top linebackers in the NFL … a list where he placed himself seventh.
Really?
Well, he’s been a pretty decent player for the Giants, Eagles and Bengals for the past decade or so, but the top 10?
What’s even more astonishing is that Chicago Bears’ longtime linebacker, Brian Urlacher, isn’t even mentioned in the top 10!
Really? (more…)

Sam Shields' Interception

By: Scott Poynting

Let me start by stating a little about myself. I live in Australia, I am 27 years old and I have been a die hard packers fan for ten years now. I first saw the Packers play when I was 13 in Super Bowl 31, it was the first game of American Football I ever watched.

The Packers were Green and Gold (Australian colours) so naturally I started cheering for them. I had no idea what was going on, but I knew I loved it! From then on I was a Packers “fan”. Every year I watched the Super Bowl as it was the only game we got in Australia, but apart from Super Bowl 32 I never saw the Packers play again.

Once I graduated from school I started following the Packers scores on the Internet, then I started downloading games and now between digital TV and NFL Gamepass I am able to watch every Packers game. For the past five or so years I have watched every Packers snap… usually getting up at 4am for the privilege. I have struggled through losing seasons, sat in confusion and dismay at moments like “4th and 26”, watched Favre throw away an NFC title, watch in dismay as my favourite Packer publicly fought with the organisation I love so much – then go out of his way to try and beat us and I have held my breath as the offense put up nearly half a century of points, only to lose… in the playoffs!

But this morning I did something I have never done, I cried during a Packers game… and not for a reason I ever thought I would. (more…)

If you are like me, you were celebrating the win after the game and may have missed the actual presentation of the Halas Trophy.

It’s too bad the presentation was in the visitor’s locker room with no pomp and circumstance..no audience of adoring, cheering fans… but I guess that’s the way it goes when you win on the road.

Packers vs Bears 1941

Twenty-one NFL Championships. Forty-eight members in the pro football hall of fame. One hundred eighty regular season meetings and one post season meeting. This Sunday will mark meeting number one eighty-two.

This historic rivalry between the Packers and the Bears dates back to November 27, 1921, a 20-0 Bears win. The last meeting between these two teams resulted in a 10-3 Packers win and catapulted Green Bay in to the playoffs. Every game in-between has been just as entertaining, with the longest winning streak between the two head-to-head at ten games, owned by the Packers from ’94-’98.

When these two teams button their chin straps, it no longer becomes just a football game to the players involved–but much more. For instance, the last meeting between the two, a 10-3 Packers win, meant nothing to the Bears, allegedly. They had the number two seed and a first round bye wrapped up before the game even started. This usually gives a coach an opportunity to rest some of his core players and reduces risk of injury to his stars. Wait a minute, this is Packers vs Bears. (more…)

Packers vs Bears

The Green Bay Packers will meet the Chicago Bears next Sunday for the NFC Championship Game. The game will be held in Chicago at 2pm CT on FOX.

This game is for all the marbles. The opportunity of to go to the big dance.  The winner will go the the Super Bowl!

Packers vs Bears is the NFL’s longest rivalry, spanning 89 years.  This will be only the second time the two have met in the NFC Championship game.  The last time was the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

It makes sense that two teams from the NFC North, the black and blue division are going to be fighting it out for a chance to go to Super Bowl XLV.  It was destiny. (more…)

The Green Bay Packers put on a clinic in the Divisional Playoff game against the Atlanta Falcons tonight.

They played as a team and won as a team.  They have effectively knocked the the two NFC Pro Bowl QB’s out of the playoffs.  And have continued the trend of not trailing by more than 7 points in the entire season. The first team to do so since the merger in 1970!

The Falcons scored first with a 12 yard rushing TD by Michael Turner.  The Packers responded in the 2nd quarter with a pass to Jordy Nelson for a TD.  Green Bay then kicked off and Falcons’ Eric Weems set a playoff record of a 102 yard kick off return for a TD.  But that’s where the Falcons good fortune ended. (more…)

Packers fans claimed their say about Sunday’s NFC Championship game between the Vikings and Saint.  In an amusing Packers news article, the vast majority of Packers fans want to see Favre, Vikings go down in flames. “True estimates that of the fans calling in, the percentage breakdown is 90% want Favre to lose and 10% of them want Favre to go and win his second Super Bowl, cementing his status as one of the greatest players ever in the National Football League.”

CBS Video Preview

Commentary: We are an enormous country and we use sports teams to re-channel our feeling of loyalty and to express conflict. You are a Brett fan, a Packers fan, or both. The rivalry between fans of the Packers and Vikings is real. For Favre haters, it didn’t help that Deanna Favre, Favre’s wife, told Sports Illustrated in a cover story this week that the couple feel right at home in the Twin Cities. While the Vikings had the upper hand this year defeating the Packers twice, Packers fans can say that the Vikings have never won a Super Bowl (they’re 0-4). 

Commentary: Views from Packers nation–Can The Old Gunslinger Do It? Enjoy QB Favre’s Magical Story–40-year-old Favre has produced the best season of his remarkable career. The fact he has guided the Vikings within one victory of the Super Bowl at such an advanced age is the best NFL story of the year, if not the past decade. Old man Favre is worth rooting for–Is it morally wrong to want to root for Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings until the Green Bay Packers get back to the Super Bowl? Working His Game Plan, Favre’s Big Goal Within Reach–So far, so good. Favre’s brilliant season has included a most satisfying sweep of the Packers, the division title and a smashing divisional-playoff victory over the Dallas Cowboys one week ago.

Larry Fitzgerald is the best wide receiver in the National Football League, hands down.  I can’t think of anyone else who could come close to him.  Fitzgerald has the right combination of size, speed, and hands.  His statistics from Sunday (9 receptions, 152 yards, 3 TDs) back this up.  The only question I have about the play calling of the Cardinals offense was during the third quarter and first part of the fourth quarter when Fitzgerald was totally written out of the gameplan.  During this stretch, Fitzgerald was barely thrown to and the Cardinals saw their 24-6 lead turn into a 25-24 deficit.  But what did the Cardinals do on their last drive?  They got the ball to Fitzgerald which led to the win.  Watching Fitzgerald was watching a man among boys.  It’s obvious that if the ball is anywhere near Fitzgerald, he will come down with it.  I wonder how Mike Tomlin and Dick LeBeau plan on stopping this one.

I hate second-guessing anyone.  Whether it be an errant Brett Favre throw in the 2008 NFC Championship Game, to play-calling, to the referees.  But here I’m just going to say what I would have done; not what should have been done.  The string of plays concerns the Eagles second-to-last possession that started with about 2:53 left in the game.  With 2:09 left around midfield, the Eagles faced a second-and-ten. Andy Reid called three straight pass plays to end the Eagles last scoring threat.  What I would have done is on second down, with 2:09 left is called a run play.  The run play would get some yardage and put the Eagles in more manageable situations for their offense.  After the second down pass, 2:01 was left on the clock with third-and-ten.  Run the ball, Andy.  Make an easier fourth down situation for your team.  That was my only qualm about Reid’s playcalling.

The Eagles have been searching for big play weapons for Donovan McNabb for some time now, and I think they have finally found them in Kevin Curtis and DeSean Jackson.  Curtis had a great game and was almost the team’s savior on the fourth-and-ten play.  His deceptive speed creates mismatches on defense and he just always seems to be able to get open.  As for his counterpart, I think that Jackson was the steal of the 2008 NFL Draft.  Countless mocks had the Eagles picking him with the 19^th pick in the first round.  Instead, the Eagles traded out of the first round and picked him down in the second round.  That saves a lot of money right there.  Jackson in the first round is a bad pick; Jackson in the second round is a great pick.  He could play too.  He gave McNabb a consistent threat the quarterback hadn’t seen since that #81 character was in Philly.  The only blemish on Jackson’s rookie season was his ridiculously bonehead play against the Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football.  That was really bad.  But he still turned it around, making a juggling 62-yard touchdown catch on Sunday against Arizona.  He’s a game changer any time he touches the ball and no matter how he touches it.

I’m focusing more on the Eagles in this mostly because they’re my second team behind the Green Bay Packers and I know more about them than the Cardinals.  I could tick off the names of most of the Cardinals skill players, but not much more.  That being said, the Eagles have finally found their replacement for L.J. Smith who is on his way out.  It’s tough to see why they even franchised him for this year.  But that’s beside the point.  This man is Brent Celek.  He can play.  Ten catches, 83 yards, two touchdowns.  That’s not the line you expect out of a no-name tight end in the NFC Championship Game.  He’s an athlete too. Numerous times this year we’ve seen him try to leap over guys, and he was at it again on Sunday.  The only thing he needs to work on to become one of McNabb’s favorite targets is to improve his hands and football mindset.  Many times this year he dropped key passes or committed stupid penalties, putting his team in a hole.

Kurt Warner can still play.  Matt Leinart better be taking notes on how Warner goes about his business or he’ll have bust written all over him.  Warner is a professional (I know he had those spats in St. Louis, but that seems to be an isolated incident).  It’s obvious that in his time off he’s out studying the next opponent or out helping his community instead of entertaining college girls in his hot tub.  Warner goes out each Sunday, makes his reads, and gets the ball to his playmakers.  Leinart could never get comfortable in the pocket (maybe thinking about those chicks?) and didn’t seem to realize he has one of the best receiving corps in the NFL around him.  Watching Warner run the offense is like watching an experienced surgeon at work who knows where everything is and what needs to be done.  He doesn’t do just enough to get by, but he doesn’t try to do too much either.  Warner is one of the reasons I’m rooting for Arizona on February 1^st.

Clancy Pendergast is one of the coolest names out there.  He sounds like a 1950s detective.  He’s done wonders with that defense though.  But the cool name nearly trumps that.