The countdown continues: Chester Marcol, Chris Jacke, Lynn Dickey and Aaron Rodgers

Lynn Dickey

Had Lynn Dickey remained healthy, he may have been one of the best to play the game for the Packers.

Injuries slowed him later on in his career, but his canon for an arm allowed him and the Packers to have success even when the team around him just wasn’t very good.

Here’s how Maxymuk describes his career …

"Periodically a glut of highly-rated college quarterbacks com out of college and create a “Year of the Quarterback” draft. The most famous instance was in 1983 when John Elway, Dan Marino, Jim Kelly, Ken O’Brien, Tony Eason and Todd Blackledge all were selected in the first round. The first big quarterback draft, though, was in 1971 when Jim Plunkett, Archie Manning, and Dan Pastorini were picks in the first round, Ken Anderson and Lynn Dickey were picked in the third round, and Joe Theismann went in round four. Dickey, as his luck would dictate, was draftd by the Oilers, who had also picked Pastorini. Pastorini won the starting job as a rookie, but was being challenged in the preseason of his sophomore year by Dickey when Lynn was driven awkwardly into the artificial turf in an exhibition game and both dislocated and broke his left hip. After a year of rehab, he would challenge Pastorini again in 1973 and 1974, but never quite could beat him out. By 1976, Dickey was rusting on the bench when Packers coach Bart Starr obtained him in a trade. He was given the starting job, but it was a mixed blessing. The Packers offense was awful, with few scoring weapons available. Bart Starr had a pretty good team in 1982, including another of the greatest Packers quarterbacks, Lynn Dickey, pictured here to the right of Starr.Raymond T. Rivard photograph In 1976, with sixth year rookie starter Dickey at the helm, the team averaged only 15.5 points per game and Lynn went down with a shoulder separation in the tenth game. The next year was even worse on both the offensive and injury fronts. The Packers averaged only 9.5 points per game and Lynn had his leg badly broken on the last play of the ninth game of the year. He would not return until late in the 1979 season, missing all of 1978. By the start of the 1980 season, Dickey had missed 30 of 60 games due to injury in his four years in Green Bay and 53 games altogether in his nine-year career. In that span, he had thrown 25 touchdowns and 60 interceptions. Although the injuries and pain would continue, his career would take off in the new decade. He had weapons at last: James Lofton as a deep threat, Paul Coffman at tight end, and Eddie Lee Ivery and Gerry Ellis as runners and receivers out of the backfield. John Jefferson would arrive the next year. In the remaining six years of his career, Lynn would throw for 116 touchdowns and 119 interceptions. He would throw for more than 3,000 yards in three seasons, setting a team record of 4,458 passing yards in 1983 when he also led the league with 32 touchdown pass and an average of 9.21 yards per-reception. The most emblematic game of Lynn’s years in Green Bay was on Monday night, Oct. 17, 1983, against the champion Washington Redskins. Green Bay would jump on top early when linebacker Mike Douglass recovered Joe Washington‘s fumble and returned it 22 yards for a touchdown. It was the only big play either defense would make all night. The two teams ran up 1,025 yards of offense, 552 for Washington who had the ball for 39 minutes and 473 for Green Bay who held the ball for only 21 minutes. The teams scored 95 points. Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann threw for 398 yards and two scores, while Dickey completed 22-of-30 for 387 yards and three touchdowns. It was a see-saw battle from the start, and the lead change hands five times in the last quarter. Green Bay scored on seven of 10 possessions, and Washington scored on nine of 12. Announcer Don Meredith kept saying that the first team to 50 wins, and when reliable Mark Mosely lined up for a 39-yard field goal on the last play of the game with the Skins trailing 48-47, Don’s prediction seemed inevitable. Dickey said to his kicker, Jan Stenerud, “Can you believe we’re going to lose this game?” And then Mosely missed. With a defense that weak, however, endings were often not so happy during Dickey’s time. Dickey’s last game was the Snow Bowl against Tampa Bay on Dec. 1, 1985, at Lambeau, before only 19,000 fans. Playing in a blizzard that dumped more than a foot of snow in Green Bay that day, Dickey completed 22-of-36 passes for 299 yards in a 21-0 win over the Bucs. Lofton caught six for 106 yards and both running bucks, Ellis and Ivery, rushed for over 100 as well. In the following week, Lynn hurt himself on a weight training machine and he would not play again. He never saw eye-to-eye with Forrest Gregg and thus claimed to be relieved when Forrest released him in 1986, ending Dickey’s NFL career. He was known as being perhaps the best pure passer in team history and threw the bomb accurately. Lynn Dickey was the epitome of toughness, came back time after time from serious injury and played through chronic pain. He was a notable figure in the team’s long tradition of emphasizing the passing game and was inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame in 1992."

All Packers players to have worn number 12 over the past 50 years: