THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, October 16, 1996 TAG: 9610160592
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Bob Molinaro
LENGTH: 62 lines
I actually sat up long enough to read the closing credits for this week's ``Monday Night Football'' game. Haven't done that since How-uuud Cosell was singing duets with Dandy Don Meredith.
The attraction was the game between the Green Bay Packers and San Francisco 49ers.
The Packers have been established as the NFL Team of the Year without even winning a championship. The Packers are the trendy pick to win the next Super Bowl. And they were playing a team expected to be their primary challenger for the NFC title.
Monday night/Tuesday morning viewers watched quarterback Brett Favre throw a Packer-record 61 passes, before Green Bay won in overtime, 23-20, on a 53-yard field goal by Chris Jacke.
Favre is a hype magnet. He is football's answer to John Kennedy Jr. But his reputation as a mass producer of touchdown passes was tarnished slightly against the 49ers. The Packers needed five field goals from Jacke to pull this one out, and Favre's second interception of the night - an awful throw - almost cost his team the game.
Also, the referees presented the Packers with an obvious gift. Or do you think Don Beebe really wasn't touched down in the third quarter?
Beebe had a career game - 11 receptions for 220 yards and one touchdown. Though he is a second string wide receiver who was subbing for the injured Robert Brooks, I knew of Beebe from his days with the Buffalo Bills' Super Bowl teams. But who ever thought he could catch 11 balls?
And Brooks? Don't know much about him, though he was one of the Packers Frank Gifford alluded to when, in his opening remarks, he said Green Bay featured some of the game's most ``exciting'' players.
Exciting, maybe. Excitable, for sure. Just watch, after a touchdown, how these guys jump into the stands to be mauled by a bunch of cheeseheads.
For those weary of the same old stale product from the No Fun League, the Packers are a breath of fresh (very cold) air.
Still, except for Favre and Rev. Reggie White, Packer players remain relatively unknown outside Wisconsin and the ESPN studios. Trendiness aside, the Pack has a long way to go before its impact on the American sports fan compares with that of the Cowboys or 49ers.
Its latest victory gives Green Bay the edge over the 49ers in all tie-breaking scenarios. Chances are good that if the Packers reach the NFC championship game, it will be played on their home tundra.
Something very important may have been decided Monday. But, on the strength of this game, did the Packers live up to their Team-of-the-Year billing?
Not necessarily.
The result left you wondering: Could Green Bay have won had Steve Young instead of Elvis Grbac been quarterbacking the 49ers?
And what if the officials had not called an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on 49ers defensive back Steve Israel for arguing another 5-yard penalty? The 15 yards marched off in Green Bay's favor allowed Jacke to kick the 31-yard field goal that sent the game into extra time.
NFL spin doctors may portray this Green Bay victory as another sign that the Team of the Year has arrived. Favre, after all, is somebody you want to see play in the Super Bowl. Rev. White, as well. And how can you not like a team whose fans wear cheese wedges for hats?
It's easy rooting for these Packers to live up to their advance billing. But, for now, a little healthy skepticism is not out of place. by CNB