On Dec. 18, 1988, the Green Bay Packers took the field to play the Phoenix Cardinals (yes, they weren't always the Arizona Cardinals) at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Ariz., knowing exactly what their fate was. The two teams in competition with Green Bay for the top three picks of the draft, Dallas and Detroit, lost earlier in the day. So the Lions now stood at 4-12 and Dallas at 3-13.
Green Bay, 3-12, took the field knowing if they lost, they'd be tied with Dallas for the worst record in the league. But because the Pack would own the draft tiebreaker -- their foes would have a lower winning percentage than the Cowboys' -- a loss in Tempe to the 7-8 Cards would hand the Packers the first pick in the 1989 draft ... and mean Green Bay, in need of a long-term quarterback with Don Majkowski starting, would almost certain pick UCLA quarterback Troy Aikman. The Cowboys already were drooling over Aikman.
The Packers couldn't even lose right. Ron Pitts, then Green Bay's return man and now FOX analyst, returned a first-quarter punt 63 yards for a touchdown to start the scoring. Clint Didier, the former Redskin tight end, finished the scoring with a TD catch from Majkowski, and the Pack won, 26-17.
The Packers lost the number one pick. The top five picks in the draft the following spring:
1. Dallas, Troy Aikman, QB, UCLA
2. Green Bay, Tony Mandarich, T, Michigan State
3. Detroit, Barry Sanders, RB, Oklahoma State
4. Kansas City, Derrick Thomas, LB, Alabama
5. Atlanta, Deion Sanders, CB, Florida State
Five picks. Four Hall of Famers and Mandarich, one of the biggest busts in draft history.
Imagine how history would have been changed if the Packers just did what they should have done that day in Tempe and lost. Aikman a Packer. Barry Sanders, most likely, a Cowboy. And who knows what happens with the rest of the draft. But think further. With Aikman, the Packers likely wouldn't have been the pathetic team that hired Ron Wolf late in 1991 to be the GM. And Mike Holmgren likely wouldn't have been hired. And surely Brett Favre wouldn't have arrived in trade early in 1992.
"Wow,'' Jacksonville interim coach Mel Tucker Thursday afternoon. "Amazing. I never knew that. That makes you think."
Most amazing about the whole story is what would have happened to Favre. Wolf loved him. The first thing he did after hiring Holmgren was trade for Favre. At the time, the Falcons were fed up with their 1991 second-rounder. He'd ballooned to 248 pounds after a rookie season on the bench and out on the town. Is it possible that he'd have stayed on the bench behind Chris Miller and Billy Joe Tolliver, and maybe a couple of years later behind Bobby Hebert when he was acquired ... or would Jerry Glanville and offensive coordinator June Jones have given Favre a shot at some point to win the starting job?
So here we are, 23 years later, with three teams vying for position in the top three of the 2012 draft ... with as much or more at stake than there was back then.
And with no one playing the games Sunday seeming to care.
Read more:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/w ... z1i3iclLQC
Same old story again
