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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers face the Green Bay Packers on Sunday at Lambeau Field and snow is in the forecast for the weekend.
This sentence does not bring back fond memories to Steve Young.
On December 1, 1985, the 49ers quarterback was part of a Lambeau game featuring the same two teams and a frozen scene that made for a hellish experience.
Young, making his second start in the NFL and first on the road, was the Tampa Bay quarterback in a 21-0 loss to the Packers in the Snow Bowl, a contest between teams going nowhere. and which has its own Wikipedia page because it was played in blizzard-like conditions.
Twelve inches of snow fell before the game and 5 inches fell during the contest. Wind gusts reaching 40 mph, the wind chill hovered around 0 and a severe weather warning was in effect.
On Sunday, Tom Brady of Tampa Bay and Aaron Rodgers of Green Bay, two future Hall of Fame members, will play in the NFC Championship game with a trip to the Super Bowl online.
In 1985, a future Hall of Fame QB put his life on the line in Lambeau: Young, perhaps half-jokingly, says he nearly suffocated after defensive end Alphonso Carreker sent him back to face face to face in a snowbank on the ground.
“The snow got stuck in (my helmet) and (Carreker) was on top of me and my next breath, well, there was no breath,” Young said. “I was like, ‘Let go of me! Let me go!’ I scratched my face, trying to get a ventilation hole. It was then that the referee saw me and asked me if I was okay. I was like, ‘I can’t breathe!’ “
The elements were historically gruesome, even at a stadium synonymous with “frozen tundra” and “Ice Bowl,” less known as the 1967 NFL Championship Game.
Conditions led to the least attended pre-pandemic match (19,856) at Lambeau thanks to a record 36,586 absences. But the Buccaneers, whose bus from their hotel to the stadium was driven by a snow plow, had to show up, some reluctantly.
After Bucs head coach Leeman Bennett told his players that warm-ups were optional, Young said a voice from the back of the locker room replied, “What about the game?”
There weren’t any cheerleaders on the sideline or, Young recalls, cars in the parking lot.
“The only people in the stands were people snowshoeing, skiing or snowmobiling,” Young said. “I went out for warm-ups and it was just pathetic. Every 5 meters they were piling up snow, so it was like I had to be Edwin Moses. You had to jump over each stack. So a guy was running a road, jump over that thing, run, jump over that thing.
Young led an offense that had five first downs, 65 yards and 11 yards net passing. He completed 8 of 17 passes for 53 yards with one interception and had the fourth lowest passer rating (29.8) of his career of 143 starts.
“It was the most unproductive football experience of my life,” said Young.
In the second quarter, when Young had yet to complete a pass and feared he would never do so, he dismissed running back James Wilder. He asked Wilder to come in front of him after the snap. Young then threw the ball a few yards from Wilder for completion, avoiding the ignominy of the NFL.
Low visibility was one of the reasons for its low totals. And Young’s problems identifying teammates were exacerbated by the Tampa Bay jerseys and pants: The Bucs wore all-white uniforms except for the numbers and orange trim, which camouflaged his pass catchers by. conditions.
“There was the rush of the passes, the wind and the snow on your face and you kind of had to look sideways because your eyes were itching,” Young said. “And then you look outside and I couldn’t see anybody because we’re all white.” So literally I was looking over there and I was like, ‘I can’t see anyone! Who am I throwing it at? “
Young, whose self-mockery belies his fame, laughed as he noted that his counterpart, Lynn Dickey of Green Bay, looked elite as he threw 299 yards into the elements.
But the hot, awkward weather Bucs, who was in the midst of a 2-14 season and a 19-game losing streak on the road, was particularly unsuitable for the conditions. Consider this: Their gear staff failed to pack thermal underwear before heading to Wisconsin in December.
Young improvised. He wore his suit jacket and pants, which were part of the team’s business travel attire, under his uniform in a futile attempt to keep warm.
“On our sideline it was the ‘March of the Penguins’,” said Young. “We had a heater, so the penguins inside were the guys closest to the heater and they were the hottest. And there were outer rings. And the guys who had just come off the field, it would be the furthest penguins. And then you hear “Punt!” And you’d hear all these guys say, “Oh, no punt. And all the guys on the inside had to give up their places to make the clearance team.
On Sunday, Packers vs. Bucs should be a much better battle than Packers vs. Penguins.
A year ago, when Green Bay lost 37-20 to the 49ers in the NFC Championship game, Young was surprised at how lifeless Rodgers and his teammates were. This season, his second offense from head coach Matt LaFleur, Rodgers is set to be named the NFL MVP after throwing 48 touchdown passes and five interceptions in the regular season.
“He looks full of energy,” Young said. “Do you know how Aaron comes out of the pocket and starts greeting his receivers?” Last year he was waving his hand and it was like, ‘Wait a minute, what are you doing here?’ It was like there was a connection between this group of guys and now they understand what Aaron is looking for.
As for Brady, 43, he’s looking for his seventh Super Bowl title. And Young, who isn’t impressed with the Green Bay defense, says Brady could reach his 10th Super Bowl with a performance that, well, would be the opposite of what Young offered 36 years ago.
“I think he wants to take it out,” Young said. “And if he doesn’t, he will be beaten. Because you’re not going to beat Aaron Rodgers 21-17.
Eric Branch covers the 49ers for The San Francisco Chronicle. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @Eric_Branch
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