How the Packers ended up in the NFC central by luck of the draw

[GBP4EVER]

Never knew that back in 1970 the fight among owners on how to set up the divisions for the merger were so bad that Pete Rozelle said screw it we are putting the names in a jar and pulling one out and had his secretary pull a name out. She pulled out number 3 which had GB with the Lions, Bears, and Vikings.

Had she pulled pulled out 2 the Packers would have been in the west with the Lions, Bears, 49ers, and Rams. Had she pulled 5 the Packers would have been still in the central but with the Cowboys and Cardinals in the divison instead of the Lions and Vikings. In fact plan 3 was the only one that had the Vikings in the same division as the Packers.

FMIA Guest: Joe Browne Looks Back At NFL-AFL Merger, 50 Years Later - NBC Sports

Peter King's Football Morning In America column welcomes guest author Joe Browne, a 50-year NFL employee who looks back at the momentous NFL-AFL merger.

profootballtalk.nbcsports.com

 

[Cheesedog]

Those were weird pairings. Though that last one with the Cowboys would have made for an interesting division.

 

[FlaPack]

Loved it when Tampa was in the division, lived in Tampa then was able to see them once per year

 

[Keg Man]

The Big Sombrero

 

[GBP4EVER]

Loved it when Tampa was in the division, lived in Tampa then was able to see them once per year

Most likely reason why TB was thrown to NFC Central was to apease the teams in the Central because they had wanted a warm weather city so not all games were in the cold weather. Also filled a 2nd wish for the teams they be given a cream puff team to tally some easy wins against and that was TB for pretty much the first 20 years in that division.

 

[dannobanano]

Not totally correct.
They actually made the playoffs for 3 of their first 7 years in the league.

 

[GBP4EVER]

Not totally correct.
They actually made the playoffs for 3 of their first 7 years in the league.

Though one of them was a strike year and those were the only 3 times they had winning records in 20 years.

 

[FlaPack]

Most likely reason why TB was thrown to NFC Central was to apease the teams in the Central because they had wanted a warm weather city so not all games were in the cold weather. Also filled a 2nd wish for the teams they be given a cream puff team to tally some easy wins against and that was TB for pretty much the first 20 years in that division.

Tampa was in the AFC it’s first year