ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, January 13, 1997 TAG: 9701140026
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: GREEN BAY, WIS.
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
The challenge all season was to return the franchise to the luster of the Vince Lombardi years.
And Sunday's stage was perfect: a frozen field at Lambeau, 60,216 cheeseheads shouting their hearts out and a minus 17 wind chill.
All that was missing was Vince himself, huffing and puffing in the frosty air and flashing his famous gap-toothed grin.
When it was over, Green Bay and tradition had beaten second-year Carolina 30-13 in the NFC championship game to reach the Super Bowl for the first time since Lombardi's Packers beat Dallas in the Ice Bowl 29 years ago.
``All of us were dreaming about this game all week. It was like we were being tormented,'' said Reggie White, whose dream of getting to a Super Bowl has been the Packers' inspiration all season. ``Now we can go home and have pleasant dreams.''
Along with White, this game's heroes were Brett Favre and Dorsey Levens, Antonio Freeman and Gilbert Brown, none born when Lombardi's last team gave ``Titletown, USA'' its fifth NFL championship in seven seasons.
This team, now 15-3, will head to New Orleans as the favorite over New England, a 20-6 winner over Jacksonville in the AFC title game, to give the NFC its 13th straight Super Bowl crown.
The outcome certainly was no disgrace for the Panthers, who finished 13-5, winning the NFC West and knocking out defending Super Bowl champion Dallas last week.
The result was expected of the Packers, a consensus pick to win it all after losing this game in Dallas last season. They were so confident in training camp that coach Mike Holmgren banned the words ``Super Bowl'' - ``that game'' is what he called it all season.
He finally said ``Super Bowl'' after the 'Pack had earned its place.
``It's very special. The locker room is a warm place to be right now,'' Holmgren said.
``When I talked to the team I couldn't get the words out because I am very close to them. We have a handful of players who are near the ends of their careers. And that's very special, to have an opportunity to get to the Super Bowl, because not everybody gets there.''
One of those heading there for the first time is the 35-year-old White, the NFL's career sack leader. He took a victory lap around the field, then told the fans, ``Green Bay, I hope you're proud of us, because we're proud of you.''
``God always has the last laugh,'' said White, an ordained minister who, as the NFL's first big-name free agent, signed with Green Bay for $17 million for four years in 1993.
``When I made the decision to come here four years ago, people laughed. They asked if I thought we had a chance to win the Super Bowl. I said yes because we had a quarterback who could get us there and a coach who could get us there,'' he said.
Nostalgia was everywhere, especially in the locker room afterward, where several players from Lombardi's championship teams gathered.
Said Willie Davis, the Hall of Fame defensive end: ``We can all enjoy it. Reggie White getting his first championship has to be the greatest thing in the world. We can all identify with it.''
Said a jubilant Ray Nitschke, star middle linebacker of that era: ``They deserve it. This is the year of the 'Pack.''
Lambeau came through again for the Packers, who improved to 9-0 in the playoffs at their storied stadium and won their 18th straight overall there.
``The best team won,'' Carolina wide receiver Willie Green said. ``That's the bottom line. We can't make excuses. But we're proud of what we've done. You can't take that away from us.''
``The Packers were the best team we played this year,'' said Carolina coach Dom Capers, whose team beat San Francisco twice and then chased the Cowboys 26-17 last week.
The weather at 40-year-old Lambeau Field wasn't as big a factor as expected.
It was 3 degrees at game time with a wind chill of minus 17 - 20 degrees warmer than that January day in 1968 when Bart Starr's quarterback sneak behind Jerry Kramer put the 'Pack in the second Super Bowl.
Favre, whose two turnovers helped Carolina to an early lead, was 19 of 29 for 292 yards, including touchdown passes of 29 yards to Levens and six yards to Freeman, a former Virginia Tech standout.
Levens had 205 total yards, 88 yards on 10 carries and 117 yards on five catches, including a 66-yard ramble with a screen pass that set up Edgar Bennett's 4-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.
``Someone questioned where he came from,'' Favre said of Levens, a fifth-round draft pick in 1994. ``He's always been here. He's an amazing player.''
``I can't believe I had a game like this,'' Levens said.
This one was a contest for 29 minutes, or until the Packers scored 10 points within 38 seconds in the first half's final minute to turn a 10-7 deficit into a 17-10 lead.
They added three more on Chris Jacke's field goal on their first possession of the second half - 13 points in an eight-minute span in which Carolina had one offensive snap - and put it away late in the third.
Without two Favre turnovers that led to Carolina's 10 first-half points, this one went just as forecast.
``The team that can run will win,'' Favre said before the game.
Well, Green Bay did and Carolina didn't - the Packers ran for 201 yards overall, the most against the Panthers this year. Carolina had only 45 yards and quarterback Kerry Collins was 19 of 37 for 215 yards.
Brown, meanwhile, sealed the middle, shutting down the Carolina run and forcing Carolina to do what it would prefer not to do - pass.
Early on, the Packers were running but the Panthers were leading, courtesy of an interception by Sam Mills off Favre that put the ball at the Green Bay 2 and led to Collins' 3-yard touchdown pass to Howard Griffith that made it 7-0.
But on the final play of the first quarter, Levens caught Carolina's zone blitz defense stunting the wrong way and broke a 35-yard run to the Panthers' 29.
On the next play, the first of the second quarter, Favre found Levens behind Eric Davis for the touchdown that tied it at 7-all.
Mike Fox forced a fumble by Favre that set up John Kasay's 22-yard field goal that put Carolina ahead 10-7.
Then the Packers took control.
First they drove 71 yards in 15 plays, chewing up 7 minutes, 52 seconds, scoring on Favre's 6-yarder to Freeman with 48 seconds left in the half.
``We felt that with a couple of plays we could get back in it,'' Mills said. ``But that drive helped them out tremendously. That gave them the boost they needed.''
It didn't even matter that they were set back 15 yards for Freeman's illegal chop block - on the next play, Favre simply found Andre Rison for 22 yards.
On Carolina's next play after Freeman's touchdown catch, Green Bay's Tyrone Williams made a one-handed interception of Collins' deep out. Favre came back and hit Rison for 23 yards and Freeman for 25 to set up Jacke's 31-yard field goal that made it 17-10 at halftime.
It was 20-13 after Jacke and Kasay exchanged field goals. Then Favre and Levens again fooled the Carolina blitz with a screen that carried to the Panthers' 4. Bennett took it in with 1:58 left in the third quarter and it was 27-13.
In a final touch, Green Bay inserted Jim McMahon for Favre on the final series.
McMahon is one of two Packers (the other is Don Beebe) with Super Bowl experience - he quarterbacked the Bears to a 46-10 win over New England 11 years ago, also in New Orleans, and his off-field antics were a centerpiece. see microfilm for box score
LENGTH: Long : 149 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. AP Green Bay fan Gregg Matuszak waits to enterby CNBLambeau Field for Sunday's NFC title game. It was 3 degrees at game
time with a wind chill of minus 17. color
2. AP Green Bay defenders Gilbert Brown (93), Santana Dotson (71)
and Doug Evans were breathing down Carolina's neck all day when the
Panthers had the ball. color
3. AP Former Virginia Tech standout Antonio Freeman pulls in a
6-yard touchdown catch during the second quarter of Green Bay's
30-13 win over Carolina in the NFC championship game. KEYWORDS: FOOTBALL