1980 Edition 4

In this week's trip to the Vault, we hit the 4th edition of the 1980 Post Pattern. In this issue, we get a deep dive on the picking competition, a football poem from Aunt Marvis (was there anything that woman couldn't do?), as well as a number of nuggets from recent games.  There is also...wait for it...a LETTER TO THE EDITOR!  This is my favorite part of this Post Pattern. You all should really check this part out and hopefully leave feeling inspired to write your own letters. I'm anxious to see if we ever find out about what this research effort uncovered.

On This Date

Green Bay entered Week 10 of the 1980 season with a 3-5-1 record.  The team had a chance to be over .500 by this point, but surrendered leads to the Browns and Steelers late in their games. Still, the offense was showing positive signs, specifically the Dickey to Lofton connection, supported by the rushing efforts of Gerry Ellis and Eddie Lee Ivery.  On November 9th, the Week 10 matchup vs the 49ers has held at Milwaukee County Stadium in front of 54,475 fans. A 2nd year quarterback by the name of Joe Montana had started the previous three games for the Niners, but was benched in favor of Steve DeBerg for this contest. On a beautiful fall afternoon, both teams had success moving the ball. San Fran jumped out to an early 13-0 lead, but Green Bay responded with a Terdell Middleton touchdown and two field goals for a tie game at the half.

If you take the time to watch the game below, but sure to check out the commercials. Some of you will likely recognize the toys being advertised by Radio Shack (around the 12:05 mark). Another commercial around the 25:46 mark asked the question that was on EVERYONE's mind in 1980...Who shot JR?

In the second half, both defenses tightened up.  The teams exchanged a series of fruitless drives in the third quarter.  Green Bay finally broke the tie on an Ellis 8 yard TD run. The teams traded FGs the rest of the way and Green Bay was able to hold on for a 23-16 victory.

On the day, Dickey was 24 of 33 for 244 yards with no TDs but 1 INT. Lofton was terrific, hauling in 8 catches for 146 yards. Despite 4 fumbles (2 lost), the Packer ground game was very effective.  Ellis and Ivery combined for 174 yards on 32 carries.

The win improved Green Bay to 4-5-1 and gave the team hope for the rest of the season. At this stage, some may have thought Green Bay had the rosier looking future of the two clubs(SF was 3-7 after this game). Stay tuned to the Post Pattern to find out how the rest of the '80 season went...and whatever happened to that back-up QB for the 49ers.