The Power Sweep

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The Packers Have Been Involved In Some Ugly Monday Night Football

Monday’s prime time flop featuring the 49ers and Rams was undeniably bad, but the Packers have been involved in a few stinkers of their own, including one of the worst Monday Night Football losses ever.

Nobody wants to remember the 2005 season, but let’s take a brief, unpleasant trip down memory lane.

Everyone knows the 2005 Packers were bad, but their Week 15 Monday night showdown with the Baltimore Ravens might have been the nadir. The Ravens came into the game sporting just a 4-9 record. Baltimore was banking on an already declining Jamal Lewis at running back, 31-year-old Derrick Mason at receiver, and a two-headed quarterback monster of Kyle Boller and Anthony Wright.

The Packers made them look like an all-star team.

Boller was an efficient 19-of-27 passing, racking up 253 yards and three touchdowns. Mason accounted for 97 of those yards through the air, and tight end Todd Heap piled up 110 yards and two touchdowns himself.

Green Bay, meanwhile, sputtered just about everywhere they turned. Brett Favre was abysmal, throwing for just 144 yards on 29 attempts and tossing a pair of interceptions. Aaron Rodgers took over in the fourth quarter for the first extended action of his career, completing 8-of-15 passes for 65 yards and an interception. He was sacked late in the game and fumbled, and Baltimore was only too happy to scoop up the loose ball and score, putting the final touches on a 48-3 blowout.

Of course, the Packers have had more than their share of success on Monday Night Football too, and they’ve been on the winning end of a rout far more often.

Their most convincing Monday Night Football win came in 2001, when the Washington Redskins came to Lambeau Field with Jeff George as their starting quarterback.

That went about as well as you’d imagine.

George managed just 102 passing yards, threw an interception, and was sacked five times. Let the warmth of nostalgia wash over you as you read the list of names in the Packers’ sack ledger that night: Santana Dotson, Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila, Vonnie Holliday, Billy Lyon, John Thierry, Nate Wayne.

Meanwhile, on offense, Ahman Green racked up 116 yards on 25 carries, Brett Favre threw one touchdown apiece to Bill Schroeder, Antonio Freeman, and Bubba Franks, and Dorsey Levens got five carries for some reason.

Dominating on both sides of the ball, the Packers went on to a 37-0 victory, one of the bigger wins in what would become a 12-4 season.