The Green Bay Packers of the late 1990s and early 2000s spent season after season learning the same lesson: getting back to the Super Bowl is hard, even if a lot of the faces on your roster are the same.

After consecutive Super Bowl appearances in 1996 and 1997, the Packers looked like a lock to be making repeated return trips to the big game, especially with Brett Favre at quarterback. Instead, they endured years of frustrating disappointment and near misses, including more than a few moments of heartbreak fueled by Favre himself and his often mercurial play.

But another Super Bowl bid seemed tantalizingly close, and it was players like Favre and other legends of the Packers that made it feel that way. They just had to find the right combination of role players and new stars to make it happen.

Billy Lyon very easily could have been one of those role players. An undrafted free agent out of Kentucky, Lyon signed with the Kansas City Chiefs in 1997, but didn’t survive final roster cuts, eventually landing on the Packers’ practice squad. Re-signing with the Packers the next offseason, Lyon found himself in a rotational role on the defensive line in 1998, and relatively quickly looked like a quality find.

In just his second game of professional football, Lyon found himself smack dab in the middle of a scenario that exemplified where the Packers were as a team. Coming down the stretch in the 1998 season, the Packers were a disappointing 8-5, and were struggling to find the rhythm that would allow them to make the playoff run necessary to secure a spot in their third consecutive Super Bowl. That’s when they met the Bears, who visited Lambeau Field in Week 15 of the 1998 season.

A touchdown pass from Brett Favre to Antonio Freeman put the Packers up 23-13 early in the fourth quarter, and a Ryan Longwell field goal extended the lead to 26-13. But on the ensuing kickoff, Chicago Bears returner Glyn Milburn found a lane and went 94 yards for a touchdown, putting the Bears within striking distance of an upset win. And after the Packers went three-and-out on their next possession, the Bears had the ball with a chance for the lead.

Quarterback Steve Stenstrom piloted the Bears deep into Packers territory, setting them up with a 2nd and 10 from the Green Bay 25-yard line with just under a minute to go. An upset seemed imminent, but then Billy Lyon arrived and brought friends. On second down, Lyon sacked Stenstrom to push the Bears back to the 32. On third down, Reggie White stormed into the backfield for a second consecutive sack. And then on fourth down, Santana Dotson took down Stenstrom one final time to end the Bears’ comeback bid.

That was the middle Favre years in a nutshell. A struggle against an overmatched team, but fading stars arrived to save the day. And there was Billy Lyon, making plays next to living legend Reggie White and Super Bowl XXXI stalwart Santana Dotson. Even if the Packers had a hard time that day, you could see reasons for hope.

But hope never turned into reality — not in 1998, and not throughout the rest of the Brett Favre era. The fading stars eventually went out around Favre, new stars never really took their place, and players like Lyon never moved out of their smaller roles. But Lyon and his peers really can’t be blamed. He certainly did his part, appearing in 59 games for the Packers from 1998 through 2002, notching eight sacks in his reserve role. As an unheralded prospect, he certainly outplayed his rather lowly status, and players who rise above that way can always give you a chance. Lyon held up his end of the bargain, but the rest of the Packers’ roster was never quite good enough again.