# 1983 Green Bay Packers season

The 1983 Green Bay Packers season was their 65th season overall and their 63rd in the National Football League. The team finished with an 8–8 record under ninth-year head coach Bart Starr to finish second in the NFC Central division. The team set an NFL record for most overtime games played in one season with five, winning two and losing three. On Monday Night Football in October, Green Bay defeated the Washington Redskins, 48–47, in what was at the time the highest-scoring game in MNF history. It was voted one of the ten best Packer games and is featured on the NFL Films collection, "The Green Bay Packers Greatest Games."
Green Bay hovered around the .500 mark all season. Entering their final regular season game on December 18 at Chicago, the Packers (8–7) could secure a playoff berth with a victory. Green Bay scored a touchdown to take a one-point lead with just over three minutes in the game, and Chicago running back Walter Payton was sidelined with a wrist injury. The Bears returned the kickoff to their 38 and drove fifty yards, down to the Packer twelve, with 1:17 remaining. Although Green Bay had all three of its timeouts, they opted not to use any, and the Bears kicked a winning 22-yard field goal with ten seconds on the clock. Green Bay fumbled away the ensuing kickoff, and the Los Angeles Rams (9–7) gained the final playoff slot.
Starr was fired the following day by team president Robert Parins, ending a 26-year association with the team as a player and coach. Former player Forrest Gregg, the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals, was hired before the end of the week, announced on Christmas Eve. Gregg had led the Bengals to Super Bowl XVI two years earlier, but had less success in his four seasons in Green Bay, then left for his alma mater SMU in Dallas in January 1988.

## Offseason
### NFL draft

1983 Green Bay Packers draft :
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | College |
| 1 | 11 | Tim Lewis | Cornerback | Pittsburgh |
| 2 | 48 | Dave Drechsler | Guard | North Carolina |
| 4 | 104 | Mike Miller | Wide receiver | Tennessee |
| 5 | 132 | Brian Thomas | Running back | Pittsburgh |
| 6 | 160 | Ron Sams | Guard | Pittsburgh |
| 7 | 188 | Jessie Clark | Running back | Arkansas |
| 8 | 216 | Carlton Briscoe | Running back | McNeese State |
| 9 | 243 | Robin Ham | Center | West Texas State |
| 10 | 253 | Byron Williams | Wide receiver | Texas–Arlington |
| 10 | 271 | Jimmy Thomas | Defensive back | Indiana |
| 11 | 299 | Bucky Scribner | Punter | Kansas |
| 12 | 327 | John Harvey | Linebacker | USC |
| Made roster ||||||

### Undrafted free agents

1983 Undrafted free agents of note :
| Player | Position | College |
| Tom Bishop | Defensive end | Asland |
| Jim Ettari | Nose tackle | The Citadel |
| Joe Rudzinski | Linebacker | Notre Dame |

## Preseason

| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue | Recap |
| 1 | August 6 | Cleveland Browns | L 20–21 | 0-1 | Lambeau Field | Recap |
| 2 | August 12 | at Seattle Seahawks | L 21–28 | 0-2 | Kingdome | Recap |
| 3 | August 20 | at Philadelphia Eagles | L 14–27 | 0-3 | Veterans Stadium | Recap |
| 4 | August 27 | St. Louis Cardinals | W 39–27 | 1-3 | Lambeau Field | Recap |

## Regular season
### Schedule

| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue | Attendance | Recap |
| 1 | September 4 | at Houston Oilers | W 41–38 (OT) | 1–0 | Astrodome | 44,073 | Recap |
| 2 | September 11 | Pittsburgh Steelers | L 21–25 | 1–1 | Lambeau Field | 55,154 | Recap |
| 3 | September 18 | Los Angeles Rams | W 27–24 | 2–1 | Milwaukee County Stadium | 54,037 | Recap |
| 4 | September 26 | at New York Giants | L 3–27 | 2–2 | Giants Stadium | 75,308 | Recap |
| 5 | October 2 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | W 55–14 | 3–2 | Lambeau Field | 54,272 | Recap |
| 6 | October 9 | at Detroit Lions | L 14–38 | 3–3 | Pontiac Silverdome | 67,738 | Recap |
| 7 | October 17 | Washington Redskins | W 48–47 | 4–3 | Lambeau Field | 55,255 | Recap |
| 8 | October 23 | Minnesota Vikings | L 17–20 (OT) | 4–4 | Lambeau Field | 55,236 | Recap |
| 9 | October 30 | at Cincinnati Bengals | L 14–34 | 4–5 | Riverfront Stadium | 53,349 | Recap |
| 10 | November 6 | Cleveland Browns | W 35–21 | 5–5 | Milwaukee County Stadium | 54,089 | Recap |
| 11 | November 13 | at Minnesota Vikings | W 29–21 | 6–5 | Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome | 60,113 | Recap |
| 12 | November 20 | Detroit Lions | L 20–23 (OT) | 6–6 | Milwaukee County Stadium | 50,050 | Recap |
| 13 | November 27 | at Atlanta Falcons | L 41–47 (OT) | 6–7 | Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium | 35,688 | Recap |
| 14 | December 4 | Chicago Bears | W 31–28 | 7–7 | Lambeau Field | 51,147 | Recap |
| 15 | December 12 | at Tampa Bay Buccaneers | W 12–9 (OT) | 8–7 | Tampa Stadium | 50,763 | Recap |
| 16 | December 18 | at Chicago Bears | L 21–23 | 8–8 | Soldier Field | 35,807 | Recap |
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

### Game summaries
#### Week 1 at Oilers

| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | OT | Total |
| Packers | 7 | 21 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 41 |
| Oilers | 10 | 0 | 7 | 21 | 0 | 38 |
at Houston Astrodome, Houston, Texas
* Date: September 4
* Game time: 1:00 p.m. EST
* Game weather: Indoors (dome)
* Game attendance: 44,073
* Referee: Bob McElwee
* TV announcers (CBS): Frank Glieber and Dick Vermeil
* Box Score, Box Score
Game information :
First quarter
GB – Paul Coffman 25-yard pass from Lynn Dickey (Jan Stenerud kick), 10:31. Packers 7–0. Drive:
HOU – Florian Kempf 49-yard field goal, 6:30. Packers 7–3. Drive:
HOU – Tim Smith 47-yard pass from Archie Manning (Florian Kempf kick), 2:40. Oilers 10–7. Drive:
Second quarter
GB – John Jefferson 5-yard pass from Lynn Dickey (Jan Stenerud kick), 8:55. Packers 14–10. Drive:
GB – John Jefferson 13-yard pass from Lynn Dickey (Jan Stenerud kick), 0:51. Packers 21–10. Drive:
GB – Gerry Ellis 11-yard pass from Lynn Dickey (Jan Stenerud kick), 0:30. Packers 28–10. Drive:
Third quarter
HOU – Earl Campbell 7-yard run (Florian Kempf kick), 9:08. Packers 28–17. Drive:
GB – Jan Stenerud 46-yard field goal, 4:36. Packers 31–17. Drive:
Fourth quarter
HOU – Earl Campbell 8-yard run (Florian Kempf kick), 11:05. Packers 31–24. Drive:
HOU – Earl Campbell 1-yard run (Florian Kempf kick), 4:23. Tie 31–31. Drive:
GB – James Lofton 74-yard pass from Lynn Dickey (Jan Stenerud kick), 4:13. Packers 38–31. Drive:
HOU – Larry Moriarty 2-yard run (Florian Kempf kick), 0:48. Tie 38–38. Drive:
Overtime
GB – Jan Stenerud 42-yard field goal, 9:05. Packers 41–38. Drive:
Top passers
GB – Lynn Dickey – 27/31, 333 yards, 5 TD, int
HOU – Archie Manning – 22/34, 348 yards, TD, 2 int
Top rushers
GB – Eddie Lee Ivery – 12 rushes, 71 yards
HOU – Earl Campbell – 27 rushes, 123 yards, 3 TD
Top receivers
GB – James Lofton – 8 receptions, 154 yards, TD
HOU – Tim Smith – 8 receptions, 197 yards, TD :
Lynn Dickey completed 27 of 31 passes, including 18 straight at one point during the game, for 333 yards and four touchdowns and Jan Stenerud's 42-yard field goal with 9:05 left in overtime give the Packers a successful opening day victory.

#### Week 16 at Bears

| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Packers | 7 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 21 |
| Bears | 7 | 0 | 7 | 9 | 23 |
at Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois
* Date: December 18
* Game time: 1:00 p.m.
* Game weather: 1 °F (−17 °C)
* Game attendance: 35,807
* Referee: Red Cashion
* Pro-Football-Reference.com, The Football Database
Game information :
First quarter
CHI – Willie Gault 35-yard pass from Jim McMahon (Bob Thomas kick), 9:24. Bears 7–0.
GB – Lynn Dickey 1-yard run (Jan Stenerud kick), 8:10. Tie 7–7.
Second quarter
GB – James Lofton 31-yard pass from Lynn Dickey (Jan Stenerud kick), 3:05. Packers 14–7.
Third quarter
CHI – Dennis McKinnon 22-yard pass from Jim McMahon (Bob Thomas kick), 6:35. Tie 14–14.
Fourth quarter
CHI – Jim McMahon 6-yard run (kick failed), 4:34. Bears 20–14.
GB – Paul Coffman 5-yard pass from Lynn Dickey (Jan Stenerud kick), 3:08. Packers 21–20.
CHI – Bob Thomas 22-yard field goal, 0:10. Bears 23–21.
Top passers
GB – Lynn Dickey – 10/30, 262 yards, 2 TD, 4 int
CHI – Jim McMahon – 14/25, 162 yards, 2 TD, 2 int
Top rushers
GB – Jessie Clark – 7 rushes, 61 yards
CHI – Walter Payton – 30 rushes, 148 yards
Top receivers
GB – Paul Coffman – 4 receptions, 122 yards, TD
CHI – Willie Gault – 2 receptions, 50 yards, TD :

### Standings

NFC Central :
| viewtalkedit | W | L | T | PCT | DIV | CONF | PF | PA | STK |
| Detroit Lions$^{(3)}$ | 9 | 7 | 0 | .563 | 7–1 | 8–4 | 347 | 286 | W1 |
| Green Bay Packers | 8 | 8 | 0 | .500 | 4–4 | 6–6 | 429 | 439 | L1 |
| Chicago Bears | 8 | 8 | 0 | .500 | 4–4 | 7–7 | 311 | 301 | W2 |
| Minnesota Vikings | 8 | 8 | 0 | .500 | 4–4 | 4–8 | 316 | 348 | W1 |
| Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 2 | 14 | 0 | .125 | 1–7 | 1–11 | 241 | 380 | L3 |

## Statistics
### Passing

| Player | Attempts | Completion | Percentage | Yards | Avg | Long | TD | Int | Rating |
| Lynn Dickey | 484 | 289 | 59.7% | 4458 | 9.21 | 75 | 32 | 29 | 87.3 |

### Receiving

| Player | Receptions | Yards | Average | TD | Long |
| James Lofton | 58 | 1300 | 22.4 | 8 | 74 |
| John Jefferson | 57 | 830 | 14.6 | 7 | 36 |
| Paul Coffman | 54 | 814 | 15.1 | 11 | 74 |
| Gerry Ellis | 52 | 603 | 11.6 | 2 | 56 |

### Rushing

| Player | Attempts | Yards | avg | TD | Long |
| Gerry Ellis | 141 | 696 | 4.9 | 4 | 71 |
| Eddie Lee Ivery | 86 | 340 | 4.0 | 2 | 21 |
| Jessie Clark | 71 | 328 | 4.6 | 0 | 42 |
| Harlan Huckleby | 50 | 182 | 3.6 | 4 | 20 |

### Defensive

| Player | Sacks | INT'S | Yards | Average | TD | Long |
| John Anderson | 4.5 | 5 | 54 | 10.8 | 1 | 27t |
| Greg Boyd | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Byron Braggs | 5.5 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| George Cumby | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mike Douglass | 5.5 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Johnnie Gray | 0.0 | 2 | 5 | 2.5 | 0 | 5 |
| Charles Johnson | 3.5 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ezra Johnson | 14.5 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Mike Jolly | 0.0 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jim Laughlin | 0.0 | 1 | 22 | 22.0 | 0 | 22 |
| Mark Lee | 0.0 | 4 | 23 | 5.8 | 0 | 15 |
| Cliff Lewis | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Tim Lewis | 0.0 | 5 | 111 | 22.2 | 0 | 46 |
| Randy Scott | 0.0 | 1 | 12 | 12.0 | 0 | 12 |

## Records

* Lynn Dickey, club record, most passing yards in one season, 4,458. First NFC Quarterback to ever throw for over 4,000 yards
* NFL record, most overtime games played in one season, (5)