1983 Green Bay Packers season
| 1983 Green Bay Packers season | |
|---|---|
| Head coach | Bart Starr |
| Home field |
Lambeau Field Milwaukee County Stadium |
| Results | |
| Record | 8–8 |
| Division place | 2nd NFC Central |
| Playoff finish | did not qualify |
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| Scoring summary | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GB | Paul Coffman 25-yard pass from Lynn Dickey (Jan Stenerud kick) | Packers 7–0 | |
| 1 | HOU | Florian Kempf 49-yard field goal | Packers 7–3 | |
| 1 | HOU | Tim Smith 47-yard pass from Archie Manning (Florian Kempf kick) | Oilers 10–7 | |
| 2 | GB | John Jefferson 5-yard pass from Lynn Dickey (Jan Stenerud kick) | Packers 14–10 | |
| 2 | GB | John Jefferson 13-yard pass from Lynn Dickey (Jan Stenerud kick) | Packers 21–10 | |
| 2 | GB | Gerry Ellis 11-yard pass from Lynn Dickey (Jan Stenerud kick) | Packers 28–10 | |
| 3 | HOU | Earl Campbell 7-yard run (Florian Kempf kick) | Packers 28–17 | |
| 3 | GB | Jan Stenerud 46-yard field goal | Packers 31–17 | |
| 4 | HOU | Earl Campbell 8-yard run (Florian Kempf kick) | Packers 31–24 | |
| 4 | HOU | Earl Campbell 1-yard run (Florian Kempf kick) | Tie 31–31 | |
| 4 | GB | James Lofton 74-yard pass from Lynn Dickey (Jan Stenerud kick) | Packers 38–31 | |
| 4 | HOU | Larry Moriarty 2-yard run (Florian Kempf kick) | Tie 38–38 | |
| OT | GB | Jan Stenerud 42-yard field goal | Packers 41–38 | |
The 1983 Green Bay Packers season was their 64th season in the National Football League. The club posted 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 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.
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