Holmgren Brings Back History
Packers coach Mike Holmgren will play the 49ers for the first time since he left them four years ago.
If the ghost of Vince Lombardi is still patrolling the hallowed football turf of Green Bay, Wis., it has somehow failed to connect with Holmgren.
“You know in press conferences this year I’ve heard questions about curses, voices, all sorts of things,” Holmgren said with a chuckle Thursday. “I really don’t hear voices.
“Obviously, Coach Lombardi and what he did here probably will never happen again anywhere. But I do drive up Lombardi Avenue to my home. I pass Lombardi Shopping Plaza and Lombardi School. And it’s hard to avoid the name of Lombardi.
“But when I came I had to be myself. I didn’t concern myself too much with that. I love the tradition. I love all the things that were established by Coach Lombardi, and I’ve had a wonderful relationship with the guys who played for him and come around.
“That’s fun for me because I was a big fan of all those guys when I was younger. But I’ve got to do my own thing, and this team right now - the younger players - is pretty far removed from those days.
In four seasons at Green Bay, Holmgren has come closer to duplicating Lombardi’s feats than any other Packers coach since Lombardi retired in 1968. Lombardi won five NFL championships and two Super Bowls against American Football League teams in nine years.
This is the Packers’ third straight playoff appearance and fourth straight winning season, something not accomplished since the 1960s.
The Packers beat Atlanta in the first round last Sunday and will play Saturday at San Francisco in a conference semifinal.
With all due respect to the Packers’ history, Holmgren is more familiar with the 49ers’ legend. He spent six years with the 49ers - three as quarterbacks coach with Bill Walsh and three as the offensive coordinator with George Seifert - and will be playing against them for the first time since saying good-bye.
“It’s been a special week already,” Holmgren said. “I’m trying to keep a lid on things because there will be a lot of emotion. I went to school there. Most of my family and my wife Kathy’s family is still there. And then my years with San Francisco, for a kid growing up in San Francisco and watching the 49ers. .. that’s a special thing.”
Much of what the Packers do offensively is patterned after the 49ers’ West Coast offense, which was built around quarterbacks Joe Montana and Steve Young. Some people even compare Holmgren’s brilliant young quarterback Brett Favre to them.
“I would say each of them has their distinctive style,” Holmgren said.
“Brett’s still learning. He’s had a great year this year and he had a great year last year. Now he has to continue to play that way, which I think he will, before I draw any comparisons.”
Holmgren said the Packers will limit the playing time of Reggie White, their Pro Bowl defensive lineman who is playing with a badly injured hamstring.
“The deal I have with him is that he’s going to give me 12 to 15 snaps a game and do the best you can,” Holmgren said.
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