1980 Green Bay Packers season

1980 Green Bay Packers season
Head coach	Bart Starr
Home field	Lambeau Field Milwaukee County Stadium
Results
Record	5–10–1
Division place	5th NFC Central
Playoff finish	did not qualify

The 1980 Green Bay Packers season was their 62nd season overall and their 60th in the National Football League. The club posted a 5–10–1 record under coach Bart Starr, earning them a fifth-place finish in the NFC Central division.

Offseason

NFL Draft

Main article: 1980 NFL Draft

1980 Packers Draft Selections

Round	Overall	Player	Position	College
1	4	Bruce Clark	DT	Penn State
1	26	George Cumby	LB	Oklahoma
2	34	Mark Lee	CB	Washington
3	61	Syd Kitson	G	Wake Forest
4	87	Fred Nixon	WR	Oklahoma
6	143	Karl Swanke	OT	Boston College
7	169	Buddy Aydelette	OT	Alabama
8	199	Tim Smith	DB	Oregon State
9	195	Kelly Saalfeld	C	Nebraska
10	253	Jafus White	DB	Texas A&I
12	310	James Stewart	DB	Memphis

Players highlighted in yellow indicate players selected to the Pro Bowl during their NFL career.

Personnel

Staff

1980 Green Bay Packers staff

Front office President – Dominic Olejniczak Vice President – Robert J. Parins Corporate General Manager – Bob Harlan Director of Player Personnel – Dick Corrick Head coaches Head Coach – Bart Starr Offensive coaches Quarterbacks/Offensive Backs – Zeke Bratkowski Receivers – Lew Carpenter Offensive Line – Ernie McMillan Assistant Offensive Line – Tom Lovat Special Assistant – Dick Rehbein

Defensive coaches Defensive Coordinator – John Meyer Defensive Line – Jim Champion Defensive Line – Fred von Appen Linebackers – John Marshall Defensive Backs – Ross Fichtner Special teams coaches Special Teams – John Marshall

Roster

1980 Green Bay Packers roster

Quarterbacks (QB) 12 Lynn Dickey 19 Steve Pisarkiewicz 17 David Whitehurst Running backs (RB) 44 Vickey Ray Andreson 32 Steve Atkins 31 Gerry Ellis 25 Harlan Huckleby 40 Eddie Lee Ivery 34 Terdell Middleton Wide receivers (WR) 88 Ron Cassidy 85 Bobby Kimball 80 James Lofton 84 Fred Nixon 89 Aundra Thompson Tight ends (TE) 82 Paul Coffman 87 Bill Larson 83 John Thompson

Offensive linemen (OL) 62 Buddy Aydelette T 57 Derrel Gofourth 69 Leotis Harris 71 Melvin Jackson 64 Syd Kitson G 68 Greg Koch T 54 Larry McCarren C 76 Tim Stokes T 65 Mike Wellman C Defensive linemen (DL) 77 Mike Butler DE 92 Rich Dimler DT 99 Charlie Johnson DT 90 Ezra Johnson DE 63 Terry Jones DT 72 Kit Lathrop DT 66 Mike Lewis DT 78 Casey Merrill DE

Linebackers (LB) 60 Kurt Allerman 59 John Anderson 58 Bruce Beekley 52 George Cumby 53 Mike Douglass 51 Jim Gueno 55 Mike Hunt 56 Ed O'Neil 70 Paul Rudzinski Defensive backs (DB) {{{defensive_back}}} Special teams 11 David Beverly P 16 Tom Birney K 10 Jan Stenerud K

Rookies in italics

Regular season

Another Bad Season for Green Bay

Before the 1980 season even began, first-round draft pick Bruce Clark bolted directly for the Canadian Football League, never playing a down for the Packers. He forced a trade to the New Orleans Saints upon returning to the United States.

Green Bay regrouped and started strong by outlasting the Chicago Bears in an overtime thriller in the season opener. But with 27 players on injured reserved during the course of the year, the team was unable to replenish its roster and Green Bay suffered their 7th losing season in 8 years.

The season hit rock bottom in the rematch with the Bears. Exactly three months after the opener at Lambeau Field, Chicago exacted revenge by embarrassing its archrival 61-7 at Soldier Field.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Result	Score	Record	Venue	Attendance
09/07/1980	Chicago Bears	W	12–6 (OT)	1–0–0	Lambeau Field	54,381
09/14/1980	Detroit Lions	L	29–7	1–1–0	Milwaukee County Stadium	53,099
09/21/1980	at Los Angeles Rams	L	51–21	1–2–0	Anaheim Stadium	63,850
09/28/1980	Dallas Cowboys	L	28–7	1–3–0	Milwaukee County Stadium	54,776
10/05/1980	Cincinnati Bengals	W	14–9	2–3–0	Lambeau Field	55,006
10/12/1980	at Tampa Bay Buccaneers	T	14–14 (OT)	2–3–1	Tampa Stadium	64,854
10/19/1980	at Cleveland Browns	L	26–21	2–4–1	Cleveland Stadium	75,548
10/26/1980	Minnesota Vikings	W	16–3	3–4–1	Lambeau Field	56,191
11/02/1980	at Pittsburgh Steelers	L	22–20	3–5–1	Three Rivers Stadium	52,165
11/09/1980	San Francisco 49ers	W	23–16	4–5–1	Milwaukee County Stadium	54,475
11/16/1980	at New York Giants	L	27–21	4–6–1	Giants Stadium	76,609
11/23/1980	at Minnesota Vikings	W	25–13	5–6–1	Metropolitan Stadium	47,234
11/30/1980	Tampa Bay Buccaneers	L	20–17	5–7–1	Milwaukee County Stadium	54,225
12/07/1980	at Chicago Bears	L	61–7	5–8–1	Soldier Field	57,176
12/14/1980	Houston Oilers	L	22–3	5–9–1	Lambeau Field	53,201
12/21/1980	at Detroit Lions	L	24–3	5–10–1	Pontiac Silverdome	75,111

Standings

NFC Central
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Minnesota Vikings(3)	9	7	0	.563	5–3	8–4	317	308	L1
Detroit Lions	9	7	0	.563	5–3	9–5	334	272	W2
Chicago Bears	7	9	0	.438	5–3	7–5	304	264	W1
Tampa Bay Buccaneers	5	10	1	.344	1–6–1	4–7–1	271	341	L3
Green Bay Packers	5	10	1	.344	3–4–1	4–7–1	231	371	L4

Game summaries

Week 2: Detroit Lions

See also: 1980 Detroit Lions season

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Lions	3	13	6	7	29
Packers	0	7	0	0	7

at Milwaukee County Stadium, Milwaukee

• Date: September 14
• Game time: 1:00 p.m.
• Game weather: 64°F, wind 14 mph
• Box Score

Scoring summary

Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP Lions Packers 1 Lions 32-yard field goal by Eddie Murray 3 0 2 Lions 39-yard field goal by Eddie Murray 6 0 2 Packers Eddie Lee Ivery 5-yard touchdown run, Chester Marcol kick good 6 7 2 Lions Billy Sims 1-yard touchdown run, Eddie Murray kick good 13 7 2 Lions 43-yard field goal by Eddie Murray 16 7 3 Lions 42-yard field goal by Eddie Murray 19 7 3 Lions 23-yard field goal by Eddie Murray 22 7 4 Lions Billy Sims 87-yard touchdown reception from Gary Danielson, Eddie Murray kick good 29 7 "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 29 7

Awards and records

Hall of Famers

In 1980 Packer great Herb Adderley was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame