How is a team supposed to react after battling for 60 or more minutes of grueling football, only for the game to end in a tie with no winner and no loser?
The Packers should know that answer better than any other team: Since 1974, when the NFL implemented its overtime rules, no franchise has tied more games than Green Bay.
With seven tie games, the most recent iteration of the feat came this past week in a crazy football game against the Dallas Cowboys that saw Packer kicker Brandon McManus nail an overtime-expiring field goal to end the game 40-40.
“It doesn’t feel good. It feels weird,” said Packers quarterback Jordan Love, on tying a game. “It is my first time going through a tie. It feels weird to play a full game and end in a tie.”
That same sentiment is probably shared with all of the other starting quarterbacks and players as a whole for the Packers in its previous six tie game finishes as well.
The first of those seven ties came on Nov. 26, 1978, against the Minnesota Vikings with the final scoring showing 10-10.
The Packers were led by running back Terdell Middleton, who ran the ball 39 times for 110 yards and one touchdown in the game. Quarterback David Whitehurst completed 11-of-23 passes for 175 yards.
For the Vikings, Hall of Fame quarterback Fran Tarkenton completed 20-of-37 passes for 199 yards, one touchdown and four interceptions. Wide receiver Ahmad Rashad took in Tarkenton’s touchdown pass, adding 38 yards through the air. The tie resulted in the Packers and Vikings tying (8-7-1) in the division standings, which gave the Vikings the division after beating the Packers in the teams’ other matchup.
The next tie game for the Packers came on Oct. 12, 1980, to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as Middleton again scored a touchdown, but it was quarterback Lynn Dickey who had the big game, throwing for 418 yards and a touchdown. That touchdown was caught by Paul Coffman. The Buccaneers were led by Doug Williams who passed for 103 yards and ran for a touchdown. Tampa’s second touchdown came on Richard Wood’s 55-yard interception return for a touchdown.
Two years later, the Packers found itself in a similar spot, when it tied the Baltimore Colts 20-20 on Dec. 19, 1982.
Dickey once again threw a touchdown, but it was Eddie Lee Ivory who ran in a score in this game. For the Colts, quarterback Mike Pagel threw one touchdown pass to Matt Bouza, while Randy McMillan picked up one score on the ground. Both teams exchanged two field goals apiece, but it was Packers kicker Jan Stenerud who missed what would have been a game-winning 47-yard field goal with two minutes left. This tie kept the Colts from finishing solidly in the loss column with a record of 0-8-1.
Seven years later on Sept. 20, 1987, the Packers found themselves in an evenly matched contest against the Denver Broncos.
Playing in Milwaukee, quarterback Don Majkowski dueled with Hall of Famer John Elway. Majkowski threw for 121 yards and one touchdown to Paul Ott Carruth. Brent Fullwood added another touchdown on the ground.
As for Denver, Elway threw for 285 yards, but it was the ground game that picked up the scores, with Gene Lang and Steve Sewell each recording a rushing touchdown. With a field goal each, the game resulted in a 17-17 tie.
Green Bay’s next tie game came 26 years later in a different circumstance. In 2012, the rules were changed to prevent a field goal make on the first possession of overtime ending the game.
Once again, the Packers found themselves in a stalemate with the Minnesota Vikings on Nov. 24, 2013.
With Aaron Rodgers injured, it was Scott Tolzein who started the game for the Packers. He was ineffective in his start, only managing one rushing touchdown to open the scoring. Minnesota ripped off 23 straight points, including an Adrian Peterson touchdown run, before Tolzein was benched for Matt Flynn.
Flynn led a 16-point comeback, with Eddie Lacy and Jarrett Boykin both scoring touchdowns. Tied at 23, both Green Bay and Minnesota exchanged field goals in overtime, ending in a 26-26 tie.
Green Bay’s sixth tie since 1974 also came against the Minnesota Vikings in a 29-29 battle on Sept. 16, 2018.
Rodgers was healthy in this game, completing 30-of-42 passes for 281 yards and one touchdown. That touchdown went to Davante Adams.
Rodgers was out-dueled by Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins, who threw for 425 yards and four touchdowns. Stefon Diggs (two), Adam Thielen (one) and Laquan Treadwell (one) were on the receiving end of those touchdown passes. With Packers kicker Mason Crosby making five field goals, the other Packers touchdown came from defensive back Josh Jackson on a blocked punt recovery in the end zone. In regulation, it appeared Crosby had made the game-winning field goal, but the Vikings called a time out right before the kick. On the next attempt, Crosby missed the kick, sending the game to overtime.
In overtime, Vikings kicker Daniel Carlson missed both field goal attempts, saving the Packers from a loss. Carlson was cut from the Vikings shortly thereafter.
Green Bay’s seventh tie game then came seven years later against the Cowboys in Love’s first experience as a game-tying quarterback.
“It was a weird game,” said McManus. “I wouldn’t say satisfying, but it is not a loss and it is not a tick in the loss column. Who knows down the road if that helps us or hurts us?”
