The Green Bay Packers and Seattle Seahawks have met in many epic contests over the past few seasons, including the infamous “Fail Mary” game in 2012 and the improbable Seahawks comeback in the 2014 NFC Championship. In this matchup flashback, we’ll go back about 10 years before that, to the 2003 NFC Wild Card that pitted Brett Favre‘s Packers against Green Bay’s former head coach, Mike Holmgren, and his Seahawks.
Green Bay Packers-Seattle Seahawks Matchup Flashback: 2003 NFC Wild Card
In 2003, the 10-6 Packers, having won the NFC North in miracle fashion the previous week, hosted the 10-6 Seahawks in the NFC Wild Card round. The teams had met previously that season in a Week Five matchup at Lambeau Field, which resulted in a 35-13 victory for the Packers. The Packers, having the home field advantage at Lambeau Field, were the heavy favorites at -7.5 coming into the game.
The game started off relatively slow-paced, as Seattle jumped on the board first with 7:05 left in the first quarter on a 30-yard Josh Brown field goal. Green Bay would eventually tie the score at 3 early in the second quarter on a 31-yard Ryan Longwell field goal, made possible by Brett Favre’s wild 29-yard completion to William Henderson to put Green Bay in field goal range. Seattle answered this with another Josh Brown field goal before Favre marched Green Bay down for the first touchdown of the game on a 23-yard pass to tight end Bubba Franks with 4:43 left in the second to put the Packers up 10-6.
Wild Second Half Sets Up Memorable Ending
Green Bay would add another field goal before the first half ended, giving them a 13-6 advantage going into the break. Seattle would open the second half with a 10-play drive culminating in a 1-yard run by Pro Bowl running back Shaun Alexander, which tied the score at 13. A stop by the Seattle defense led to another touchdown drive, highlighted by a 33-yard pass from Seattle quarterback Matt Hasselbeck to wide receiver Koren Robinson and capped by another 1-yard touchdown run from Alexander.
This gave Seattle a 20-13 advantage towards the end of the third quarter before Favre took over, going 5/5 for 42 yards on the ensuing Packers drive. Ahman Green cashed in on the 12th play of the drive with a one-yard touchdown run to knot the score at 20-20 with 10:13 left in the fourth quarter. The Seahawks would respond with a three-and-out on offense, and a 21-yard punt return by Antonio Chatman gave the Packers the ball in excellent field position at midfield with 9:30 to go. The Packers ate up nearly seven minutes on the drive, as they methodically marched down the field and took the lead with 2:48 to play on another one-yard touchdown run by Ahman Green.
Seattle Ties It To Force Overtime
With just 2:39 to play and 67 yards to go, Hasselbeck led his Seahawks on a crucial game-tying drive highlighted by a 34-yard pass to Bobby Engram that took the Seahawks down to the Green Bay eight. Alexander would punch it in from one yard out, and the game was tied 27-27. It appeared as though the game was headed to overtime with just 0:45 seconds to play, until Favre, late-game heroics and all, completed a 27-yard pass to Javon Walker over the middle to set up a 47-yard field goal attempt for Longwell. Longwell, who was a career-best 88.5 percent on field goal attempts, inexplicably missed the try and sent the game to overtime.
Seattle would get the ball to open the overtime period, but not after Hasselbeck’s commentary following the coin toss was picked up by the referees’ microphones. After winning the coin toss, Hasselbeck announced that the Seahawks wanted to receive by saying “We want the ball, and we’re gonna score.” Little did he know what would ensue just minutes later.
Crazy Ending Sends Packers to Philadelphia
Seattle’s opening drive went nowhere after a fumble on third and nine that would’ve given Green Bay the ball in excellent field position was instead overturned, forcing a Seattle punt. Likewise, the Packers did nothing with their first possession of overtime, punting the ball right back to Seattle. A promising Seattle drive that included a conversion on third and four moved the Seahawks close to midfield before the game’s crucial play came on third and 10 with 10:44 left in the overtime period.
Hasselbeck, lined up in a 4-WR, 1-RB set, recognized a Green Bay blitz and appeared to audible out of the original call. Dropping back, he looked left to Alex Bannister on a hitch route, but Green Bay cornerback Al Harris had the play read from the beginning, jumping the route and picking off Hasselbeck, taking the pass back 52 yards for the touchdown and the 33-27 victory. Hasselbeck, unfortunately for him and his Seahawks, did play a part in scoring, just for the wrong team.
Aftermath
The Packers, with the victory, moved on to Philadelphia to play the Eagles the following week. This game, later dubbed “fourth and 26,” would haunt Packers fans to the core for years to come as their team gave up a long conversion on fourth down that otherwise would’ve ended the game and given the Packers a 17-14 victory. Instead, the Eagles would kick a game-tying field goal and later a game-winning field goal in overtime to advance to the NFC Championship with a 20-17 win and send the Packers packing.
Green Bay would return to the playoffs the following season, only to bow out in the first round and then fail to reach the postseason again until 2007. Seattle, on the other hand, would go 13-3 and reach the Super Bowl in 2005, a year after regressing to 9-7 and once again losing in the Wild Card round. The two teams would not meet again in the postseason until 2007, where the Packers cruised to a 42-20 Divisional Round victory at Lambeau Field in a game famous for the white-out conditions it was played in.
