Green Bay Packers
After suffering his first losing season in 1970, Devine departed on January 14, 1971, to become the head coach of the Green Bay Packers of the NFL, succeeding Phil Bengston. Devine acknowledged the pressure of the position, but had the benefit of not immediately following legendary coach Vince Lombardi. Bengston had endured three years of unrealistic expectations following Lombardi's brief retirement after Super Bowl II.
Devine's career in Green Bay got off to a painful start when he suffered a broken leg following a sideline collision in the season opener, a 42–40 loss to the New York Giants. After finishing 4–8–2 in 1971, Devine headed a brief resurgence that "The Pack is Back," by dethroning the four-time division champion Minnesota Vikings in 1972 to reach the playoffs, the Packers' first post-season in five years. The Packers lost 16-3 in the first round to the Washington Redskins at RFK Stadium on Christmas Eve. The Packers would not reach the post-season for another decade, during the expanded 16-team playoffs of the strike-shortened 1982 season. Green Bay would not return to the playoffs in a full season until 1993. Unable to recapture the success of 1972, Devine's final two seasons at Green Bay were disappointing (5–7–2 in 1973 and 6–8 in 1974).
Prior to his last season as Packers head coach in 1974, Devine also orchestrated a trade that was widely considered as one of the worst in NFL history. He traded two 1st round picks, two 2nd round picks, and a 3rd round pick for 34-year old quarterback John Hadl from the Los Angeles Rams. On a personal note, Devine's wife developed multiple sclerosis. These factors resulted in Devine leaving the Packers on December 16, 1974, to become the head coach at the University of Notre Dame.
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Famous quotes containing the words green and/or bay:
“When the tea is brought at five o’clock,
And all the neat curtains are drawn with care,
The little black cat with bright green eyes
Is suddenly purring there.”
—Harold Monro (1879–1932)
“Three miles long and two streets wide, the town curls around the bay ... a gaudy run with Mediterranean splashes of color, crowded steep-pitched roofs, fishing piers and fishing boats whose stench of mackerel and gasoline is as aphrodisiac to the sensuous nose as the clean bar-whisky smell of a nightclub where call girls congregate.”
—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)