Cheesehead
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- Mar 19, 2019
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GREEN BAY – With Aaron Rodgers winning the 2020 NFL MVP, the Packers as a franchise have now won nine MVPs since the advent of the Associated Press award in 1957.
But which of the nine was the best season? Who's the MVP of the MVPs?
Packers.com is going to let the fans choose via a new weekly series that starts with the three Lombardi-era MVPs, followed by a vote on Brett Favre's three and then Rodgers' three.
Each week, vote for the one you believe was the best season, and the three weekly winners will be pitted against one another for a final vote.
So let's get started. Here's a rundown of the Packers' three MVP seasons from the 1960s. All statistics are regular-season only. Vote for your favorite in the poll at the bottom.
1961 – Paul Hornung
In helping the Packers produce an 11-3 record and win the eventual NFL title, Hornung led the league in scoring in '61 with 146 points – 10 touchdowns (eight rushing, two receiving), plus 15 field goals in 22 attempts, and a perfect 41-for-41 showing on extra points. Three of his seven missed kicks were from 50-plus yards.
Hornung's 146 points were actually 30 fewer than he scored the previous year, when he set an NFL single-season record with 176 that stood for more than four decades (but Eagles QB Norm Van Brocklin won the '60 MVP).
His 146 points in '61 still ranks as the second most in a single season in Packers history.
He also rushed 127 times for 597 yards (4.7 avg.), caught 15 passes for 145 yards (9.7 avg.), and completed 3-of-5 passes for 42 yards, including a 10-yard TD.
His biggest game statistically came on Oct. 8 against the Baltimore Colts, when he rushed 11 times for 111 yards and three TDs, caught three passes for 28 yards and a TD, and kicked a field goal plus six PATs in Green Bay's 45-7 victory. The 33 total points remains the Packers' single-game franchise record.
1962 – Jim Taylor
In leading the Packers to a 13-1 record and second straight NFL championship in '62, Taylor led the league in rushing yards (1,474), yards from scrimmage (1,580), touchdowns (19, all rushing), and total points (114).
The 1,474 rushing yards stood as the single-season franchise record for 41 years, until Ahman Green broke it in 2003, and it still ranks second in team history.
The 19 rushing TDs is still the single-season franchise mark, and it was the team record for total TDs in a season until Green posted 20 in '03.
Taylor also led the league in rushing attempts with 272, and he posted seven 100-yard rushing games, also a single-season franchise record until Green had 10 in '03. Taylor had at least 68 rushing yards in all but two games that season.
He posted back-to-back games with 100 yards and four TDs, rushing 25 times for 124 yards and four scores at Chicago on Nov. 4, and then posting 25 carries for 141 yards and four scores at Philadelphia on Nov. 11. The four rushing TDs tied his own franchise single-game record originally set in 1961 (and since matched by three others in team history).
1966 – Bart Starr
Starting every game except the regular-season finale and quarterbacking the Packers to the eventual title in the inaugural Super Bowl, Starr completed 156-of-251 passes for 2,257 yards with 14 touchdowns and just three interceptions. He added two rushing TDs, with 104 yards on 21 attempts.
Starr led the league in completion percentage (62.2), yards per attempt (9.0), interception percentage (1.2) and passer rating (105.0). In the latter two categories, he set single-season franchise records that stood for more than 40 years each until broken by Aaron Rodgers.
Over the season, Starr completed less than 54 percent of his passes in a game only twice, posted a passer rating of 130-plus four times, and didn't throw an interception after mid-October (until getting picked off in Super Bowl I).