The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL). Green Bay is the second-oldest franchise in the NFL.[dubious – discuss]
The Packers are the last vestige of "small town teams" that were once common in the NFL during the 1920s and 1930s. Founded in 1919 by Earl "Curly" Lambeau (hence the name Lambeau Field on which the team plays) and George Whitney Calhoun, the Green Bay Packers can trace their lineage to other semi-professional teams in Green Bay dating back to 1896. In 1919 and 1920 the Packers competed as a semi-professional football team against clubs from around Wisconsin and the Midwest. They joined the American Professional Football Association (APFA) in 1921, the forerunner to what is known today as the National Football League (NFL). The Packers are the only non-profit, community-owned major league professional sports team in the United States.
The Green Bay Packers have won 13 league championships (more than any other team in the NFL), including nine NFL championships prior to the Super-Bowl era and four Super Bowl victories—in 1967 (Super Bowl I), 1968 (Super Bowl II), 1997 (Super Bowl XXXI) and 2011 (Super Bowl XLV). The team has historic rivalries with the Chicago Bears, whom they have played in over 180 games, and the Detroit Lions, whom they have played since the 1930s. The Packers also share a fierce blood rivalry with the Minnesota Vikings, who also reside in the NFC North along with the Packers, Bears and Lions in what is known as the "Black and Blue Division" due to the intensity of the rivalry between the four teams. The Dallas Cowboys have historically been known as the Packers' largest playoff rivals after the Packers defeated them in the famous Ice Bowl.
Beginning with the 1992 season, the Packers had 13 consecutive non-losing seasons (their worst record being 8–8 in 1999), two Super Bowl appearances, and one Super Bowl win (Super Bowl XXXI). Three seasons later, they returned to playoff form with a winning campaign in 2007 (13–3), followed by winning seasons in 2009 (11-5) and 2010 (10-6), culminating in a victory in Super Bowl XLV on February 6, 2011, under head coach Mike McCarthy.
