Looking at the facts, and trusting his offense, Holmgren went with his gut, and, until the final three incomplete passes, it looked like it might pay off. He also had Favre-the best quarterback in football-who had thrown three touchdown passes earlier in the game. In the previous 58 minutes of Super Bowl XXXII, his defense had allowed Davis to rush for 157 yards, and, with very little time left on the clock, he didn't want to leave his offense with too little time to mount a last-minute drive. In hindsight, Holmgren's decision wasn't a terrible one. But an ill-advised screen to Levens, on the next play, coupled by a Broncos' secondary that refused to let Favre complete a pass to anyone other than Levens, left the Packers' offense stalling on the Denver 31-yard-line with time running out.Īfter a four-yard completion to Levens, two straight incomplete passes set the stage for a dramatic finish, with John Mobley's breakup of Favre's final pass giving the ball back to Denver's offense with 28 seconds remaining. Initially, Favre looked like he would make Holmgren's decision pay off, completing a 22-yard screen pass to Dorsey Levens on Green Bay's first play of the drive. By allowing Denver to score, Holmgren put the game, and his season, in the hands of Brett Favre, the reigning three-time league MVP, who had 1 minute and 45 seconds to travel 70 yards with two timeouts remaining. Holmgren chose the former, which enabled Terrell Davis to score his third touchdown of the game by running through a hole you could drive a truck through. Let the Broncos, who were just one yard shy from the Packers' end zone, score to take a 31-24 lead, which would give his offense more time to tie the game, or, trust that your defense will make the necessary plays to keep the Broncos from scoring.

With Denver threatening to take the lead with less than two minutes remaining in Super Bowl XXXII, Green Bay coach Mike Holmgren had a decision.

Packers score