Case for the Hall: Mike Holmgren

Mike Holmgren resurrected the Packers in the 1990s. He was one of the best coaches in football relative to his peers. He was recently named a semifinalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Here's why he should be in.

Green Bay Press Gazette

Let’s rewind back to 1992. The Green Bay Packers have just fired Lindy Infante as they continued to toil in the wilderness of mediocrity.

They have not won a playoff game since the 1982 season.

Ron Wolf, the Packers’ new General Manager wants to hire Bill Parcells but is unable because as Wolf said, Parcells needed open heart surgery. He couldn’t realistically do the job.

Sometimes the best moves are the ones you don’t make.

Parcells would return to coaching and has since found his way into the Hall of Fame.

The Packers had to pivot. Their next Head Coach didn’t come riding in on a white horse, but rather a Harley-Davidson.

Wolf tabs San Francisco 49ers’ Offensive Coordinator Mike Holmgren. The hiring of Holmgren is paired with another one of Wolf’s bold moves.

He traded a first-round pick for Atlanta Falcons quarterback Brett Favre.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Holmgren did not win his first game until Favre took the field on September 20, 1992 against the Cincinnati Bengals.

The team had 92 yards with just over a minute to play. Favre led the team down the field and hit Kitrick Taylor for a game-winning touchdown.

It was the first of 75 wins that Holmgren would have as the Head Coach in Green Bay. That's likely a large reason Holmgren was recently named a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame's class of 2024. 

Holmgren’s career in Green Bay ended after the team lost to the San Francisco 49ers in the Wild Card round when Terrell Owens caught a touchdown pass with minimal time left on the clock.

His left Green Bay with a 75-37 record, which is good for a 67 percent win percentage. He is just percentage points behind the NFL’s all time wins leader, Don Shula. 

That mark leads everyone to wonder what could have been if Favre and Holmgren were able to stay together. 

Neither was as good apart as they were together.

Holmgren won just a shade over 56 percent of his games in Seattle, which included one trip to the conference championship and the Seahawks’ first-ever trip to the Super Bowl.

Favre’s recklessness would become more prevalent after Holmgren left. After winning three consecutive MVP awards under Holmgren’s tutelage, Favre would never win the award again in his Hall of Fame career.

His turnover-prone nature came roaring back to the forefront including throwing 29 interceptions in a 2005 season where the team went 4-12.

Holmgren’s coaching career ended in 2008 when he resigned as Head Coach of the Seattle Seahawks. His career ended with the following accolades.

161-11 (.592 win percentage)

13-11 in the postseason.

75-37 in Green Bay including a 48-16 run from 1995-1998.

1x Super Bowl champion.

3x conference champion

Seattle Seahawks Ring of Honor

Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame.

Among his peers, Holmgren has a better winning percentage than fellow Hall of Famers Chuck Noll, Dick Vermeil, and the man he was hired in place of in Green Bay, Bill Parcells.

The numbers and accomplishments are fitting of that of a Hall of Famer, something that Holmgren was recently announced as a semifinalist for.

In addition to the numbers, the Hall of Fame is a museum. It’s designed to tell the story of professional football.

Can you tell the story of professional football without Mike Holmgren helping revive the 1990s Green Bay Packers?

When Holmgren got to Green Bay, they were mostly an afterthought. They had not won a postseason game in more than a decade.

They had not had back-to-back winning seasons since Vince Lombardi was the Head Coach, and only won more than eight games once.

Holmgren never won less than nine games as the Head Coach. They won double-digit games from 1995-1998 including back-to-back trips to Super Bowl XXXI and XXXII.

Sure, he does not have the decorations of some other Head Coaches, but being a one-time champion is not a disqualification.

Holmgren has a better winning percentage than Dick Vermeil. His time in Green Bay is comparable to that of Tony Dungy. Both coaches are already in the Hall of Fame.

He helped build Brett Favre into a Hall of Famer and has since been referred to by Favre as the best coach he ever had.

Matt Hasselbeck was not a Hall of Famer, but he built Hasselbeck into a winning quarterback as well. 

Before the Shanahan tree ran rampant in the NFL, it was the Holmgren tree.

Steve Mariucci, Marty Mornhinweg, Ray Rhodes, Dick Jauron, Jon Gruden, and future Hall of Famer Andy Reid were all assistants under Holmgren in Green Bay.

The numbers and influence around the league stacks up with those already in the Hall of Fame. 

There’s just one thing missing for Holmgren. One final call to go his way.