[16] Founded in 1919 by Earl "Curly" Lambeau and George Whitney Calhoun, the franchise traces its lineage to other semi-professional teams in Green Bay dating back to 1896.

During the Lombardi era, the stars of the Packers' offense included Bart Starr, Jim Taylor, Carroll Dale, Paul Hornung (as halfback and placekicker), Forrest Gregg, and Jerry Kramer.

[45][46] In a see-saw game, the Packers trailed by only four points when All-Pro Eagle linebacker Chuck Bednarik tackled Jim Taylor just nine yards short of the goal line as time expired.

Poor personnel decisions were rife, notoriously the 1974 trade by acting general manager Dan Devine which sent five 1975 or 1976 draft picks (two first-rounders, two-second-rounders and a third) to the Los Angeles Rams for aging quarterback John Hadl, who would spend only 11⁄2 seasons in Green Bay.

[76] Though rated highly by nearly every professional scout at the time, Mandarich's performance failed to meet expectations, earning him ESPN's ranking as the third "biggest sports flop" in the last 25 years.

[77]The Packers' performance in the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s led to a shakeup, with Ron Wolf hired as general manager and given full control of the team's football operations to start the 1991 season.

[82] The Packers had a 9–7 record in 1992 and began to turn heads around the league when they signed perhaps the most prized free agent in NFL history in Reggie White on the defense in 1993.

[90] Then-Packers president Bob Harlan credited Wolf, Holmgren, Favre, and White for ultimately changing the fortunes of the organization and turning the Green Bay Packers into a model NFL franchise.

[95] Wolf visited team practice late in the 1999 season and believed that players had become too comfortable with Rhodes' style, and said the atmosphere resembled a country club.

From 2001 to 2004, Sherman coached the Packers to respectable regular-season success, led by the spectacular play of Brett Favre, Ahman Green, and a formidable offensive line.

[102] The Packers' passing offense, led by Favre and a very skilled wide receiver group, finished second in the NFC, behind the Dallas Cowboys, and third overall in the league.

Also, cornerback Charles Woodson won NFL Defensive Player of the Year honors after recording 9 interceptions, forcing four fumbles, 3 touchdowns, and registering 74 tackles and 2 sacks.

Though the defense was ranked high, injuries to Al Harris, Tramon Williams, Will Blackmon, Atari Bigby and Brandon Underwood severely limited the depth of the secondary and teams like the Minnesota Vikings and Pittsburgh Steelers used that to their advantage by unleashing aerial assaults against inexperienced players with the NFL's best receivers.

In week 17, the Packers clinched their playoff berth with a 10–3 victory over the Chicago Bears at Lambeau Field, aided in large part by Nick Collins' interception of Jay Cutler's throw that allowed Green Bay to run out the clock.

In the fourth quarter, Green Bay's Clay Matthews tackled Pittsburgh's Rashard Mendenhall, and Desmond Bishop recovered the ball for a key turnover.

[132] Despite receiving homefield advantage, Green Bay lost their first postseason game to eventual Super Bowl XLVI champion New York Giants, 37–20.

[144]During Week 2 of the preseason against the Pittsburgh Steelers, wide receiver Jordy Nelson caught an eight-yard pass from Aaron Rodgers but then fell to the turf without contact.

[162][163] Following a Week 13 loss to the Arizona Cardinals, Mike McCarthy was released as head coach, replaced by Offensive Coordinator Joe Philbin on an interim basis.

They defeated the Los Angeles Rams 32–18 in the Divisional Round,[173] but fell to the underdog Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC championship[174]- their fourth straight loss in the game in five appearances under Rodgers.

This was thanks in part due to some new additions to the team, including running back Josh Jacobs and safety Xavier McKinney, who were both named to the pro bowl that year.

[188] New backup quarterback Malik Willis, who was acquired in a trade with the Tennessee Titans during the preseason,[189] filled in and won multiple games for an inured Jordan Love.

[5] It is this broad-based community support and non-profit structure[198] which has kept the team in Green Bay for nearly a century even though it is the smallest market in North American professional sports.

[201] The original "Articles of Incorporation for the Green Bay Football Corporation", enacted in 1923, specified that should the franchise be sold, any post-expenses money would have gone to the Sullivan-Wallen Post of the American Legion to build "a proper soldier's memorial".

At the November 1997 annual meeting, shareholders voted to change the beneficiary from the Sullivan-Wallen Post to the Green Bay Packers Foundation, which makes donations to many charities and institutions throughout Wisconsin.

[211] Packers fans are often referred to as cheeseheads,[212] a nickname for Wisconsin residents reflecting the state's bountiful cheese production first leveled as an insult at a 1987 game between the Chicago White Sox and Milwaukee Brewers.

During training camp in the summer months, held outside the Don Hutson Center, young Packers fans can bring their bikes and have their favorite players ride them from the locker room to practice at Ray Nitschke Field.

By 1994, improvements and seating expansions at Lambeau, along with the Brewers preparing to campaign for their new stadium prompted the Packers to play their full slate in Green Bay for the first time in 62 years.

[281] The TV rights for pre-season games not nationally broadcast are held by E. W. Scripps Company-owned television stations WGBA-TV (channel 26) in Green Bay and WTMJ-TV (channel 4) in Milwaukee;[282] the game broadcasts are distributed to 19 further TV stations in Wisconsin, Michigan, North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska, Illinois, Missouri, and Alaska, as well as Spanish-language WYTU-LD "Telemundo Wisconsin" in Milwaukee.

On the television sitcom That '70s Show, in season 7 episode 14, Donna Pinciotti gave the gang—including Red Forman, a long-time Packers fan—six free tickets to Lambeau Field for a game against the Chicago Bears.

[289] In 2015, five members of the Packers (David Bakhtiari, Don Barclay, T. J. Lang, Clay Matthews, and Josh Sitton) made an appearance as an a cappella group in the musical comedy Pitch Perfect 2.