A Painful Decision: Packers Ken Ruettgers Retires

Nov. 20, 1996 – Repeated collisons with 300-pound bodies can take a toll. After 156 regular-season games battling behemoths in the trenches, offensive tackle Ken Ruettgers announces he’s retiring with five games left in his 12th season. “I’ve just been experiencing some real severe pain, and I just can’t do that (play football) anymore,” the Packers No. 1 pick in 1985 says. Ruettgers starts the season on the physically unable to perform list. He makes his first start of the season against the Cowboys on Nov. 18. “He really played a very fine football game Monday night, so initially I was sleeping a little better thinking we had gotten over another hurdle,” Packers coach Mike Holmgren says. “But he came in this morning and told me the pain was bothering him to the point where he couldn’t do it anymore.”