Road Trip: Packers Arrive in North Carolina for Playoff Game

Dec. 19, 1972 – For the first time in nearly five years, Green Bay takes to the road for a great cause: the playoffs. Capturing their first NFC Central Division title since Vince Lombardi’s final year as Packers coach (1967), the team travels to Winston-Salem, North Carolina where it will prepare to face the Washington Redskins in a divisional playoff game on Christmas Eve. “We’ll have more squad meetings that we normally would,” Packers coach Dan Devine says. “After all, we’ll have everybody together…all the time.” Devine says he chose Winston-Salem because it was better suited for total concentration. “It’s going to take the same kind of effort we had against Detroit and Minnesota to beat Washington,” he says. “Anything less won’t do.” Unfortunately for Green Bay, its effort is not enough as the Redskins triumph 16-3.