NFL Old School Game of The Week: Panthers Beat Packers on Walk-off Quarterback Draw

Panthers quarterback Steve Beuerlein would throw for 373 yards and three touchdowns, but it would be his legs that would decide the outcome of the 1999 Panthers-Packers game.

Throughout his 16-year NFL career, Steve Beuerlein was a journeyman quarterback as he played for six different teams, primarily as a backup quarterback which included a stint with the Dallas Cowboys where he earned a Super Bowl ring after the Cowboys won Super Bowl XXVII.
Beuerlein would get a shot as a starting quarterback in 1993 as he throw for over 3,000 yards as he started 14 out of the 16 games for the Arizona Cardinals.
However, Beuerlein would lose his starting job the following season as head coach Buddy Ryan would call Beuerlein one of the worst starting quarterbacks he had ever seen.
Beuerlein would not get another shot at a starting quarterback job until 1998 when he became the starting quarterback of the Carolina Panthers, replacing incumbent Kerry Collins.
Thanks to a league-high completion percentage of 63% in 1998, Beuerlein kept his starting quarterback job for the 1999 season where he would have the best year of his career which included a memorable walk-off win against the Green Bay Packers in Week 14 of the 1999 NFL season.
The Panthers entered the game with a 5-7 record under first-year head coach George Seifert, but still had an outside chance at a Wild Card spot in the NFC.
If the Panthers were going to have any chance of making the postseason, they were going to need to pull out an upset win over the Packers in Lambeau Field, who entered the game with a 7-5 record under first-year head coach Ray Rhodes, who had taken over for Mike Holmgren after Holmgren left the Packers following the 1998 season after leading Green Bay to six straight playoff appearances and a Super Bowl title.
Though Green Bay had a new head coach, they still had three-time MVP Brett Favre at quarterback, who had led the Packers to several comeback wins early in the season and were riding high entering their game with the Panthers as they had won their previous three games and seemed to destined for a seventh straight playoff appearance.
To add even more confidence to the Packers' chances at beating the Panthers, Green Bay had never lost a game at Lambeau Field since Favre became the starting quarterback in 1992.
With that record, the Panthers were facing a tough task to pull off the upset.
The Packers got the ball to start the game and drove from their 26-yard-line to the Panthers' 46-yard-line when fullback William Henderson fumbled the football after catching a screen pass from Favre, which was recovered by Carolina cornerback Eric Davis to give the Panthers the ball at their 47-yard-line.
Beuerlein would complete four of his first seven passes for 57 yards to lead the Panthers to the Green Bay 11-yard-line when it appeared disaster struck as Beuerlein was picked off in the end zone by Packers free safety Darren Sharper, who returned it 101 yards for an apparent touchdown.
However, an illegal contact penalty on Packers linebacker June Waddy nullified the touchdown and gave the Panthers a fresh set of downs at the Green Bay six-yard-line.
The Panthers would settle for a 20-yard field goal by John Kasay to give them a 3-0 lead, but considering they had a 101-yard pick-six call back, Carolina has happy with the field goal.
The Panthers would force the Packers to go three-and-out on their ensuing possession to get the ball back at their 21-yard-line.
After two plays gained two yards, the Panthers were faced with a 3rd & 8 when Beuerlein was sacked by Packers defensive tackle Santana Dotson, which caused a fumble that was picked up by defensive end Keith McKenzie who returned 18 yards for a touchdown to give Green Bay a 7-3 lead with 1:38 left in the first quarter.
The Panthers would get the ball back at their 15-yard-line and drive to the Packers' 35-yard-line until the second play of the second quarter when Beuerlein fumbled the football again with Packers defensive end Cletidus Hunt recovering the fumble at the Green Bay 39-yard-line.
This time the fumble would not lead to points as the Packers would be forced to punt the ball back to the Panthers, who would drive 80 yards in 10 plays, culminating with a 35-yard touchdown pass from Beuerlein to Patrick Jeffers to give Carolina a 10-7 lead with 5:27 left in the second quarter.
The Packers would respond with an eight-play, 72-yard drive that was capped off with a 19-yard touchdown pass from Favre to Antonio Freeman to give the Packers a 14-10 with 1:48 left in the first half.

Packers quarterback Brett Favre would throw for 302 yards and two touchdowns on 26-of-38 passing.

Both teams would get one more drive before the end of the half but neither team could mount a scoring threat as the first half came to an end with the Packers up 14-10 with the Panthers receiving the kickoff to start the second half.
It wouldn't take long for the Panthers to score as Michael Bates returned the second half kickoff 60 yards to the Packers' 38-yard-line where on the very next play, Beuerlein hit Jeffers for a 38-yard touchdown to give Carolina a 17-14 lead just 21 seconds into the second half.
The Packers would respond with a 11-play, 81-yard drive which saw Favre ran for two first downs a pair of 3rd & 1 situations and complete five of six passes for 62 yards on the drive including an eight-yard touchdown pass to Donald Driver(the first of his career)as Green Bay retook the lead at 21-17 midway through the third quarter.
However, the Packers' lead was short-lived as Bates gave the Panthers a short field again following a 15-yard return to the Carolina 46-yard-line setting up a five-play, 54-yard drive that was capped off with a 26-yard touchdown pass from Beuerlein to Brian Kinchen to give Carolina a 24-21 lead with 4:27 left in the third quarter.
The Packers would get the ball back at their 22-yard-line and would drive to the Panthers' 22-yard-line as Favre complete four straight passes for 49 yards, then ran for 11 yards on the final play of the third quarter.
As the fourth quarter began, Favre hit Henderson for seven yards which was followed by a four-yard run by Basil Mitchell to give the Packers a 1st down at the Panthers' 11-yard-line.
That is when the Packers started to go backwards as a holding penalty on left guard Raleigh McKenzie cost Green Bay 10 yards which was followed by a quarterback sack by Panthers linebacker Kevin Greene for a loss of 17 yards to set up 2nd & 37 from the Green Bay 38-yard-line.
The Packers would get 16 yards back to set up a 40-yard field goal by Ryan Longwell which tied the game at 24 with 11:05 left in regulation.
Carolina got the ball back at its 32-yard-line but quickly drove to the Packers' 18-yard-line in just four plays as Beuerlein hit Jeffers for 20 yards to start the drive, then connected with Walls for 26 more yards on a 3rd & 6 from the Green Bay 44-yard-line.
However, the Green Bay defense would stiffen and not allow another yard on the next three plays, forcing the Panthers to settle for a 37-yard field goal by Kasay to tie give the Panthers a 27-24 lead with 7:48 to go in the fourth quarter.

Panthers wide receiver Patrick Jeffers would catch eight passes for 147 yards and two touchdowns.

De' Mond Parker would return the ensuing kickoff 40 yards to give the Packers the ball at their 48-yard-line as Favre hit Mitchell for six yards to begin the drive which was followed by a three-yard run to set up a 3rd & 1 at the Carolina 43-yard-line when Favre snuck for the 1st down, the third time he had run for a 1st down on a 3rd & 1 situation.
Favre went back to the air on the next play from scrimmage as he hit Bill Schroeder for 22 yards, then after an incomplete pass, connected with Driver for 11 yards to set up 1st & goal from the nine-yard-line.
After Mitchell ran for four yards on 1st down, Favre threw a pass intended for Freeman in the end zone which fell incomplete, but drew a pass interference penalty on Panthers cornerback to give the Packers a 1st & goal at the one-yard-line.
That is when Favre handed the ball off to Henderson who punched it in for the one-yard touchdown for the eighth lead change of the game as the Packers took a 31-27 lead with exactly four minutes left in the game.
Following a 22-yard return by Fred Lane on the ensuing kickoff, the Panthers took over at their 37-yard-line as Beuerlein completed three straight passes for 11 yards to give Carolina a 1st down at their 48-yard-line as the two-minute warning hit.
Following the two-minute warning, Beuerlein found Walls for eight yards, then connected with Mushin Muhammad for four yards, which became a nine-yard play as Packers defensvie back Antuan Edwards was called for an incidental face mask penalty putting the Panthers at the Packers' 35-yard-line.
After two straight incomplete passes, Beuerlein would hit Jeffers for nine yards setting up a do-or-die 4th & 1 at the Green Bay 26-yard-line.
That is when Beuerlein found Walls for 18 yards to give Carolina 1st & goal at the Packers' eight-yard-line with 65 seconds left on the clock.
On 1st down, Beuerlein scrambled around the pocket until he fired a pass for Walls in the left corner in the end zone for the apparent go-ahead touchdown.
But the touchdown was called back as Beuerlein had stepped over the line of scrimmage making the pass illegal and nullifying the touchdown.
It also meant the Panthers lost five yards and lost a down as it was now 2nd & goal from the 13-yard-line.
Beuerlein tried to found Walls again on 2nd down but to no avail, then hit Walls for eight yards to set up 4th & goal at the five-yard-line with about 45 seconds to go.
Knowing that this would be his team's last play, Seifert ran down the clock to five seconds before calling timeout with five seconds left.
Many Packer fans felt that Rhodes should have spent one of his team's timeouts to prevent Seifert from running the clock down and giving Favre some time in the clock in case of a Carolina touchdown.
Nevertheless, there were now five seconds left and the game had come to down to one play from the Packers' five-yard-line.
Beuerlein lined up behind center, took the snap and dropped back as if he was preparing to throw.
But then Beuerlein began to ran up the middle and toward the end zone where he was hit by Packers strong safety LeRoy Butler at the one-yard-line, but not before Beuerlein fell over the goal line for the game-winning touchdown as time expired to give the Panthers a 33-31 win before a stunned crowd at Lambeau Field.

The loss to the Panthers would come back to haunt the Packers as they would lose thier next two games before winning their regular season finale against the Arizona Cardinals to finish the season with a 8-8 record but lost on a playoff spot as they finished in a four-way tie for the final two playoff spots with the Panthers, Dallas Cowboys, and Detroit Lions(The Cowboys and the Lions would get the playoff spots).
This lead to the Packers firing Rhodes after just one season and hiring Mike Sherman who would lead the Packers to four straight playoff appearances from 2001-04.
As for Beuerlein, he would finished the year with a league high 4,436 yards and 36 touchdown passes, which were second most in the league, to earn his first and only selection to the Pro Bowl.
He would remain with the Panthers for the 2000 season where he finished with 3,730 yards and 19 touchdown passes as Carolina finished with a 7-9 record.
He was released in the offseason but would go on to sign with the Denver Broncos where he backed up Brian Griese and Jake Plummer for the next three seasons before his retirement following the 2003 season.