The 2001 Green Bay Packers season was their 83rd season overall and their 81st season in the National Football League.
The Packers returned to the postseason for the first time since 1998 after two years of missing the playoffs in the 1999 and 2000 seasons. They finished with a 12–4 record. In the Wild Card Round the Packers easily beat the San Francisco 49ers 25–15. But Green Bay's season ended with a 45–17 loss to the St. Louis Rams in the NFC divisional playoff game. That game saw quarterback Brett Favre threw a career high six interceptions.[1]
This remains the last season in which the Packers defeated the 49ers in the playoffs as the Packers went on to lose 5 straight playoff games to them.[2]
March 31, 2001 – The Green Bay Packers traded Matt Hasselbeck and their 1st round pick to the Seattle Seahawks in exchange for the Seahawks 1st and 3rd round picks.
The second game in 2001 was the first time since 1988 that the Packers played the Washington Redskins.[5] because before the admission of the Texans in 2002, NFL scheduling formulas for games outside a team’s division were influenced much more by table position during the previous season,[6] and there was no rotation of opponents in other divisions of a team’s own conference. The Packers finished 12–4 overall, placing 2nd in the NFC Central Division (behind the Chicago Bears), and qualifying for a wild card playoff spot.[7]
^ abThe Packers were originally scheduled to play the New York Giants during Week 2 of the original NFL schedule (September 16) at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford. However, due to the September 11 attacks, the game was rescheduled to Week 17.