We continue the series on Packer Receivers of History with Packer Tight Ends. To read the articles you missed, go to the Packer Receivers of History category page.
Mark Chmura was drafted by the Packers in the sixth round of the 1992 draft. Though he sat out his rookie season after suffering a back injury, he was a part of a very special era of Packer history.“Chewy” played 89 games and started 62 of them for the Packers. In his career, he caught 188 passes for 2253 yards and was a three-time Pro Bowler. Not a bad feat considering he shared the tight end role with Keith Jackson.
Chmura played nine seasons from 1993-1999 with the Packers and was fortunate to have never known a losing season. He has attributed much of the success he and the rest of the Packer offense had in those years to two things.
First, that they played as a team. Everyone checked their egos at the door. They had to. Not only did Chmura and Jackson share tight end duties, Edgar Bennett and Dorsey Levens shared duties in the backfield. Add to that the fact that Favre spread the passes around to the wide receivers so well and each player had to take every possible advantage of the opportunities they were given.
Second, the Packer offense had to become a well oiled machine because they faced Reggie White and the Packer defense day in and day out.
Chmura’s most memorable game was the 1995 playoff game against the 49ers. Not only was that game huge for Mark but it was really a tipping point for the organization as a whole.
Though Chmura never knew a losing season, he also knew many seasons in which the team had all the tools to bring the Lombardi trophy home and just didn’t get it done. Packer fans remember season after season in which the Packers played well all season, made it to the playoffs, and then came up against the 49ers or the Cowboys and just couldn’t get over the hump.
That changed in the 1995 playoff game against San Francisco.
The Niners were heavy favorites in that game. They had just come off a week of rest and looked like they were ready to once again give the Packers their ticket home. But the Packers dominated the 49ers in the 1995 playoff game. In the first quarter the underdog Packers scored 14 points and the Packer defense refused to let the Niners even get within field goal range. The score was 21-3 at the half and the Packers closed out the game with a 27-17 win. Keith Jackson and Chmura (Favre’s go to guys in the red zone) each posted a touchdown.
Even though the Packers went on to lose to the Cowboys, the game against the 49ers put a chip on their shoulder that they carried right through the Super Bowls of 1996 and 1997.
In 1999, Chmura suffered a neck injury that he was never able to recover from. He was released by the Packers in 2000 and, despite an attempt to return to the game with Washington, never played again. In 2010, Mark Chmura was inducted into the Packer Hall of Fame.