Don Banks of cnnsi.com wrote of his 5 favorite Monday Night Football memories in his column today. Obviously, this is because MNF is going into it’s last game on ABC next week. I think it’s neat that 3 out of the 5 games had the Packers staring in them:

5. Denver 17, Green Bay 14, Oct. 15, 1984
2. Packers 12, Bucs 9, in OT, Dec. 12, 1983
1. Vikings 37, Packers 24, Oct. 5, 1998

Ok, so the Packers didn’t sound too stellar in any of the games, but I liked his description of the Packers/Bucs game.

This isn’t a game that’s going to make anyone’s list but mine, but I was there in Tampa Stadium that night that Howard Cosell called his final Monday night game from ABC’s booth. But that’s not what made this late-season game between two also-rans memorable.

Leave it to Bucs head coach and noted quipster John McKay to do that. Tampa Bay, headed for a 2-14 season, lost to the Packers thanks to kicker Bill Capece missing both an extra point and a 35-yard fourth-quarter field goal attempt. Green Bay capitalized on Capece’s miscues and tied the game on a Jan Stenerud field goal late in regulation, and won it on another Stenerud three-pointer early in overtime.

After the game, McKay was asked about his struggling kicker and got off one of his most inspired lines: “Capece is kaput. There will be no more field goals kicked by the Bucs this year, no matter what the score is. I’m tired of being crucified.”

Capece was cut soon after, and the next week, new kicker Dave Warnke missed a field goal and an extra point and shanked three kickoffs in a three-point loss at Detroit. Fed up with kickers, McKay then had 300-pound offensive tackle George Yarno kick the Bucs’ final PAT of the season.

Ha! Can you imagine that sight? Imagine Gilbert Brown or something kicking a PAT. That’s funny.

In a different Sports Illustrated picture/article, thankfully they mentioned the MNF game that had the Packers vs. the Raiders on Dec. 22, 2003. Just a day after his father died, Brett Favre came out and threw for 399 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Packers to a 41-7 rout of the Raiders. That was a hell of a game to watch.