Buffalo Bills

Super Bowl memories: Don Beebe

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 10:45 p.m. ET

Fansided, Matt Verderame/Fansided

Jan. 26, 1997. The Green Bay Packers were about to win the Super Bowl for the first time in 29 years. One more kneel-down from Brett Favre, and the Vince Lombardi Trophy would come home to Titletown, suddenly an apt name once again.

Favre, who won the second of his three consecutive MVP awards that season, was deservedly receiving most of the attention. He was about to earn his first ring. So was the man standing behind him in victory formation.

Don Beebe was in his eighth NFL season and making his first Super Bowl appearance. For Beebe, the image of the seconds winding off the Louisiana Superdome clock will forever be etched in his mind. It was a countdown to a championship and simultaneously, the countdown to relief.

“To go to the Super Bowl and win in a Green Bay uniform, it’s iconic,” Beebe said. “Wherever I go the rest of my life, you’re revered.”

Still, Beebe found a quiet moment just minutes later, and found himself consumed with guilt. The achievement of a lifetime was cloaked in thoughts of others, those left behind. Those final 60 minutes of a season had been conquered by Beebe and his teammates, but that didn’t erase his past. A past filled with incredible successes, coupled with the devastating lows that come with falling inches shy of the goal.