Vince Lombardi is one of the most famous names in NFL history. His legacy has made an impact on the NFL for decades. Lombardi took over a depleted Packers franchise in 1959 that had just come off a 1-10-1 season in 1958. The players were dispirited, the Packer shareholders were disheartened, and the Green Bay community was enraged. In less than a decade he turned the Green Bay Packers back into the NFL powerhouse they once were. Winning five championships in a seven-year span and nine playoff games in a row (a record that wouldn’t be broken until 2006) put the Packers back on the map. Now in 2022, a distant relative of Vince Lombardi will get his opportunity in the playoffs.
Joe Lombardi Makes NFL Playoff Appearance With Los Angeles Chargers
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/71376913/usa_today_18804206.0.jpg "Vince Lombardi's Distant Relative Makes Appearance In 2022 NFL Playoffs 2")
As Kevin Skiver of Sporting News annotated, Joe Lombardi is the grandson of the great Vince Lombardi, the namesake of the NFL’s most prestigious trophy. However, the two never met. The Hall of Fame coach died in September 1970, about nine months before Joe was born to Vince Lombardi Jr. Joe Lombardi has had numerous stops throughout his NFL career, with the Chargers being his second offensive coordinator stint. Los Angeles hired Joe Lombardi in 2021 to help grow young quarterback Justin Herbert. Lombardi has worked in the NFL since 2006.
After the XFL folded following its inaugural season, Lombardi was brought onto Mercyhurst, a private school in Pennsylvania, as an offensive coordinator. He was there from 2002 to 2005 before the Falcons scooped him up for a season as a defensive coach in 2006. Sean Payton and the Saints poached him from the divisional rival as an offensive assistant in 2007, and he won a Super Bowl with the Saints in the 2009 season (when he was a quarterback coach).
Lombardi then joined the Lions as their offensive coordinator in 2014, as Jim Caldwell took over the 7-9 team and optimism was high. However, after an optimism-inducing 11-5 season in 2014 that led to a wild card loss against the Cowboys, the Lions started 1-6 in 2015, and Lombardi was part of a purge of the coaching staff. He then landed with the Saints again and spent five more years as their QB coach, before the Chargers scooped him up once again in 2021 to help along franchise quarterback Herbert
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