Beuerlein's draw play silenced Lambeau Field

Former Panthers QB remembers unorthodox ending in 1999 win vs. Packers

The laughter started during the timeout. Continued in the huddle. Escalated in the end zone and in the aftermath.

It's nine years later now, and people still chuckle when they think about Panthers quarterback Steve Beuerlein's game-winning draw play at Green Bay on Dec. 12, 1999. Whatever the Carolina Panthers do today at Lambeau Field in their 1 p.m. game against the Packers, they will be hard-pressed to create a happier, more everlasting memory than "The Draw."

"People still ask me about that play almost every single day," Beuerlein said this week when we talked.

It was Dec.12, 1999, and it was fourth-and-goal from the Green Bay 5. There were five seconds left. Carolina was behind 31-27. The Panthers had just called their final timeout.

Everyone knew the game would be won or lost on the next play. Beuerlein and the team's backup quarterbacks -- Jeff Lewis and Steve Bono -- formed a small circle around head coach George Seifert.

"I remember looking at George Seifert on the sideline," said Beuerlein, now a 43-year-old businessman who still lives in Charlotte with his wife and four children. "I couldn't tell if he was looking back at me -- you never knew because he always wore those sunglasses. And then, out of the blue, he said, 'What do you think about the quarterback draw?' And Steve Bono almost fell down laughing."

Beuerlein also thought Seifert was joking. He wasn't.

Seifert went 16-32 in three seasons for the Panthers before he got fired. He never got the team to the playoffs and once suffered through the embarrassment of a 1-15 season. But Seifert made two great decisions as a Panthers head coach.

Selecting Steve Smith in the third round of the 2001 draft was one.

This was the other.

"I'm serious," Beuerlein remembers Seifert saying. "I don't think they will expect it."

He couldn't have been more right about that. Beuerlein had only scored two rushing TDs in his NFL career, both from 1 yard out. This was mostly because the quarterback had the mobility and speed of a mastodon. As Panthers cornerback Eric Davis once noted, a number of third-graders could outrun Beuerlein.

Not only that, Beuerlein had already thrown for a team-record 373 yards in a fantastic game that had already had eight lead changes. He and Brett Favre (302 yards) had engaged in an entertaining shootout all afternoon.

By contrast, Carolina hadn't been able to run the ball at all (a theme throughout Seifert's tenure). The Panthers had a franchise-low 8 total rushing yards --yes, eight -- prior to Beuerlein's draw.

Seifert sent Beuerlein back onto the field with the call and a backup plan: If the Packers looked like they were going to blitz, he would instead throw to Wesley Walls. But if Green Bay lined up normally, he would run the draw.

First, though, the quarterback had to sell his teammates on the play. "There was a lot of tension in the huddle," Beuerlein said. "I gave them the play while the timeout was still going on, so they could get their minds right. I said, 'Well, you're not going to believe this, but we're running the quarterback draw.'

"They all busted out laughing," Beuerlein continued. "It was just like Bono. I said, 'Hey, guys, I'm serious.' And then there were a few choice words, criticizing the play call. I looked them in the eye and said, 'Hey, do your job.' "

Meanwhile, Walls kept trying to catch Beuerlein's eye. He was sure Beuerlein wouldn't actually go through with the draw. Having already caught six passes for 96 yards, the tight end was ready for the seventh.

"Wesley always thought he was open," Beuerlein said.