AP Names Packers’ Infante as NFL Coach of the Year

Lindy Infante is the first Green Bay Packer coach since Vince Lombardi 30 years ago to be honored by the Associated Press as NFL coach of the year, but there the comparison ends, he says.

Infante, who guided the Packers to a 10-6 finish and within a victory of the playoffs, said: “There will never be another Vince Lombardi. I’m just honored to be sitting in the seat he sat in and coaching in the city he coached in and coaching the team he made so famous.”

In a national media poll, Infante received 23 votes. Denver Coach Dan Reeves had 17 1/2 and new San Francisco Coach George Siefert 16. Others receiving votes were Bill Parcells, New York Giants, five; Art Shell, Raiders, four; Marty Schottenheimer, Kansas City, 3 1/2, and Chuck Noll, Pittsburgh, one.