The First World Championship Game: AFL vs NFL

The First World Championship Game
by Rob Holecko

When the NFL Champion Green Bay Packers and the AFL Champion Kansas City Chiefs met 45 years ago today in the first game that would grow to be annual spectacle that we now know of as the Super Bowl, it was little more than an afterthought.  The Packers had just wrapped up their 10th NFL Championship against the Dallas Cowboys and were heavily favored to beat the underdog Chiefs.  The AFL Champion Chiefs were hoping to show that an AFL team deserved to be on the same field as the NFL Champion.

The Packers dominated the Chiefs and won 35 to 10.  They would win the following Super Bowl as well, but the AFL's Jets and these very Chiefs would Super Bowls III and IV, and the merger became complete with the former AFL teams gaining full acceptance as equal and full competition for their more established NFL counterparts.

For more in-depth information on this game, you can read the Wikipedia entry on it here.

Also January 15 is the anniversary of one of the best Super Bowls ever played, the 1978 season's Super Bowl XIII.  The Pittsburgh Steelers and Dallas Cowboys met for the second time in four Super Bowls, and both teams were in their third Super Bowl in the past five years.  The game went back and forth, a key drop by Cowboys TE Jackie Smith in the end zone was the difference in a 35-31 Steeler victory.

We are proud to add these two games, the first ever "Super Bowl" and one of the most exciting Super Bowls, to our collection of matchups in the Gridiron Uniform Database.  We plan on rolling out a new feature in the coming days showcasing all of the Super Bowl matchups, so stay tuned for that.

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Also, we are closing in on 100,000 visitors (not unique visitors -- I know it's many of the same visitors who keep coming back, but still) -- thank you for the continued interest in our site.  Speaking of which, we wouldn't have been able to do this without Uni Watch, and this morning I clicked my shortcut to uni-watch.com, and this came up:

I don't know if I'm just navigating wrong or something happened to their site.  I hope they didn't get hacked or anything.  Maybe some right-wing nut job just is having some fun, who knows?  Anyway, if anyone knows anything, or they get it fixed, let us know in the comments.  (This just in, Uni Watch's front page is back up.)

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Steve Young threw six touchdowns
in Super Bowl XXIX, a mark that
Tom Brady tied yesterday

Of the two games yesterday, the only real question was would the Saints come out in white-over-black or white-over-gold.  Tim Brulia & I guessed the white-gold, while Bill Schaefer went with white-black.  They did go with white-gold, but it wasn't enough to defeat the 49ers, who prevailed on a play eerily similar to "The Catch II", the 1998 playoff game against the Packers which featured Terrell Owens catching a touchdown down the middle of the field between defenders and coming off the field in tears, hugging coach Steve Mariucci.  Yesterday Vernon Davis caught a touchdown down the middle of the field between defenders and came off the field in tears, hugging coach Jim Harbaugh.

In the other came, Tebow-mania finally came to an end as the Patriots routed the Broncos.  Tom Brady tied Steve Young and Daryl Lamonica's postseason record of six touchdown passes in a game.

Enjoy the Texans-Ravens and Giants-Packers games today! These both should be pretty predictable matchups, the Texans always go white-over-navy wearing white on the road, and the Ravens, considering it's a day game, we expect will be in purple-over-white, as Tim said, "BAL likely in Purple/white, but I'd be thrilled if 'the team I love to hate' went purple/black."  (Added: This just in, Ravens are in purple/black -- see picture to the right -- so I guess we can color Tim thrilled!)
  
The Giants and Packers should, of course, have no uniform surprises, either, as they re-stage the 2007 NFC Championship Game today. Unfortunately for the Giants, they won't be able to count on Brett Favre throwing a critical late-game interception this time.  If the Giants should pull off the upset, we'll be looking at re-match of the 1990 Giants-Niners NFC Championship that bigbluelarry told us about earlier in the week.  Otherwise we'll see another classic Niners-Packers playoff game.

The Ice Bowl

The Ice Bowl
by Rob Holecko

On This Day... 44 years ago, December 31, 1967, what some would say the greatest game ever (1958 Colts-Giants NFL Championship not withstanding) was played in cold frigid conditions.  The Cowboys and Packers met for the NFL title for the second year in a row, and the second time in the calendar year.  On January 1, they met for the 1966 title at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, and now on the last day of the year they again met for the 1967 title.  This would be the Packers defining moment of their 1960s dynasty.  It would be their fifth NFL title in seven years, and their eleventh overall, having previously won six titles in an earlier era, from 1929 through 1944.

From the Pro Football Hall of Fame's website, here is the write-up of the game:

Pro football fans in Green Bay, Wisconsin have always been recognized as a loyal and hearty bunch. But one wouldn’t have faulted even the most loyal "Packer Backer" if he’d decided not to attend the 1967 NFL Championship game between the Packers and Dallas Cowboys. Played at Lambeau Field on December 31, the temperature at game time registered a frigid 13 degrees below zero. Nonetheless, more than 50,000 parka-clad fans braved the elements that New Year’s Eve and watched in awe as the Packers claimed their third consecutive NFL title, with a 21-17 victory.

From the start, Green Bay fans felt their team had a distinct advantage over the warm-weather Cowboys, After all, the Packers lived and practiced in the cold Wisconsin climate. Green Bay’s early 14-0 lead probably convinced fans that they were right. However, the severe weather affected the Packers too. Dallas scored a touchdown and a field goal after two Packer fumbles and added a second touchdown in the fourth quarter. Suddenly, with 4:50 left in the game the Packers were behind, 17-14.

The Packers literally and figuratively "kept their cool." Behind the leadership of future Hall of Fame quarterback Bart Starr, they marched down field. With sixteen seconds remaining and the temperature down to eighteen below zero, the Packers found themselves about two feet away from victory. Starr called time out. The field was like a sheet of ice. The two previous running plays had gone nowhere. With no time outs left, a running play seemed totally out of the question. A completed pass surely would win it. Even an incomplete pass would at least stop the clock so the Packers could set up a field goal to tie the game and send it into overtime. After consulting with Packers coach Vince Lombardi, Starr returned to the huddle.

Starr took the snap from center Ken Bowman. Bowman and guard Jerry Kramer combined to take out Dallas tackle Jethro Pugh. With Pugh out of the way, Starr surprised everyone and dove over for the score. "We had run out of ideas," Starr said of the play. However, Lombardi put it another way, "We gambled and we won."

We are proud to add this remarkable game to our database of head-to-head matchups in the Gridiron Uniform Database.  So for the final time in 2011, we at the Gridiron Uniform Database will bid you adieu and look forward to seeing you next year, with more head-to-head matchups, more weekly uniform rankings, more On This Day... and much, much more to be added to the database in 2012.

1962 NFL Championship

The 1962 NFL Championship Game
by Rob Holecko

While many people of course consider the 1967 NFL Championship between the Cowboys and Packers at Lambeau Field the true Ice Bowl, five years earlier another NFL Title game was also played in frigid conditions, this one at Yankee Stadium in New York.  "On This Day..." today brings you from 49 years ago today, the 1962 NFL Championship.

The Giants and Packers met for the second time in a row in the title game, the Packers had won the 1961 Championship 37-0 in Green Bay.  This time the teams met in New York, and the Packers knew how important the game was to head coach Vince Lombardi, who had used to be a Giants' assistant coach.  "It was the coach's backyard and his first time back in the big city in a playoff game. We knew how much it meant to him. There was considerable pressure and we understood it was going to be a substantial battle," said Packer Jerry Kramer.

From Wikipedia:

 The 1962 game was a rematch of the 1961 championship game, won by Green Bay 37–0. The Eastern Conference champions New York Giants (12-2) faced the Western Conference titlist Green Bay Packers (13-1). Green Bay began the season 10–0 including a 49–0 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles, where they gained 628 yards to Philadelphia's 54. Before the game, 10,000 fans at a New York Knicks game spontaneously began chanting "Beat Green Bay! Beat Green Bay!", and when the 18,000 tickets available to non season ticket holders went on sale for the game, they sold within three hours. Due to the NFL's blackout policy which aimed to protect gate receipts, until 1973, fans in a team's home market could not watch their team's regular season and playoff games on television, even if they were title games. New York fans made reservations for motels in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Connecticut so they could watch the game out of the 75 mile blackout zone, and even though the game was played in single digit weather with 35–40 mph winds, only 299 of the 65,000+ Giant fans who bought tickets to the sold out game stayed home. Although the weather was temperate the previous day, during the contest it became so cold that a cameraman filming the game suffered frostbite, and television crews used dugout bonfires to thaw out their cameras. Broadcaster Art Rust, Jr. later described the weather as "barbaric". The cold conditions favored the Packers who used a run-oriented offense led by Taylor, while the Giants featured a more pass heavy offense led by quarterback YA Tittle who, coming into the game, had passed for 3,224 yards and 33 touchdowns on the season.

The wind caused the ball to be blown off the tee three times during the opening kickoff, and a Green Bay player had to hold the ball onto the tee so Willie Wood could kick it off.  After a Jerry Kramer field goal made the score 3–0 in favor of Green Bay in the first quarter, the Giants drove to the Green Bay 15 yard line behind short passes from Tittle. Tittle's play action pass to wide open tight end Joe Walton near the goal line was tipped by Nitschke and intercepted by fellow linebacker Dan Currie. During most of the first and second quarter, the teams ran the ball for short gains. The Giants repeatedly hit Taylor hard, and he suffered cuts to his arm and tongue. Near halftime, the Giants Phil King fumbled on their own 28, and Nitchke recovered. Behind a halfback pass from Paul Hornung to flanker Boyd Dowler, the Packers drove to the Giants seven yard line. On the following play Taylor used an outside fake before going back inside to run untouched into the end zone.

The weather worsened by halftime and the wind swirled dust around the stadium, tearing apart the ballpark's United States flag, and knocking over a television camera.  Passing became even more difficult; the longest pass of the day was a 25 yard one from Tittle to Walton. After blocking a Green Bay punt in the end zone and recovering it for a touchdown to pull the game to 10–7 in the third quarter, the Giants defense forced the Packers into a three and out on their next possession. Sam Horner fumbled on a punt return at the Giants 42 yard line however, and Nitschke recovered. Five plays later Kramer kicked a field goal to make the score 13–7. Tittle, with the aid of two Packers penalties, then drove the Giants from their own 20 to the Green Bay 18 on the ensuing drive. New York then incurred two holding penalties, pushing them back to the Packers 40 yard line and ending their drive. Led by Taylor who repeatedly ran for key first downs, the Packers advanced the ball down to the New York end of the field, where they kicked a field goal to make the score 16–7 with 1:50 to play. Green Bay recovered all five of their fumbles during the game, while the Giants lost both of theirs.

 Tomorrow we will look back at the original December 31, 1967 Ice Bowl between the Cowboys and Packers.

Two Championship Tilts

"On This Day..."

by Rob Holecko

We hope everyone had a good Christmas, a least a better one that the ex-boyfriend of this girl at Lambeau Field last night. (see picture to the right)

Yesterday while discussing the 1971 Christmas Day 'longest game ever' between the Chiefs and the Dolphins, we mentioned that twice previous, the NFL had scheduled NFL Championships for Monday the 26th, rather than play on Christmas Sunday.

Today we will feature those two games, the 1955 and 1960 Championships, for our "On This Day..." feature.

In 1955, the Los Angeles Rams, in coach Sid Gillman's first season, were the Western Division champions at 8-3-1.  They had won the 1945 NFL championship while still in Cleveland, and the next year moved out west to Los Angeles.  Out west they had gone to three straight championship games from 1949 to '51, winning a second championship in '51.  Now under Gillman, with players such as Bob Waterfield and Elroy "Crazylegs" Hirsch, they were back in the title game, looking for their third title.

Meanwhile the team that replaced them in, or some would say drove them out of, Cleveland, Paul Brown's Browns, the defending champions, were in their sixth consecutive NFL Championship in six years in the league.  After winning all four AAFC titles from 1946 through 1949, the Browns were 1950 and 1954 NFL Champions, and arguably one of the best dynasties of all time, going for their seventh title in nine years.  Led by Otto Graham, Lou Groza and Dante Lavelli, the Browns were 9-2-1 and Eastern Division Champions.

Here is the Wikipedia write-up of the game:

The 1955 National Football League Championship Game was played at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum between the Eastern Conference champion Cleveland Browns and the Western Conference champion Los Angeles Rams. The 23rd NFL title game was played on Monday, December 26, 1955 before 87,695, the largest crowd to see an NFL title game to that time. This was the first NFL championship game televised by NBC and the first NFL championship game played on a Monday.

Browns veteran Lou Groza kicked off; Rams rookie halfback Ron Waller returned the kick, and Groza himself made the tackle. A subsequent Rams drive was stopped at the Cleveland 12 when Kenny Konz intercepted a Norm Van Brocklin pass. Browns quarterback Otto Graham, who had announced his retirement at the end of the season, drove Cleveland to the L.A. 26 where Groza's FG gave the Browns a 3-0 first quarter lead. The Browns scored again when DB Don Paul intercepted Van Brocklin's pass on the Browns 30 and raced 70 yards to a touchdown, making the score 10-0. The Rams answered back when Van Brocklin connected with halfback Volney Skeets Quinlan for a 67-yard rouchdown, pulling the Rams to within 3 points, 10-7, and giving the large crowd hopes of an upset. But late in the second period, Van Brocklin threw his third interception of the half; defensive back Tom James, who had been beaten on the Rams' Tom Fears' title-winning touchdown on the same field four years earlier, grabbed the errant pass and took the ball back to midfield with time running out. The next play turned a close game into a rout; Otto Graham found Dante Lavelli with a 50-yard TD pass along the sideline and the Rams, who moments earlier were driving to take the lead, went to the locker room down 17-7.


Graham earned his place as the star of the game. After moving the Browns from the L.A. 46, Graham kept the ball and ran around right end from the 19 and scored to put the Browns ahead 24-7. On Los Angeles's next possession, Sam Palumbo intercepted Van Brocklin at the Ram 36. Graham drove the Browns to the 4, then scored himself on a sneak. Groza's conversion increased Cleveland's lead to 31-7 with two minutes left in the third quarter. In the final period, Graham tossed a 35-yard touchdown pass to Ray Renfro and Groza's kick gave the Browns a 38-7 lead. Late in the game, Waller ran four yards for a touchdown and Les Richter's conversion finished the scoring. In the final minutes coach Brown sent in reserve quarterback George Ratterman and allowed Graham to leave the field to an ovation from the Los Angeles crowd. Cleveland, winning three titles in the first half of the decade and representing the Eastern Conference in the championship game every year since its admission to the NFL, celebrated Graham's farewell, while the Rams' Van Brocklin, who threw six interceptions, would often be quoted that the game was the worst of his Hall of Fame career.

This may have been the pinnacle of the Browns' dynasty, while they would go on to have five more conference titles from 1957 through 1969, including a 1964 NFL Title, their fourth NFL title and 8th overall, after the 1970 merger, the Browns would never see the greatness of the 1940s and 1950s.  After a couple heart-breaking AFC Championship losses to Denver in the 1980s, the Browns' would move to Baltimore after the 1995 season.  Although they would re-born as a 1999 expansion team, the current incarnation of the Browns has only been to the playoffs once, in 2002, and continues to rebuild, ever in search of recapturing they glory days of yesterday, and along with the Detroit Lions, are the only non-expansion teams to have never reached the Super Bowl.

The Rams, like the Browns, have not seen success in recent years like in the olden days.  While they were a perennial playoff team, reaching the postseason 14 out of 17 years from 1973 through 1989, they continuously ran into strong Cowboys and Vikings teams in the 1970s and Bears and 49ers teams in the 1980s and only made it to one Super Bowl, losing XIV to the Steelers after the 1979 season.  Under Kurt Warner and Marshall Faulk, they reached two Super Bowls, winning XXXIV after the 1999 season and returning two years later.  They too, have reached bottom again, won only 3, 2 and 1 games from 2007 through 2009, and are currently completing another 2-win season.

The other championship game we are looking back to today is the 1960 championship between the Packers and the Eagles.  The Packers (8-4, Western Conference Champs) were just beginning their 1960s Vince Lombardi years of greatness, while the Eagles (10-2, Eastern Conference Champs) led by Chuck Bednarik were the dominate team in the league that year.  While they would go to two Super Bowls, winning NFC titles in 1980 and 2004, the 1960 squad would be the last Eagle squad to be NFL Champions.  They went to four straight NFC Championships from 2001 to 2004, and again in 2008, but are still looking for that elusive title, having celebrated the 50th anniversary of the 1960 Championship by wearing throwbacks to that year Week 1 2010.

The Packers, of course, were the team of the 1960s, rebounding from this loss to the Eagles to win the 1961 and 1962 titles, and three more from 1965 through 1967, as well as the first two Super Bowls.  After a couple decades of mediocrity, they would win Super Bowl XXXI under Brett Favre, and another one last year under Aaron Rodgers, and are working on a second this year.

We are proud to add these games to Gridiron Uniform Database's collection of randomly added single-game matchups.

You can view other randomly added past games here.