The 1959 NFL season was the 40th regular season

Regular season (NFL)

The National Football League regular season begins the weekend after Labor Day. Each team plays 16 games during a 17-week period. Traditionally, the majority of each week's games are played on Sunday afternoon, with weekly games on Sunday night and Monday night, and occasional games on Thursday...

 of the National Football League

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

. Tragedy struck as NFL Commissioner Bert Bell

Bert Bell

De Benneville "Bert" Bell was the National Football League commissioner from 1946 until his death in 1959. As commissioner, he helped chart a path for the NFL to facilitate its rise in becoming the most popular sports attraction in the United States...

 died of a heart attack on October 11 at Philadelphia's Franklin Field

Franklin Field

Franklin Field is the University of Pennsylvania's stadium for football, field hockey, lacrosse, sprint football, and track and field . It is also used by Penn students for recreation, and for intramural and club sports, including touch football and cricket, and is the site of Penn's graduation...

 while watching the Philadelphia Eagles

1959 Philadelphia Eagles season

The 1959 Philadelphia Eagles season was their 27th in the league. They improved on their previous output of 2–9–1, winning seven games. The team failed to qualify for the playoffs for the tenth consecutive season.-Off Season:...

 and the Pittsburgh Steelers

1959 Pittsburgh Steelers season

-Schedule:- Week 1 : Cleveland Browns :at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania* Game time:* Game weather:* Game attendance: 33,844* Referee:* TV announcers:Scoring drives:...

 play. League Treasurer Austin Gunsel

Austin Gunsel

Austin H. Gunsel is best remembered for serving as the National Football League's interim commissioner following the death of Bert Bell on October 11, 1959....

 was named interim commissioner for the rest of the season.

The Chicago Cardinals

Arizona Cardinals

The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in Glendale, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

 played their final season in the Windy City

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 before relocating to St. Louis, MO

St. Louis, Missouri

St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

 for the following season

1960 NFL season

The 1960 NFL season was the 41st regular season of the National Football League. Before the season, Pete Rozelle was elected NFL commissioner as a compromise choice on the twenty-third ballot. Meanwhile, the league expanded to 13 teams with the addition of the Dallas Cowboys. Also, the Cardinals...

.

The season ended when the Baltimore Colts

1959 Baltimore Colts season

The 1959 Baltimore Colts season was the 7th season for the team in the National Football League. The Baltimore Colts finished the National Football League's 40th season with a record of 9 wins and 3 losses and finished first in the Western Conference....

 defeated the New York Giants

1959 New York Giants season

The 1959 New York Giants season was the 35th season for the club in the National Football League. The Giants' defense became the second defense in the history of the NFL to lead the league in fewest rushing yards, fewest passing yards and fewest total yards. The 1959 Giants scored 284 points...

 in the NFL Championship Game for the second year in a row.

Conference races

The NFL had six teams in each conference. Each team would play a home-and-away game against the other 5 teams in its conference, and two games outside the conference. The Bears and Cardinals, and the Redskins and Colts, faced each other in an interfconference game each year.

After the second week, when the 1–1–0 Giants had to share the Eastern Conference lead with all five of the other clubs, the Giants won seven of the next eight games to clinch the title in Week Ten. In the Western Conference, the San Francisco 49ers, who had come close (1952, 1953, 1954 and 1957) several times since joining the NFL, were 6–1 and had a two game lead over their closest rival, the 4–3 Colts. In Week Nine, though, the 49ers lost in Baltimore, 45–14 (November 22) and they shared the lead at 6–3–0. Two weeks later, San Francisco had the home field advantage when they faced the Colts for a rematch. Baltimore won again, 34–14, and clinched the title the following week.

Week	WESTERN		EASTERN
1	3 teams (Bal, GB, SF)	1–0–0	3 teams (Cards, NYG, Pit)	1–0–0
2	Tie (GB and SF)	2–0–0	6 teams (Cards, Cle, NYG, Phi, Pit, Was)	1–1–0
3	GREEN BAY PACKERS	3–0–0	3 teams (NYG, Phi, Was)	2–1–0
4	3 teams (Bal, GB, SF)	3–1–0	NEW YORK GIANTS	3–1–0
5	Tie (Bal, SF)	4–1–0	NEW YORK GIANTS	4–1–0
6	SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS	5–1–0	NEW YORK GIANTS	5–1–0
7	SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS	6–1–0	NEW YORK GIANTS	6–1–0
8	SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS	6–2–0	Tie (Cle, NYG)	6–2–0
9	Tie (Bal, SF)	6–3–0	NEW YORK GIANTS	7–2–0
10	Tie (Bal, SF)	7–3–0	NEW YORK GIANTS	8–2–0
11	BALTIMORE COLTS	8–3–0	NEW YORK GIANTS	9–2–0
12	BALTIMORE COLTS	9–3–0	NEW YORK GIANTS	10–2–0

Final standings

W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PCT= Winning Percentage, PF= Points For, PA = Points Against

Note: The NFL did not officially count tie games in the standings until 1972

NFL Championship Game

Baltimore 31, N.Y. Giants 16 at Memorial Stadium

Memorial Stadium (Baltimore)

Memorial Stadium was a sports stadium in Baltimore, Maryland, that formerly stood on 33rd Street on an over-sized block also bounded by Ellerslie Avenue , 36th Street , and Ednor Road...

, Baltimore, Maryland, December 27, 1959

Awards

Most Valuable Player NFL Most Valuable Player Award The National Football League Most Valuable Player Award is given by various entities, most notably the Associated Press , to the player who is considered most valuable in the league. When the award is referred to without mentioning the organization, it generally means the AP award. The AP NFL MVP...

Johnny Unitas Johnny Unitas John Constantine Unitas , known as Johnny Unitas or "Johnny U", and nicknamed "The Golden Arm", was a professional American football player in the 1950s through the 1970s, spending the majority of his career with the Baltimore Colts. He was a record-setting quarterback, and the National Football... , Quarterback Quarterback Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line... , Baltimore Colts

Coach of the Year NFL Coach of the Year Award The National Football League Coach of the Year Award is presented annually by various news and sports organizations to the NFL head coach who has done the most outstanding job of working with the talent he has at his disposal. Currently, the most widely recognized award is presented by the...

Vince Lombardi Vince Lombardi Vincent Thomas "Vince" Lombardi was an American football coach. He is best known as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers during the 1960s, where he led the team to three straight league championships and five in seven years, including winning the first two Super Bowls following the 1966 and... , Green Bay