NFL Championship Game, 1961
Encyclopedia
The 1961
1961 NFL season
The 1961 NFL season was the 42nd regular season of the National Football League. The league expanded to 14 teams with the addition of the Minnesota Vikings, after the team's owners declined to be charter members of the new American Football League. The schedule was also expanded from 12 games per...

 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...

 championship game
was the 29th title game. The game was played at "New" City Stadium
Lambeau Field
Lambeau Field is an outdoor football stadium in Green Bay, Wisconsin, the home of the NFL's Green Bay Packers. Opened in 1957 as City Stadium, it replaced the original City Stadium as the Packers' home field...

, later known as Lambeau Field, in Green Bay
Green Bay, Wisconsin
Green Bay is a city in and the county seat of Brown County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, located at the head of Green Bay, a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It has an elevation of above sea level and is located north of Milwaukee. As of the 2010 United States Census,...

, Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

 on December 31, 1961. The attendance was 39,029.

The game was a match-up against the Eastern Conference Champions New York Giants
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

 (10-3-1) against the Western Conference champions Green Bay Packers
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...

 (11-3).

Paul Hornung
Paul Hornung
Paul Vernon Hornung is a retired Hall of Fame professional football player who played for the Green Bay Packers from 1957-66...

, on leave from the Army, scored 19 points for the Packers.

The victory would be the first of five NFL titles won in a seven-year span by the Packers and their coach, 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...

.

Overview

This was the first championship to be held in Green Bay. The Packers only other championship home game until then was played in Milwaukee in 1939. The Giants were playing in their 3rd championship game in four years.

With 40,000 tickets sold at $10 each and $615,000 in TV revenue, this game was the first NFL Championship to generate $1 million in revenue. Temperature at game time hovered at 20ºF and for several days the field had been covered with a tarp topped by a foot of hay. The covering was particularly significant as just two days before, the temperature dipped to -15ºF. Field conditions were of paramount concern if the teams were to make effective use of the running game. All the Packers players used cleats and about half of the Giants players, led by coach Allie Sherman
Allie Sherman
Alexander "Allie" Sherman is a retired American football National Football League running back and head coach....

, chose sneakers, believing sneakers would grip better on a frozen field. At 6am on game day workers began the arduous process of snow and hay removal by hand using baskets, as heavy equipment could have potentially damage the field.

$5,000 each would be paid to the winners and $3000 each to the losing team's players.

Green Bay had already beaten the Giants 20-17 on Dec 3rd, in Green Bay.

Scoring summary

  • First Quarter
    • None
  • Second Quarter
    • GB- Paul Hornung 6 yard run (Hornung kick) 7-0 GB
    • GB-Dowler
      Boyd Dowler
      Boyd Hamilton Dowler is a former American football wide receiver in the National Football League who played twelve seasons for the Green Bay Packers and Washington Redskins from 1959 to 1971...

       13 yard pass from Starr
      Bart Starr
      Bryan Bartlett "Bart" Starr is a former professional American football player and coach. Wearing #15, he was the quarterback for the Green Bay Packers from 1956 to 1971 and head coach from 1975 to 1983, compiling a record of 52–76–3 ....

       (Hornung kick) 14-0 GB
    • GB- Kramer
      Ron Kramer
      Ronald J. Kramer was a multi-sport college athlete and professional American football player. Before embarking on a career in the National Football League, he lettered in football, basketball, and track at the University of Michigan in the 1950s...

       14 yard pass from Starr (Hornung kick) 21-0 GB
    • GB- Paul Hornung 17 yard FG 24-0 GB
  • Third Quarter
    • GB- Hornung 22 yard FG 27-0 GB
    • GB- Kramer 13 yard pass from Starr (Hornung kick) 34-0 GB
  • Fourth Quarter
    • GB- Hornung 19 yard FG 37-0 GB

First Quarter

After both teams exchanged punts, the Giants were on the move to the Green Bay 46-yard line when the Giants Kyle Rote
Kyle Rote
William Kyle Rote, Sr. was an American football player and sports announcer.-Early life:Rote attended Thomas Jefferson High School in San Antonio, Texas, where he was an all-state basketball and football player....

, who was wide open but looking back into the sun, dropped a long pass from Y.A. Tittle at the GB 10. When the Packers took over for their 2nd possession, Max McGee
Max McGee
William Max McGee was a professional football wide receiver who played for the Green Bay Packers from 1954-67. He served as the team's punter during a few years of his career. McGee may be best known for his performance during the first Super Bowl game. Prior to his NFL career, he played college...

 returned the favor by dropping a 50 yard pass from Starr. However, Jim Taylor, despite having injured a kidney in the Rams game two weeks before, and Paul Hornung kept the Packers drive moving to the NY 6-yard line as time expired.

Second Quarter

Capping a 12-play 80-yard drive, Hornung, the NFL's MVP for 1961, slashed outside right tackle for a touchdown on the first play of the 2nd quarter. Hornung's extra-point gave GB a 7-0 lead.

The Giants next two possessions, resulted in two Tittle interceptions within two minutes. The first by Ray Nitschke
Ray Nitschke
Raymond Ernest "Ray" Nitschke was a professional football player who played his entire career as a middle linebacker for the Green Bay Packers of the NFL. Wearing #66, he played fifteen seasons, from 1958-72....

 led to a Bart Starr
Bart Starr
Bryan Bartlett "Bart" Starr is a former professional American football player and coach. Wearing #15, he was the quarterback for the Green Bay Packers from 1956 to 1971 and head coach from 1975 to 1983, compiling a record of 52–76–3 ....

 to Boyd Dowler
Boyd Dowler
Boyd Hamilton Dowler is a former American football wide receiver in the National Football League who played twelve seasons for the Green Bay Packers and Washington Redskins from 1959 to 1971...

 slant pass in front of the goal post for a 13-yard Touchdown. Both Nitschke and Dowler were on leave from Ft Lewis In Washington. The second Packer interception, by Hank Gremminger, resulted in a Ron Kramer 14-yard Touchdown from Starr. Charley Conerly then replaced Tittle at Quarterback and most of the Giants had switched to cleats by this time.

Conerly hit Kyle Rote with a 35 yard pass to the Green Bay 15, but Bob Gaiters missed Rote (who was wide open again) in the end zone on a 4th down halfback option pass.

With time in the half running down, Hornung gained 24 yards on two carries, and wide receiver Ron Kramer caught a pass from Starr over the middle, broke two tackles and gained 38 yards. Hornung followed with a 17-yard field goal, as time ran out, to make the halftime score 24-0, Packers.

Third Quarter

In an unusual turn of events, the Packers were given five downs on their first possession of the quarter. On first down, Hornung ran up the middle. Then, on second down, Bart Starr scrambled for 15 yards and fumbled the ball away. But the Packers were flagged for an illegal procedure penalty. After the Giants refused the penalty, the officials at first gave the ball to the Giants. But realizing a procedure penalty negates any resulting play, the officials correctly gave the ball back to Green Bay, albeit with a 1st down instead of second down. Despite the extra play, Green Bay eventually punted. The following series also resulted in a GB punt, with the Giants Joe Morrison fumbling and Forrest Gregg recovering for the Packers. Hornung then booted a 22-yard field goal making it 27-0, GB.

The Packers continued their march towards the championship with hard running by Hornung and Tom Moore (replacing Taylor) and Starr's third touchdown pass. The Giants responded with Tittle at Quarterback again as the quarter ended.

Fourth Quarter

The veteran Tittle, who would lead the Giants to two more championship appearances in '62
NFL Championship Game, 1962
The 1962 National Football League championship game was the 30th NFL title game. The game was played on December 30, 1962 at Yankee Stadium in New York City between the New York Giants and Green Bay Packers. The attendance for the game was 64,892. The Packers were coached by Hall of Fame coach...

 and '63, could do no better throwing an interception to the Packers Jesse Whittenton. Jim Taylor back in the game, promptly rumbled outside the right tackle on a 33 yard run to the Giants 13. Hornung ended the scoring with a 19-yard field goal. A fourth Tittle interception had the Packers knocking on the goal line again as the gun sounded ending the game.

Vince Lombardi

This was the fifth shutout in NFL Championship game history and coach Lombardi's first of five championships in seven years. Lombardi used a strategy in this game that was common in all the Packers championships. A strategy of fundamentally sound football (the Packers had no turnovers and only 16 yards in penalties) and to beat the opposition at their strength, in this case running the ball at the Giants linemen Andy Robustelli and Rosi Greer. In 1959 Lombardi had taken over a Green Bay franchise that was the worst team in the league in 1958 and in three years turn them into NFL Champions.

External links

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