View source for 1958 NFL Championship Game

{{short description|Renowned American football event}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2013}}
{{Infobox NFLChamp
| type = nflc
| name = 1958
| visitor = [[1958 Baltimore Colts season|Baltimore Colts]]
| visitor_abbr = BAL
| home = [[1958 New York Giants season|New York Giants]]
| home_abbr = NYG
| visitor_coach = [[Weeb Ewbank]]
| home_coach = [[Jim Lee Howell]]
| visitor_conf = Western
| home_conf = Eastern
| visitor_record = 9–3
| home_record = 9–3
| visitor_total = 23
| home_total = 17
| visitor_qtr1 = 0
| visitor_qtr2 = 14
| visitor_qtr3 = 0
| visitor_qtr4 = 3
| visitor_qtr5 = 6
| home_qtr1 = 3
| home_qtr2 = 0
| home_qtr3 = 7
| home_qtr4 = 7
| home_qtr5 = 0
| date = December 28, 1958
| stadium = [[Yankee Stadium (1923)|Yankee Stadium]]
| MVP = [[Johnny Unitas]] (Quarterback; Baltimore)
| city = [[The Bronx]], [[New York City]]
| attendance = 64,185<ref>Gifford and Richmond, p. 217.</ref>
| odds = Colts by 3½ points<ref name=cthpt />
| referee = [[Ronald Gibbs|Ron Gibbs]]<ref name=referee>{{cite news|title=The 'Greatest Game' in Collective Memory |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/05/sports/football/05sandomir.html?em |last=Sandomir |first=Richard |date=December 4, 2008 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=December 13, 2008}}</ref>
| network = [[NFL on NBC|NBC]]
| HOFers = '''Colts:''' [[Weeb Ewbank]] (coach), [[Raymond Berry]], [[Art Donovan]], [[Gino Marchetti]], [[Lenny Moore]], [[Jim Parker (American football)|Jim Parker]], [[Johnny Unitas]] <br> '''Giants:''' [[Tim Mara]] (owner), [[Wellington Mara]] (vice president/secretary), [[Vince Lombardi]] (offensive coordinator), [[Tom Landry]] (defensive coordinator), [[Rosey Brown]], [[Frank Gifford]], [[Sam Huff]], [[Don Maynard]], [[Andy Robustelli]], [[Emlen Tunnell]]
| announcers = [[Chris Schenkel]], [[Chuck Thompson]]
| radio = [[NFL on NBC Radio|NBC]] (national)<br>[[WBAL (AM)|WBAL]] (Colts)<br>[[WCBS (AM)|WCBS]] (Giants)
| radioannouncers = [[Joe Boland]], [[Bill McColgan]] (NBC)<br>[[Bob Wolff]], Bailey Goss (WBAL)<br>[[Les Keiter]], Bob Cook (WCBS)
|image=1958ChampionshipGameProgram.jpg}}
{{Location map
|USA
|relief = 1
|label = <small>Yankee&nbsp;<br>Stadium</small>
|lat = 40.827
|long = -73.928
|caption = Location in the [[United States]]
|position = 
|marksize = 5
|float = 
|background = 
|width = 290
}}
The '''1958 NFL Championship Game''' was the 26th [[History of the National Football League championship|NFL championship game]], played on December 28 at [[Yankee Stadium (1923)|Yankee Stadium]] in [[New York City]]. It was the first NFL game to be decided in [[sudden death (sport)|sudden death]] [[Overtime (sport)|overtime]].{{refn|<ref name=reuhero>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jbEhAAAAIBAJ&sjid=wJsFAAAAIBAJ&pg=4111%2C6376379 |work=Reading Eagle |location=(Pennsylvania) |agency=UPI |title=Unitas hero as Colts get 23-17 title win |date=December 29, 1958 |page=18}}</ref><ref name=pptwogm>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=r10bAAAAIBAJ&sjid=W04EAAAAIBAJ&pg=7027%2C3209777 |work=Pittsburgh Press |last=Livingston |first=Pat |title=Colts reap big payoff from $2-a-game Unitas |date=December 29, 1958 |page=24 }}</ref><ref name=ctwwtisdth>{{cite news |url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1958/12/29/page/55/article/colts-win-title-in-sudden-death-23-17 |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |last=Strickler |first=George |title=Colts win title in sudden death, 23-17!|date=December 29, 1958 |page=1, part 4}}</ref><ref name=mscwiot>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nnxRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=WxAEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7348%2C4206836 |newspaper=Milwaukee Sentinel |agency=Associated Press |title=Colts win 23-17 in overtime |date=December 29, 1958 |page=4, part 2}}</ref><ref name=everplyd>{{cite news |url=https://www.si.com/vault/1959/01/05/668467/the-best-football-game-ever-played |magazine=Sports Illustrated |last=Maule |first=Tex |author-link=Tex Maule |title=The best football game ever played |date=January 5, 1959 |page=8}}</ref>}} The [[1958 Baltimore Colts season|Baltimore Colts]] defeated the [[1958 New York Giants season|New York Giants]] 23–17 in what soon became widely known as "'''the Greatest Game Ever Played'''".{{refn|<ref>{{cite news|title=Greatest Game Ever Played|url=https://www.profootballhof.com/news/greatest-game-ever-played/|publisher=NFL Enterprises, LLC|website=ProFootballHOF.com|date=January 1, 2005|access-date=August 15, 2020}}</ref><ref name="Greatest">{{cite news|last=Barnidge|first=Tom|title=1958 Colts remember the 'Greatest Game'|url=http://www.nfl.com/insider/story/6032205|publisher=NFL Enterprises, LLC|website=NFL.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070624164703/http://www.nfl.com/insider/story/6032205|archive-date=June 24, 2007|access-date=August 15, 2020|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>''Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League'' ({{ISBN|0-06-270174-6}})</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Dec. 28, 1958: A legend is born|url=http://www.nfl.com/news/story/5706748|publisher=NFL Enterprises, LLC|website=NFL.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020917001513/http://www.nfl.com/news/story/5706748|archive-date=September 17, 2002|access-date=August 15, 2020|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>[http://static.espn.go.com/nfl/s/epstein/colts.html "Title game wasn't that great for '58 Colts" by Eddie Epstein, espn.com]</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Gregory|first1=Sean|title=The Football Game that Changed It All|url=https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1868793_1868792_1868802,00.html|access-date=January 18, 2017|magazine=Time|date=December 29, 2008}}</ref>}} Its legendary status in the pantheon of historic NFL games was again confirmed by a nationwide poll of 66&nbsp;media members in 2019, who voted it the best game in the league's first 100&nbsp;years.<ref>{{cite web|author=George R.R. Martin|title=NFL CHAMPIONSHIP - "THE GREATEST GAME EVER PLAYED"|url=https://www.nfl.com/100/originals/100-greatest/games-1|publisher=NFL Enterprises, LLC|website=NFL.com|access-date=August 15, 2020}}</ref><ref name=AP2019>{{cite news|author=Wilner, Barry|title=This will come as no surprise in Baltimore, but Colts' 1958 title win over Giants is voted NFL's greatest game|work=[[The Baltimore Sun]]|agency=Associated Press|date=October 6, 2019|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/bs-sp-1958-colts-giants-greatest-game-20191006-bsm5gbgj2jd65cyopetwscs324-story.html|access-date=October 6, 2019}}</ref>

It marked the beginning of the NFL's popularity surge and eventual rise to the top of the [[United States]] sports market.<ref name="Greatest"/><ref name=AP2019 /> A major reason was that the game was televised across the nation by [[NFL on NBC|NBC]]. Baltimore receiver [[Raymond Berry]] recorded 12 receptions for 178 yards and a touchdown. His 12 receptions set a championship record that stood for 55 years until it was broken by [[2013 Denver Broncos season|Denver Broncos]] wide receiver [[Demaryius Thomas]] in [[Super Bowl XLVIII]].

==Background==
Both teams finished the 1958 season with a 9–3 record. For the Giants, it was their fifth consecutive winning season, a stretch that included an NFL Championship in [[1956 NFL Championship Game|1956]]. In contrast, 1958 was only the second winning season in Colts' history since the team's founding in [[1953 Baltimore Colts season|1953]].

Baltimore started off the season winning their first six games before losing to New York, 24–21, in week 7 of the regular season. However, Colts starting quarterback [[Johnny Unitas]] was injured at the time and did not play in the game.<ref name=gecstr>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=91VQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=lw8EAAAAIBAJ&pg=4346%2C5300252 |newspaper=Milwaukee Sentinel |agency=UPI |title=Giants end Colts' streak, 24 to 21 |date=November 10, 1958 |page=3, part 2}}</ref> Three weeks later, Unitas returned to lead the Colts to a critical come-from-behind win against [[Pro Football Hall of Fame|Hall of Fame]] (and ex-Colt) quarterback [[Y. A. Tittle]] and his [[1958 San Francisco 49ers season|San Francisco 49ers]]. Trailing 27–7 at halftime, Baltimore stormed back with four unanswered touchdowns to win, 35–27, clinching the Western Conference championship; several Colt players such as Unitas and Moore cited the victory as their best of the year.<ref name=cgtabrlse>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=j88pAAAAIBAJ&sjid=7w8EAAAAIBAJ&pg=7009%2C105425 |newspaper=Milwaukee Sentinel |agency=Associated Press |title=Colts grab title as Bears lose|date=December 1, 1958 |page=2, part 2}}</ref> This allowed them to rest their starters for the final two games of the regular season, both on the road in California.

New York started the season 2–2, then won seven of their last eight games, including a critical 19–17 win over the defending champion [[1958 Detroit Lions season|Detroit Lions]] on December 7. In that game, New York fell behind late when the offense lost a fumble that was returned for a touchdown. Later on, however, the Giants stopped Detroit punter [[Yale Lary]] on a fake punt attempt and drove for the go-ahead score. They then secured the win by blocking a Lions field goal attempt as time expired in the game. In the final game of the regular season, the Giants defeated the [[1958 Cleveland Browns season|Cleveland Browns]] with [[Pat Summerall]]'s game-winning 49-yard field goal on the final play (the longest field goal made in the entire season among all NFL kickers).<ref name=gwfnpo>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=_GpQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=UBAEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7054%2C2802761 |newspaper=Milwaukee Sentinel |agency=UPI |title=Giants win, force NFL playoff |date=December 15, 1958 |page=4, part 3 }}</ref> The win enabled them to tie the Browns for the conference title, and though the Giants had won both games against Cleveland in the regular season, the rules of the time required a tiebreaker [[1958 NFL playoffs|playoff game]] on December 21. At Yankee Stadium in {{convert|20|F}} weather, the Giants defeated the Browns for a third time in a shut out, building a 10–0 lead at the half, which was the final score.<ref name=gjbipo>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=l3xRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=WxAEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7364%2C1155378 |newspaper=Milwaukee Sentinel |last=Reichler |first=Joe |title=Giants jolt Browns in playoff |date=December 22, 1958 |page=4, part 2}}</ref>

After clinching their conference title on November 30, the Colts rested key players in the final two games, road losses in California. While Cleveland and New York played the Eastern tiebreaker game, Baltimore had the week off and entered the championship game as 3½ point favorites to gain their first league title.<ref name=cthpt>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nXxRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=WxAEAAAAIBAJ&pg=1335%2C3562571 |newspaper=Milwaukee Sentinel |agency=Associated Press |last=Hand |first=Jack |title=Colts 3½ point choice to win first pro title |date=December 28, 1958 |page=1C}}</ref>

==Game summary==
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[Image:Alan Ameche touchdown.jpg|thumb|Alan Ameche scoring the winning touchdown in the 1958 NFL Championship, ''The Greatest Game Ever Played'']] -->

The two teams combined for six turnovers in the first half (three on each side), with the Colts converting two fumbles by the Giants into touchdown drives to take a 14–3 lead at the half. After averting a three-score deficit thanks to a goal-line stand in the third quarter, the Giants rallied on consecutive touchdown drives to take a 17–14 lead early in the fourth quarter.

In the last two minutes of the game, [[Johnny Unitas]] led the Colts on a drive which concluded on a 20-yard field goal (the Colts' first in three attempts) with only seven seconds left on the clock to tie the game at 17–17. In the ensuing [[Sudden death (sport)#National Football League|sudden-death overtime]], the Giants went three-and-out after quarterback Charley Conerly came up short on a third down run. After getting the ball back on a punt, the Colts again drove down the field – this time for a touchdown, to win 23–17.

===First half===
The game got off to a rough start for both teams. On Baltimore's first drive, New York linebacker [[Sam Huff]] forced a fumble while sacking [[Johnny Unitas]]. Defensive back [[Jimmy Patton]] recovered the ball at the Colts 37. One play later, Baltimore took the ball back when defensive end [[Gino Marchetti]] forced a recovered fumble from quarterback [[Don Heinrich]]. But all the Colts managed to do with their next drive was lose another turnover when a Unitas pass was picked off by [[Lindon Crow]]. After forcing a punt, Unitas completed a 60-yard pass to [[Lenny Moore]] at the Giants' 26-yard line. But Baltimore's drive was halted at the 19 and [[Steve Myhra]]'s field goal attempt was blocked by Huff.

On the Giants' next drive, Heinrich was replaced by [[Charley Conerly]] for the rest of the game. New York then drove to the Colts' 30-yard line, featuring a 38-yard run by [[Frank Gifford]].

On third down, Conerly threw a pass to wide-open fullback [[Alex Webster (American football)|Alex Webster]], but he slipped before the ball arrived and it fell incomplete. [[Pat Summerall]] then kicked a 36-yard field goal to put New York on the board. In the second quarter, Baltimore defensive end [[Ray Krouse]] recovered a fumble from Gifford to set up a 2-yard touchdown run by Colts running back [[Alan Ameche]]. On their next drive, New York got a big scoring opportunity when they recovered a fumbled punt from Jackie Simpson on the Colts' 10-yard line. But a few plays later, Gifford fumbled again, and Baltimore lineman [[Don Joyce (American football)|Don Joyce]] recovered on his own 14. The Colts subsequently drove 86 yards in 15 plays, including a 16-yard scramble by Unitas on 3rd and 7, to score on Unitas' 15-yard touchdown pass to [[Raymond Berry]], giving them a 14–3 halftime lead.

That fumble by Gifford and the fumble later were forced by defensive back [[Milt Davis]] of the Colts—despite playing with two broken bones in his right foot—and both led to touchdowns for the Colts.

===Second half===
[[File:Myhra-Field-Goal.jpg|thumb|right|Steve Myhra of the Colts lines up the game-tying 20-yard field goal with 7 seconds remaining in regulation time.]]
Early in the third quarter, Baltimore reached the New York 1-yard line. But on third down, Ameche was stopped for no gain, and the Colts turned it over on downs after Ameche was tackled trying to go wide at the 5-yard line on a great play by linebacker [[Cliff Livingston]], on a fourth-down [[halfback option play]]. It was a huge reversal of momentum.

The Giants then went 95-yards in just four plays, scoring on [[Mel Triplett]]'s 1-yard touchdown run to cut the lead to 4, with a score of 14–10. The drive was highlighted by an unforgettable 86-yard pass play from deep within the Giants own territory at the closed end of the stadium: Quarterback [[Charlie Conerly]] threw to [[Kyle Rote]] downfield left-to-right across the middle where Rote then broke an arm tackle at about mid-field; then Rote fumbled when hit from behind at the Colts 25, but Webster, who was trailing the play, picked up the ball and ran it all the way to the 1-yard line where he was knocked out of bounds.

The Giants took a 17–14 lead early in the fourth quarter with Conerly's 46-yard completion to tight end [[Bob Schnelker]] setting up his 15-yard touchdown pass to Gifford. On both of Baltimore's next drives, they moved the ball into scoring range but came up empty both times. First, they drove to the Giants' 39-yard line, only to have [[Bert Rechichar]] miss a 46-yard field goal. Then they got the ball back on the New York 42 following a fumble recovery by Joyce. But after driving to the 27-yard line, Unitas was sacked twice in a row (once by [[Andy Robustelli]] and once by [[Dick Modzelewski]]), moving the ball back 20 yards and pushing the Colts out of field goal range.

Faced with fourth down and inches on their own 40-yard on their ensuing drive, New York decided to punt with a little over two minutes left in the game (on the third-down play before the punt, Marchetti was knocked out of the game with a broken ankle. He refused to leave for medical treatment and watched the rest of the game sitting up on a stretcher on the sidelines). The Colts took over at their own 14-yard line and Unitas engineered one of the most famous drives in football history—a [[Hurry-up offense#Two-minute drill|2-minute drill]]{{citation needed|date=March 2011|reason=the two-minute offense was introduced by Detroit Lion head coach Buddy Parker, see MacCambridge, Michael (2005), America's Game. New York: Anchor Books. pp. 110–111}} before anyone called it that. After starting the drive with two incompletions, Unitas made a critical 11-yard completion to Moore on third down. Following one more incompletion, he threw three consecutive passes to Berry, moving the ball 62 yards to the Giants' 13-yard line. This set up a 20-yard tying field goal by Myhra with seven seconds left to send the game into [[Sudden death (sport)#American football|sudden-death overtime]]—the first overtime game in NFL playoff history.<ref name="Greatest"/><ref>Gifford and Richmond, p. 210.</ref>

===Overtime===
[[Don Maynard]] received the opening kickoff for the Giants and muffed<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nfl.com/rulebook/fumble|title=NFL Rules Digest: Fumble|website=[[NFL.com]]|access-date=September 16, 2015|archive-date=August 31, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150831090127/http://www.nfl.com/rulebook/fumble|url-status=dead}}</ref> the catch, but recovered it on the Giants 20-yard line. Even in his autobiography ''You Can't Catch Sunshine'', Maynard stated that he was not only disappointed in the botched attempt, but also at the commentators for saying he fumbled the ball due to their lack of knowledge of football and its terminology by not knowing the difference between a fumble and muffing the ball. After a ''three-and-out series'', the Giants punted. On their ensuing drive, Baltimore drove 80 yards in 13 plays (all called by QB Johnny Unitas) on a tired NY defense. Ameche made several critical plays on the drive, catching an 8-yard pass on 3rd and 8 from the Colts 33, and later rushing 22 yards to the Giants 20-yard line. Berry also made a big impact, catching two passes for 33 yards, including a 12-yard reception on the New York 8. Following a 1-yard run by Ameche and a 6-yard catch by the tight end [[Jim Mutscheller]], Ameche scored on a third-down 1-yard touchdown run with 6:45 left to win the game, 23–17.

During overtime, when the Colts were on the eight-yard line of the Giants, someone ran out onto the field of Yankee Stadium, causing the game to be delayed; rumors have stated that it was an [[NBC]] employee who was ordered to create a distraction because the national television feed had gone dead. The difficulty was the result of an unplugged TV signal cable,<ref>Gifford and Richmond, p. 223.</ref> and the delay in the game bought NBC enough time to fix the problem before the next play.<ref>Bowden, pp. 203–206.</ref>

===Scoring summary===
''Sunday, December 28, 1958''<br>
Kickoff: 2:00&nbsp;p.m. [[Eastern Time Zone|EST]]

*'''First quarter'''
**NYG – FG [[Pat Summerall]] 36, NYG 3–0
*'''Second quarter'''
**BAL – [[Alan Ameche]] 2 run ([[Steve Myhra]] kick), BAL 7–3
**BAL – [[Raymond Berry]] 15 pass from [[Johnny Unitas]] (Myhra kick), BAL 14–3
*'''Third quarter'''
**NYG – [[Mel Triplett]] 1 run (Summerall kick), BAL 14–10
*'''Fourth quarter'''
**NYG – [[Frank Gifford]] 15 pass from [[Charley Conerly]] (Summerall kick), NYG 17–14
**BAL – FG Myhra 20, Tie 17–17
*'''Overtime'''
**BAL – [[Alan Ameche]] 1 run, BAL 23–17

==Officials==
*'''Referee:''' [[Ronald Gibbs|Ron Gibbs]]
*'''Umpire:''' [[Lou Palazzi]]
*'''Head linesman:''' [[Charlie Berry]]
*'''Back judge:''' Cleo Diehl
*'''Field judge:''' [[Chuck Sweeney]]{{refn|<ref name=referee>{{cite news|title=The 'Greatest Game' in Collective Memory |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/05/sports/football/05sandomir.html?em |last=Sandomir |first=Richard |date=December 4, 2008 |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |access-date=December 13, 2008}}</ref><ref name=ctwwtisdth/><ref name=cngi>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=uKFhAAAAIBAJ&sjid=DGwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=7305%2C4867072 |work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |last=Sell |first=Jack |title=Colts nip Giants in sudden death, 23-17 |date=December 29, 1958 |page=24}}</ref>}}

The NFL had five game officials in {{nfly|1958}}; the line judge was added in {{nfly|1965}} and the side judge in {{nfly|1978}}.

==Players' shares==
The gross receipts for the game, including $200,000 for radio and television rights, were over [[United States dollar|$]]698,000, the highest to date. Each player on the winning Colts team received  $4,718 ({{Inflation|US|4718|1958|fmt=eq|r=-3}}), while Giants players made $3,111 each ({{Inflation|US|3111|1958|fmt=eq|r=-3}}).<ref name=ctebpl >{{cite news |url=http://archives.chicagotribune.com/1958/12/29/page/58/article/each-baltimore-player-earns-record-4-719 |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |title=Each Baltimore player earns record $4,719 |date=December 29, 1958 |page=4, part 4}}</ref><ref name=fcfig>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=nnxRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=WxAEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5763%2C4207931 |newspaper=Milwaukee Sentinel |agency=Associated Press |title=Facts, figures |date=December 29, 1958 |page=4, part 2}}</ref>

==Players in the Hall of Fame==
Seventeen individuals (including coaches and administration) who were involved in this game are members of the [[Pro Football Hall of Fame]].{{refn|<ref name=AP2019 /><ref>[https://archive.today/20120918103908/http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/release.jsp?release_id=1805 Pro Football Hall of Fame Press Release]</ref><ref>[http://www.jt-sw.com/football/pro/rosters.nsf/Annual/1958-nyg 1958 New York Giants roster]</ref><ref>[http://www.jt-sw.com/football/pro/rosters.nsf/Annual/1958-bal 1958 Baltimore Colts roster]</ref>}} Along with those named above, Giants offensive coordinator [[Vince Lombardi]] and defensive coordinator [[Tom Landry]] were later inducted as head coaches.

==Aftermath==
===Baltimore Colts===
Baltimore head coach [[Weeb Ewbank]] led the Colts to a second straight championship game win over New York [[1959 NFL Championship Game|the next season]]. He was fired from the Colts after the [[1962 Baltimore Colts season|1962]] season (7–7), and moved to the AFL's [[New York Jets]], formerly Titans, in [[1963 New York Jets season|1963]]. In the [[1968 New York Jets season|1968]] season, Ewbank led the AFL champion Jets to victory over the Colts in [[Super Bowl III]], also considered a monumental victory in the history of pro football.

Unitas led the Colts to the [[Super Bowl V]] championship after the [[1970 Baltimore Colts season|1970 season]] and remained with the franchise through [[1972 Baltimore Colts season|1972]].

===New York Giants===
The Giants head coach was [[Jim Lee Howell]], and he was aided by two coordinators who went on to greatness themselves. The defensive coordinator was [[Tom Landry]], who left the team in [[1960 Dallas Cowboys season|1960]] to take over the expansion [[1960 Dallas Cowboys season|Dallas Cowboys]]. He led them to two Super Bowl championships in the 1970s, and was the runner-up in two NFL championship games ([[1966 NFL Championship Game|1966]], [[1967 NFL Championship Game|1967]]) and three Super Bowls in his three decades as head coach. The offensive coordinator was [[Vince Lombardi]], who left the team following the game to take the head coaching position with the [[Green Bay Packers]] in January [[1959 Green Bay Packers season|1959]]. Lombardi led the Packers to five championships in the 1960s, including the first two Super Bowls, and had the [[Vince Lombardi Trophy|Super Bowl Trophy]] named after him after his death. In order to advance to both of those Super Bowls, Lombardi's Packers needed to defeat Landry's Cowboys in the 1966 and 1967 NFL championship games.

New York's fortunes would take a turn for the worse after this game. They made it to the NFL championship game four times over the next five seasons, but lost each one, including a loss to the Colts in [[1959 NFL Championship Game|1959]]. They would not win their next playoff game until the [[1981 New York Giants season|1981]] postseason.

==Legacy==
===Popularity of pro football===
An estimated 45 million people watched the game on television in the United States.<ref>Gifford and Richmond, p. 95.</ref> This audience could have been even greater except that because of NFL restrictions, the game was [[National Football League television blackout policies|blacked out]] in the greater New York City area.<ref name=cfgfnt>{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=jLEhAAAAIBAJ&sjid=wJsFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2990%2C5597720 |work=Reading Eagle |location=(Pennsylvania) |agency=Associated Press |title=Colts face Giants for NFL title |date=December 28, 1958 |page=28}}</ref><ref>Gifford and Richmond, p. 214.</ref> Still, the impact from this game is far reaching. A year later, Texas billionaire [[Lamar Hunt]] formed the [[American Football League]], which began play with eight teams in the [[1960 American Football League season|1960]] season. The growth of the popularity of the sport, through franchise expansion, the eventual merger with the [[American Football League|AFL]], and popularity on television, is commonly credited to this game, making it a turning point in the history of football. NFL Commissioner [[Pete Rozelle]] was said by Giants owner [[Wellington Mara]] to have attributed professional football's surge in popularity to the game, because it "happened just at that time, in that season, and it happened in New York".<ref name=AP2019 />

===Two-minute drill===
The drive by Baltimore at the end of regulation, with Unitas leading the team quickly down the field to set up the game-tying field goal, is often cited as the first instance of a "[[Hurry-up offense#Two-minute drill|two-minute drill]]", for which Unitas became famous.

===Overtime games===
The game is, to date, one of only three [[National Football League|NFL]] championship games—the others being [[Super Bowl LI]] and [[Super Bowl LVIII]]—ever decided in overtime (the [[1962 American Football League Championship Game|1962 AFL Championship Game]] also went into overtime and eventually double overtime). In [[Super Bowl LI]] the [[New England Patriots]] beat the [[Atlanta Falcons]], 34–28, just 3:58 into overtime. In Super Bowl LVIII, the [[Kansas City Chiefs]] defeated the [[San Francisco 49ers]], 25–22, with three seconds left in the first overtime period.

As Unitas later stated, the players had never heard of overtime before the game. "When the game ended in a tie, we were standing on the sidelines waiting to see what came next. All of a sudden, the officials came over and said, 'Send the captain out. We're going to flip a coin to see who will receive.' That was the first we heard of the overtime period."<ref name="Greatest"/> An NFL preseason exhibition game played three years earlier in Portland, Oregon, had been settled by a sudden-death overtime, but this was the first time an NFL game of any significance needed overtime to determine a winner.<ref>Gifford and Richmond, p. 208.</ref> Sudden death overtime had been approved for the NFL championship game in 1946 but never used before.<ref>New York Times, April 30, 1946. Danzig, Allison, [https://www.nytimes.com/1946/04/30/archives/pro-giants-to-play-seven-home-games-all-national-league-elevens.html Pro Giants To Play Seven Home Games], p. 27.</ref>

===50th anniversary===
Writer [[Mark Bowden]], at the urging of his editor [[Morgan Entrekin]], set out to write a book about the game in 2006, looking ahead to the 50th anniversary. Bowden credited ''[[Sports Illustrated]]'' writer [[Tex Maule]] with the "best game ever" phrase which he chose for his book title. Eagles' coach [[Andy Reid]] helped him analyze the [[film]] footage he was able to secure. Bowden said that while many who played in the game whom he interviewed (particularly Giants) maybe quibbled with the "best" characterization, they, "to a man, remark[ed] on how radically the popularity of the game jumped after that season." Bowden dedicated his book to [[David Halberstam]]. Halberstam's book ''[[The Fifties (book)|The Fifties]]'' provided source information and context for ''The Best Game Ever'', and Halberstam's sports books also were inspiring to Bowden. When asked about any insight writing the book had given him, Bowden remarked in part, "I wonder, if you got a group of New York Giants from 2006 or ’07 together 50 years from now, whether you would get the same sort of hilarity and knee-slapping comradeship that you find still exists among these [surviving 1958-game-veteran] players."<ref>Taylor, Ihsan, [http://fifthdown.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/25/the-best-game-ever-interview-with-mark-bowden/ "The Best Game Ever: Interview With Mark Bowden"], ''The New York Times'', December 25, 2008, 12:55 am. Retrieved August 17, 2011.</ref>

[[ESPN]] presented this game to a national audience on December 13, 2008. This presentation is a two-hour documentary which includes restored footage with colorization as well as a living room approach which included players past and present and fans. This was put together by ESPN Films and [[NFL Films]]. Expert Jeffrey Muttart was asked to reconstruct the controversial call on the field, and after research and utilization of today's technology, he denied the Giants' first down (therefore, the call made by the officials was correct).

==In popular culture==
The game plays a role in a 1991 episode of ''[[The Adventures of Pete & Pete]]'' titled "Space, Geeks and Johnny Unitas." A new kid in school gets Big Pete and Ellen fascinated by the possible universal significance of Johnny Unitas and the 1958 game. At one point, Big Pete questions a confused Art Donovan (himself) about Unitas' accomplishments in that game.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Adventures Of Pete And Pete: "Space, Geeks, And Johnny Unitas" |url=https://www.avclub.com/the-adventures-of-pete-and-pete-space-geeks-and-joh-1798168563 |website=The A.V. Club |language=en |date=9 June 2011}}</ref>

==Final statistics==
Source:''The NFL's Official Encyclopedic History of Professional Football'', (1974), p.&nbsp;111, Macmillan Publishing Co. New York, NY, LCCN 73-3862
The boxscore can be found on Pro-Football-reference.com https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/195812280nyg.htm

===Statistical comparison===
{| class="wikitable"
!
!'''Baltimore Colts'''
!'''New York Giants'''
|-
|First downs||27||10
|-
|First downs rushing||9||3
|-
|First downs passing||17||7
|-
|First downs penalty||1||0
|-
|Total yards||500||288
|-
|Passing yards||361||200
|-
|Passing – Completions-attempts||26–40||12–18
|-
|Passing – Yards per attempt||9.0||11.1
|-
|Interceptions-return yards||0–0||1–5
|-
|Rushing yards||139||88
|-
|Rushing attempts||38||31
|-
|Yards per rush||3.6||2.8
|-
|Penalties-yards||3–15||2–22
|-
|Fumbles-lost||2–2||6–4
|-
|Punts-Average||4–50.8||6–45.6
|}

===Individual statistics===
{{col-float|width=48%}}
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! colspan="5" style="{{NFLPrimaryStyle|Baltimore Colts|year=1958|border=2}};"|Colts Passing
|-
!
!Comp/Att
!Yds
!TD
!INT
|-
|[[Johnny Unitas]]
|26/40
|361
|1
|1
|-
! colspan="5" style="{{NFLPrimaryStyle|Baltimore Colts|year=1958|border=2}};"|Colts Rushing
|-
!
!Rush
!Yds
!Avg
!TD
|-
|[[Alan Ameche]]
|14
|59
|4.21
|2
|-
|[[L.G. Dupre]]
|11
|30
|2.72
|0
|-
|Johnny Unitas
|4
|26
|6.5
|0
|-
|[[Lenny Moore]]
|9
|24
|2.67
|0
|-
! colspan="5" style="{{NFLPrimaryStyle|Baltimore Colts|year=1958|border=2}};"|Colts Receiving
|-
!
!Rec
!Yds
!Avg
!TD
|-
|[[Raymond Berry]]
|12
|178
|14.83
|1
|-
|Lenny Moore
|5
|99
|19.8
|0
|-
|[[Jim Mutscheller]]
|4
|63
|15.75
|0
|-
|Alan Ameche
|3
|14
|4.67
|0
|-
|L.G. Dupre
|2
|7
|3.5
|0
|}
{{col-float-break|width=48%}}
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! colspan="5" style="{{NFLPrimaryStyle|New York Giants|year=1958|border=2}};"|Giants Passing
|-
!
!Comp/Att
!Yds
!TD
!INT
|-
|[[Charlie Conerly]]
|10/14
|187
|1
|0
|-
|[[Don Heinrich]]
|2/4
|13
|0
|0
|-
! colspan="5" style="{{NFLPrimaryStyle|New York Giants|year=1958|border=2}};"|Giants Rushing
|-
!
!Rush
!Yds
!Avg
!TD
|-
|[[Frank Gifford]]
|12
|60
|5.0
|0
|-
|[[Alex Webster (American football)|Alex Webster]]
|9
|24
|2.67
|0
|-
|[[Mel Triplett]]
|5
|12
|2.4
|1
|-
|Charlie Conerly
|2
|5
|2.5
|0
|-
|[[Phil King (American football)|Phil King]]
|3
|–13
|–4.33
|0
|-
! colspan="5" style="{{NFLPrimaryStyle|New York Giants|year=1958|border=2}};"|Giants Receiving
|-
!
!Rec
!Yds
!Avg
!TD
|-
|Frank Gifford
|3
|14
|4.67
|1
|-
|[[Kyle Rote]]
|2
|76
|38.0
|0
|-
|[[Bob Schnelker]]
|2
|63
|31.5
|0
|-
|Alex Webster
|2
|17
|8.5
|0
|-
|Mel Triplett
|2
|15
|7.5
|0
|-
|[[Ken MacAfee (wide receiver)|Ken MacAfee]]
|1
|15
|15.0
|0
|}
{{col-float-end}}

==See also==
*[[1958 NFL playoffs]]
*[[List of nicknamed NFL games and plays]]

==References==
{{Reflist|2}}

==Bibliography==
* Bowden, Mark (2008), ''The Best Game Ever: Giants vs. Colts, 1958, and the Birth of the Modern NFL''. Atlantic Monthly Press. {{ISBN|978-0-87113-988-7}}
* Gifford, Frank and Richmond, Peter, ''The Glory Game: How the 1958 NFL Championship Changed Football Forever''. HarperCollins
* Lyons, Robert S. (2010). ''On Any Given Sunday, A Life of Bert Bell''. Philadelphia:Temple University Press. {{ISBN|978-1-59213-731-2}}
* Steadman, John F. (1988). ''The Greatest Football Game Ever Played: When the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants Faced Sudden Death.'' Baltimore: Press Box Publishers.

==External links==
* [https://archive.org/details/1958NflChampionship "1958 National Championship,"] Internet Archive. <small>(Video.)</small>
* Chris Schenkel (narrator), [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ck6kcnJVkDE ''The 1958 World Championship of Professional Football: New York Giants vs. Baltimore Colts,''] NFL Throwback via YouTube.com <small>(Long newsreel.)</small>

{{coord|40.827|-73.928|type:event|display=title}}

{{1958 NFL season by team}}
{{1958 Baltimore Colts}}
{{Indianapolis Colts}}
{{New York Giants}}
{{NFLC-SuperBowl}}
{{NFL on NBC}}

[[Category:1958 NFL season|Championship Game]]
[[Category:NFL Championship games]]
[[Category:Baltimore Colts postseason]]
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[[Category:American football competitions in New York City]]
[[Category:December 1958 sports events in the United States|NFL Championship Game]]
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