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The 1958 National Football League Championship Game was played on December 28, 1958 at Yankee Stadium in New York City. It was the first ever National Football League (NFL) game to go into sudden death overtime. The final score was Baltimore Colts 23, New York Giants 17. The game has since become widely known as The Greatest Game Ever Played. The game was the 26th annual NFL championship game.

Many sports writers and fans mark this game as the beginning of the NFL's popularity and dominance over all other professional sports in the United States. A major reason was that the game was televised across the nation by NBC, which was a rarity at the time.


Game summary

After the Giants scored first late in the first quarter with Pat Summerall's 36-yard field goal, a fumble by New York running back Frank Gifford set up a 2-yard touchdown run by Colts running back Alan Ameche. Gifford fumbled again late in the second quarter, and Baltimore converted that turnover into another touchdown with quarterback Johnny Unitas' 15-yard pass to end Raymond Berry to make the score 14-3 by halftime.

Then early in the third period, the Colts 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 at the 5-yard line on a fourth down halfback option play. The Giants then marched 95-yards, scoring on Mel Triplett's 1 yard touchdown run to cut the score, 14-10.

The Giants then went ahead early in the fourth quarter with Gifford's 15-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Charlie Conerly. But with about two minutes left in the game, the Colts took over at their own 14-yard line and moved the ball all the way to the Giants 13-yard line to set up kicker Steve Myhra's 20-yard tying field goal with seven seconds left.

In overtime, the Giants received the opening kickoff but were forced to punt. On their ensuing drive, the Colts drove 80 yards in 13 plays and scored on Ameche's 1-yard touchdown run to win the game.

Scoring summary

  • NYG - FG Summerall 36
  • BAL - Ameche 2 run (Myhra kick)
  • BAL - Berry 15 pass from Unitas (Myhra kick)
  • NYG - Triplett 1 run (Summerall kick)
  • NYG - Gifford 15 pass from Conerly (Summerall kick)
  • BAL - FG Myhra 20
  • BAL - Ameche 1 run

Overtime and future controversy

It is possible that the current format the NFL uses for overtime (sudden death, even if one of the teams doesn't get a chance to play offense) has not been changed because of the success of this game in term of popularity. Other North American football leagues use an overtime system that many believe to be substantially more fair (NCAA, CFL), yet the NFL has never changed to the shootout style format.

References

1958 in sports | Sports in Baltimore | Indianapolis Colts | National Football League lore | National Football League playoffs | New York Giants | The NFL on NBC

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "NFL Championship Game, 1958".

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