Packers 21, Cowboys 17
Dec. 31, 1967
NFL Championship Game at Green Bay |
The Cowboys, fresh from a 52-14 breeze past Cleveland in their first-round playoff game in the Cotton Bowl, were loose and happy during their practice at Lambeau Field the day before the title game. It was calm and partly cloudy, and the temperature was 16 degrees. Beneath the field, Lombardi's new $80,000 heating grid was humming away. "It feels good," wide receiver Bob Hayes said after running a couple of deep pass routes. Linebacker Chuck Howley nodded. "If we have another day like this, it will be ideal," he said.
On Sunday morning, the hotel operator rang the players' rooms with a wake-up call. "Good morning. It's 8 a.m. and the temperature is 16 degrees below zero."
That 32-degree downturn occurred shortly after 3 a.m., when a fierce wind pushed a new cold front through Green Bay. When Lombardi arrived at Lambeau Field, he learned it wasn't nice to fool Mother Nature. His pet underground heating system had conked out before its official debut. The field was solid ice, and gusting winds during the game would force the wind chill factor as low as minus-46.
Until this day, the coldest championship game in NFL history had been played in 1945. It was 5 degrees above zero in Cleveland when the Cleveland Rams edged the Washington Redskins, 15-14. The Rams won by virtue of a safety awarded when Sammy Baugh passed from his end zone and saw the swirling wind blow the ball against the goal post on the goal line. The next year, the Rams moved to Los Angeles.
Back in Green Bay, the Cowboys-Packers matchup had changed drastically. Football's jet set would have to challenge the proud but somewhat frayed champions on an ice rink.
The game was blacked out on local TV, so the stadium was packed with fans dressed like Arctic explorers, puffing huge clouds of steam with each breath. They watched a weird game with two determined teams slip-sliding around and just one artistic play. On the first play of the fourth quarter, the Cowboys faced second-and-5 on the 50 when, at the urging of halfback Dan Reeves, Don Meredith called a play known as "fire pitch." The play began as a sweep left by Reeves, but he pulled up and threw a long touchdown pass to Lance Rentzel, who was wide open after defensive backs Bob Jeter and Willie Wood moved up to play the run. This gave Dallas its first lead, 17-14, and it almost held up to the finish.
Almost.
With 4:50 left, the Packers got the ball, needing to cover 68 yards for a touchdown, and Starr started them on a strange drive toward one historic play. Packers delivered key yardage on some plays, Cowboys simply slipped down on others, but with 16 seconds left the ball was about two feet from the goal line on fourth down. Starr used the Packers' last timeout to talk with Lombardi, who told him to go for the touchdown rather than try a field goal that could have sent the game into sudden death.
In his book Instant Replay, right guard Kramer described the situation.
"In the huddle, Bart said, 'Thirty-one wedge, and I'll carry the ball.' He was going for the hole just inside me, just off my left shoulder. Kenny Bowman, the center, and I were supposed to move big Jethro [Pugh] out of the way. I came off the ball as fast as I ever have in my life. . . . I wouldn't swear that I wasn't actually offside on the play."
No penalty flag was thrown, however. The Packers had another title, and the Cowboys had a heap of heartache.
"It's most disappointing to have this happen twice in a row," Meredith said in an eerily quiet locker room. The Cowboys had self-destructed in the fading seconds a year before after having first down on the Green Bay 2. "I guess, we can do everything except win the big one."
Anyone who recalled the quarterback's medical history for the season – broken ribs, pneumonia, broken nose, twisted knee – would have felt Meredith was being too harsh with himself. But this was the year he wanted to see the Cowboys make it all the way to the top, and now the opportunity had been lost in the cruelest weather conditions in football history. As fullback Don Perkins observed, "Our whole offense – everything we'd worked on all year – went out the window."
And so did the Cowboys' championship dreams for the next three years.
