January 1, 1967: Shootout at the Cotton Bowl

January 1, 1967: The 1966 NFL Championship Game is held at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. For the host Dallas Cowboys, Champions of the Eastern Conference (which made no sense geographically), it is their 1st title game, in only their 7th season. For the Green Bay Packers, Champions of the Western Conference, it is their 9th.

When the New York Giants won the 1956 NFL Championship, under head coach Jim Lee Howell, his offensive assistant (or offensive coordinator, as the position came to be called) was Vince Lombardi, previously a guard at Fordham University and an assistant coach at Army. His defensive assistant (defensive coordinator) was Tom Landry, a star two-way back at the University of Texas and with the Giants. Now, Lombardi was coaching the Packers, attempting to win a 4th NFL Championship in 6 seasons; and Landry was coaching the Cowboys, attempting to "win the big one" on the first try.

Okay, it was a big one, but not the big one: For the 1st time, the NFL Champions would not, automatically, be considered the World Champions of American-style football. The merger agreement with the American Football League, a few months earlier, meant that the two leagues' Champions would meet 2 weeks after their title games, in what was then officially named "The AFL-NFL World Championship Game." This would retroactively be renamed "Super Bowl I."

In those days, the NFL alternated the site of its Championship Game geographically. It was the Eastern Champions' turn to host, so, despite the Packers having the better record -- 12-2, to the Cowboys' 10-3-1 -- the Cowboys would host.

The Packers jumped out to a 14-0 lead, on a 17-tyard pass from Bart Starr to Elijah Pitts, and an 18-yard fumble return by Jim Grabowski. But before the 1st quarter was out, the Cowboys tied the game, on touchdown runs by Dan Reeves and Don Perkins. Starr threw a 51-yard touchdown pass to Carroll Dale, to give the Packers the lead. Danny Villanueva kicked an 11-yard field goal, and the Packers went into the locker room up 21-17.

Villanueva kicked a 32-yard field goal, and then Starr threw a 16-yard touchdown pass to Bowd Dowler, putting the Packers up 28-20 at the end of the 3rd quarter. In the 4th quarter, Starr threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Boyd Dowler. Don Chandler kicked the extra points on the Packers' 1st 4 touchdowns, but missed it on the 5th one, so the Packers' lead was 34-20.

There was 5:20 left to play. Meredith threw a 68-yard touchdown pass to Franklin Clarke, making it 34-27. A bad punt by Chandler gave the Cowboys the ball on the Packer 47-yard line with 2:12 to go, to get a touchdown that would send the game to overtime.

Cowboy quarterback Don Meredith got the ball to the Packer 22. Each team then made a dumb penalty: The Packers' Tom Brown committed pass interference to put the ball on their own 2-yard line, and a false start pushed the Cowboys back to the 6. On 4th and goal, Meredith dropped back to pass. Packer linebacker Dave Robinson got to Meredith, who was still able to get a pass off. But Brown made up for his mistake by intercepting the pass in the end zone. Starr made 2 kneeldowns to run out the clock, and the Packers had won.

In 1981, John Thorn left his comfort zone, baseball, and published Pro Football's 10 Greatest Games. He included this game as one of them.

The American Football League Championship Game was also played that day, at War Memorial Stadium in Buffalo, New York. The Buffalo Bills were 2-time defending AFL Champions, but, this time, they were beaten by the Kansas City Chiefs, 31-7. So the Bills were the last AFL Champions who didn't get to play the NFL Champions in the Super Bowl. The Chiefs did, but the Packers beat them, 35-10 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

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January 1, 1967 was a Sunday. Future Pro Football Hall-of-Famer Derrick Thomas was born that day.

Because it was a Sunday, the usual New Year's Day college football bowl games were moved. The Cotton Bowl Classic was held the day before: Number 4 Georgia beat Number 10 Southern Methodist University (SMU), 24-9 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, where the NFL Championship Game was held the next day.

The other games were held on Monday, January 2. In the Sugar Bowl, Number 3 Alabama beat Number 6 Nebraska, 34-7. This completed an undefeated season for Alabama, which had won shares of the National Championship the preceding 2 years.

But not this time: Number 1 Notre Dame did not accept bowl bids in those days, and Number 2 Michigan State, which had played Notre Dame to a 10-0 tie on November 19, was barred from playing in the Rose Bowl due to the Big Ten Conference's rule against back-to-back appearances, and its rule that only the Rose Bowl representative could go to a bowl game. Both of those rules were repealed for the 1975 season. But that did neither Michigan State nor Alabama any good, and Notre Dame, despite the blemish on its record, was voted the National Champion.

In the Rose Bowl, at the stadium of the same name in Pasadena, California, outside Los Angeles, Number 7 Purdue beat Number 18 University of Southern California (USC), 14-13. And in the Orange Bowl, at the stadium of the same name in Miami, Number 11, Florida, led by Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Steve Spurrier, beat Number 8 Georgia Tech, 27-12.

Baseball was out of season. There were 2 games played in the NBA. The New York Knicks lost to the St. Louis Hawks, 128-105 at the Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis. And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Boston Celtics, 111-110 at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena.

And the NHL's entire Original Six were in action:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Toronto Maple Leafs, 2-1 at the old Madison Square Garden.

* The Detroit Red Wings beat the Montreal Canadiens, 4-1 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.

* And the Chicago Black Hawks beat the Boston Bruins, 3-2.