November 27, 1966: The Highest-Scoring Game in NFL History

Sonny Jurgensen

November 27, 1966: The highest-scoring game in NFL history is played.

On December 8, 1940, the Chicago Bears won the NFL Championship Game, walloping the Washington Redskins, 73-0. That remains the most points by one team in a professional football game in America. The Redskins almost matched it, 26 years later.

On October 22, 1950, we received the answer to this question: What would have happened if the team with the best offense in NFL history played the team with the worst defense -- in each case, in terms of points per game? The Los Angeles Rams beat the Baltimore Colts, 70-27, and those 97 points were a new pro football record for most points for both teams, combined.

On December 22, 1963, the Oakland Raiders beat the Houston Oilers, 52-49, for a total of 101 points, a new pro football record. But that was in the American Football League, not the NFL.

From 1956 to 1963, the New York Giants reached the NFL Championship Game 6 times in 8 seasons, although they only won the 1st one. And the Washington Redskins hadn't made one since 1945, or won one since 1942. But by 1966, they were going in opposite directions: The Giants had gotten old and collapsed, while the Redskins had rebuilt, largely because, as the last NFL team that hadn't racially integrated, they had finally done so, with players like receivers Bobby Mitchell and Charley Taylor. Quarterback Sonny Jurgensen was a big acquisition as well.

And when they played each other at District of Columbia Stadium -- renamed Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in 1969 -- on November 27, the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend, a new record was set.

At first, the game wasn't all that remarkable, except for the placekickers being brothers: Charlie Gogolak of the Redskins, and Pete Gogolak of the Giants. They were Hungarian immigrants, and, as Europeans, Pete was the 1st "soccer-style kicker" in the NFL, starting from the side and kicking the football with his instep, instead of kicking straight on with his toes; and Charlie was the 2nd.

Charlie Gogolak

A.D. Whitfield scored 2 touchdowns in the 1st quarter, one on a short pass from Jurgensen, the other on a 63-yard run. Charlie Gogoloak missed the extra point after the 1st touchdown. That would be the only one he would miss on this day.

There would be a lot more scoring in the 2nd quarter. Safety Brigman "Brig" Owens returned a fumble 62 yards for a touchdown, putting the 'Skins up 20-0. Allen Jacobs ran for a touchdown, putting the Giants on the board. But the Redskins got a 3rd touchdown from Whitfield, and one from Joe Don Looney. Gary Wood scored on a quarterback sneak to close the Giants to within 34-14 at the half. Early in the 3rd quarter, Wood threw a 41-yard touchdown pass to Joe Morrison, closing the Giants to within 34-21.

But that was as close as the G-Men would get. Jurgensen threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Taylor. Wood threw a 50-yard touchdown pass to Homer Jones to close the Giants to within 41-28. But Jurgensen threw a 74-yard touchdown pass to Taylor, and it was 48-28 Washington after 3 quarters.

Rickie Harris returned a punt 52 yards for a touchdown, and it was 55-28. Owens returned an interception 60 yards for a touchdown, and it was 62-28. He thus became the 4th player to have returned both a fumble and an interception for a touchdown in the same game. The 1st was Champ Seibold of the Chicago Cardinals in 1942. There have now been 16 players to do it, 1 in the AFL. Oddly, not only did Seibold, the 1st, play on the losing side of the game in question, but so did probably the best player ever to do it: Aeneas Williams, also of the Cardinals, then in Phoenix, in 1993.

Brig Owens

The Giants switched quarterbacks, to Tom Kennedy, and he threw a touchdown pass to Aaron Thomas, making it 62-34. Kennedy led Big Blue down the field again, and Dan Lewis ran it in for a touchdown, and it was 62-41.

But Mitchell broke off a 45-yard run, and the Redskins had their 10th touchdown of the game. As time ran out, knowing that it wouldn't change much of anything, Redskin coach Otto Graham, once the great quarterback of the Cleveland Browns, ordered a field goal. Charlie Gogolak kicked it from 29 yards out. Final score: Redskins 72, Giants 41.

It was 1 point short of the most that any single team had scored. Combined, it was 113 points, a new American professional football record. Or, to put it another way: The Giants scored 41 points on the road, which would normally be something to be proud of... and didn't even come close to winning the ballgame.

Still, the Redskins struggled. The finally got to another title game in the 1972 season, winning the NFC Championship, but losing Super Bowl VII. From 1982 to 1991, 10 seasons, they reached 4 Super Bowls, winning 3. They have not been back to the NFC Championship Game since.

The Giants had their good moments over the next few years, including a 62-10 win over the Philadelphia Eagles in 1972. But they didn't make the Playoffs again until 1981. They have since been to 5 Super Bowls, winning 4 of them.

The highest-scoring NFL game since this one came 38 years later, almost to the day: On November 28, 2004, the Cincinnati Bengals beat their arch-rivals, the Cleveland Browns, 58-48 at what's now named Paycor Stadium in Cincinnati, for a total of 106 points.

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November 27, 1966 was a Sunday. These other games were played in the NFL that day:

* The Los Angeles Rams beat the Baltimore Colts, 23-7 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.

* The Chicago Bears beat the expansion Atlanta Falcons, 23-6 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Green Bay Packers beat the Minnesota Vikings, 28-16 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota.

* The football version of the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 6-3 at the new Busch Memorial Stadium in St. Louis.

* Three days earlier, on Thanksgiving Day, the San Francisco 49ers beat the Detroit Lions, 41-14 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit.

* That was also the 1st time the Dallas Cowboys played at home on Thanksgiving, beating the Cleveland Browns, 26-14 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

* And, with the arrival of the Falcons, but not yet the New Orleans Saints until the next season, there being an odd number of teams in the NFL (15), it was the Philadelphia Eagles' turn to have the bye week.

In the American Football League: 

* The New York Jets lost to the Kansas City Chiefs, 32-24 at Shea Stadium.

* The Boston Patriots beat the expansion Miami Dolphins, 20-14 at the Orange Bowl in Miami.

* The Denver Broncos beat the San Diego Chargers, 20-17 at Bears Stadium in Denver. (It was renamed Mile High Stadium in 1968.)

* The Buffalo Bills beat the Oakland Raiders, 31-10 at the new Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.

* And, with the arrival of the Dolphins, but not yet the Cincinnati Bengals until the 1968 season, there being an odd number of teams in the AFL (9), it was the Houston Oilers' turn to have the bye week.

Baseball was in the off-season. No games were scheduled for the NBA that day. There were 2 NHL games played. The New York Rangers beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-0 at the old Madison Square Garden. And the Chicago Black Hawks beat the Boston Bruins, 5-4 at the Boston Garden. The Montreal Canadiens and the Detroit Red Wings were not scheduled.