Greatest NFL Football Game Of All Time: The Ice Bowl

Throughout the history of professional football in North America there have been a ton of great games and memorable match-ups. On any given week, during any NFL season, football fans are treated to epic battles and fantastic finishes.

While saying anything is the best of the best is always subject to opinion; many football fans agree that the 1967 NFL Championship Game, nick named The Ice Bowl, is the greatest NFL game of all time.

1967 NFL Football Championship Game – The Ice Bowl

The reasons why The Ice Bowl is hailed as the greatest game ever are numerous. They include, what was at stake (a trip to Super Bowl II) the game conditions, the fierce rivalry between the two teams involved as well as the way the game ended.

The game pitted the Green Bay Packers versus the Dallas Cowboy in the 35th NFL Championship game. It was also a rematch of the 1966 NFL Title Game. The temperature at the start of the game was −13°F with a wind chill factor estimated at −48°F and, in the end, it was played in the coldest actual air temperature on record for an NFL game. By the time it ended on that frigid New Year’s Eve at Lambeau Field the playing surface was a sheet of ice and the temperature had plummeted to −20°F making the conditions almost unbearable.

Green Bay Packers Quarterback Bart Starr Leads The Drive To Victory

QB Bart Star of the Packers was up against QB Don Meredith of the Cowboys and the Packers jumped out to a 14-0 lead. The Cowboys fought back with three unanswered scores and the Packers were trailing 17-14 with 4:50 left in the game. The Packers started the game winning drive from their own 32-yard line. During the drive, Starr made three precision passes that gained 44 yards and fullback Chuck Mercein had an eight yard run that put the Packers on the Cowboys 3-yard line. After two rushing attempts (that gained two yards) by RB Danny Anderson, the ball was at the 1-yard line.

Faced with third and goal with 18 seconds left on the clock and not wanting to attempt a field goal that would extend the game into overtime, QB Bart Starr took matters into his own hands. On a play that was designed as a Mercein hand off, Starr kept the ball instead. Behind a block on Cowboys defensive tackle Jethro Pugh from center Ken Bowman and guard Jerry Kramer, Starr wedged into the end zone on a quarterback sneak to give the Packers a 21-17 victory.

Memorable Quotes From The Ice Bowl

During a time out prior to the game winning score Starr suggested the next play should be a quarterback sneak to which Packers legendary coach Vince Lombardi replied “Well, run it and let’s get the hell out of here.”

At one point during the telecast of the game announcer Frank Gifford was heard to say “I’m going to take a bite of my coffee.” The Packers all world linebacker Ray Nitschke said later in an interview “My feet were numb and the next day, my toes blistered up a bit, and I had 6 toes that had frostbite.”

The lore of The Ice Bowl is as legendary as the players and coaches who participated in the game. Six of the Cowboys participants and eight of the Packers participants would eventually land in the NFL Hall of Fame and The Ice Bowl is now forever “frozen” in time.