1960 NFL season
Encyclopedia
The 1960 NFL season was the 41st regular season
Regular season (NFL)
The National Football League regular season begins the weekend after Labor Day. Each team plays 16 games during a 17-week period. Traditionally, the majority of each week's games are played on Sunday afternoon, with weekly games on Sunday night and Monday night, and occasional games on Thursday...

 of the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

. Before the season, Pete Rozelle
Pete Rozelle
Alvin Ray "Pete" Rozelle was the commissioner of the National Football League from January 1960 to November 1989, when he retired from office. Rozelle is credited with making the NFL into one of the most successful sports leagues in the world....

 was elected NFL commissioner as a compromise choice on the twenty-third ballot. Meanwhile, the league expanded to 13 teams with the addition of the Dallas Cowboys
Dallas Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football franchise which plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League . They are headquartered in Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas...

. Also, the Cardinals
Arizona Cardinals
The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in Glendale, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

 relocated from Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

 to St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...

, becoming the St. Louis Cardinals, the same moniker as the major league baseball team of the same name
St. Louis Cardinals
The St. Louis Cardinals are a professional baseball team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are members of the Central Division in the National League of Major League Baseball. The Cardinals have won eleven World Series championships, the most of any National League team, and second overall only to...

.

In the 1960 NFL Championship
NFL Championship Game, 1960
The 1960 National Football League championship game was the 28th NFL title game. The game was played on Monday, December 26, 1960 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....

 Game, the Philadelphia Eagles
1960 Philadelphia Eagles season
The 1960 Philadelphia Eagles season, their 28th in the league, resulted in defeating the Green Bay Packers to win their third NFL Championship. It was their only postseason appearance in the twenty-eight seasons from 1950 to 1977.-Off Season:...

 defeated the Green Bay Packers
1960 Green Bay Packers season
*First Quarter**GB-Hornung 20 yard FG*Second Quarter**GB-Hornung 23 yard FG**Phi-McDonald 35 yard pass from Van Brocklin **Phi-Walston 15 yard FG*Third Quarter**No scoring*Fourth Quarter...

 at Franklin Field
Franklin Field
Franklin Field is the University of Pennsylvania's stadium for football, field hockey, lacrosse, sprint football, and track and field . It is also used by Penn students for recreation, and for intramural and club sports, including touch football and cricket, and is the site of Penn's graduation...

. Two years earlier, in 1958
1958 NFL season
The 1958 NFL season was the 39th regular season of the National Football League.The Baltimore Colts defeated the New York Giants, 23–17, in the first sudden-death overtime in an NFL Championship Game...

, these teams had both finished in last place in their respective conferences. This loss was Vince Lombardi
Vince Lombardi
Vincent Thomas "Vince" Lombardi was an American football coach. He is best known as the head coach of the Green Bay Packers during the 1960s, where he led the team to three straight league championships and five in seven years, including winning the first two Super Bowls following the 1966 and...

's only post-season defeat (excluding a loss in the third place Playoff Bowl
Playoff Bowl
The Playoff Bowl was a post-season game for third place in the NFL, played ten times following the -69 seasons. Bell was a co-founder of the Philadelphia Eagles as well as a co-owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers during much of the 1940s...

 game four years later
1964 NFL season
The 1964 NFL season was the 45th regular season of the National Football League. Before the season started, NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle reinstated Green Bay Packers running back Paul Hornung and Detroit Lions defensive tackle Alex Karras, who had been suspended for the 1963 season due to...

) as an NFL head coach. Following this loss in 1960, Lombardi's Packers won five NFL championship games in seven years, and easily won the first two Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...

s.

Conference Races

All teams but Dallas played a home-and-away game against the other five members of their own conference, one interconference game, and one game against the new team (Dallas). The Cowboys, although assigned to the Western Conference, were a "swing team", playing their 12 game schedule against each of the other teams in the league. (Byes would have been necessary because of the odd number of teams in the league.) The Cowboys' first game saw them take a 14-0 lead over the Steelers, with Jim Doran catching a pass from Eddie LeBaron for the first score, but Dallas went on to lose 35–28.

Philadelphia lost its opener, at home, to Cleveland, 41–24. After that, the Eagles went on a 9 game winning streak. The breakthrough came in Week Six (October 30), when the unbeaten (3–0–1) New York Giants lost at home to St. Louis, 20–13, and the Browns and Eagles were both at 4–1. In Week Seven, New York beat Cleveland, 17–13, and the Eagles beat Pittsburgh 34–7 . The Eagles kept on winning, finishing 10–2 and on top of the Eastern Conference. Two of those wins were in consecutive games (November 20 and 27) against New York. In the latter game, the Eagles trailed 17–0, then 23–17, before Norm Van Brocklin threw two touchdown passes in the final quarter for a 31–23 victory. The Giants' Frank Gifford
Frank Gifford
Francis Newton "Frank" Gifford is a Hall of Fame former American football player and American sportscaster.-Early life:Gifford was born in Santa Monica, California, the son of Lola Mae and Weldon Gifford, an oil driller....

 was severely injured in a tackle by Chuck Bednarik
Chuck Bednarik
Charles Philip Bednarik is a former professional American football player, known as one of the most devastating tacklers in the history of football and the last two-way player in the National Football League...

  that almost ended his career.

The Western Conference race was one in which Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, Green Bay and San Francisco all had a lead at one time. The Bears fell back after a Week Six loss to the 49ers, 25–7. In Week Seven, the 4–2 Colts and the 4–1 Packers met on November 6 in Green Bay. Baltimore, which had lost an earlier match, won 38–24, to take the lead in the Western. In Week Ten, the Colts lost at home to San Francisco, 30–22, and began a streak of defeats. Baltimore's 20–15 loss to the Lions, and Green Bay's 41–13 win at Chicago, tied the Colts and Packers at 6–4 in Week Eleven. After the Packers' 13–0 win at San Francisco, their record was 7–4, while the Colts, Lions and 49ers were all at 6–5. San Francisco and Detroit both won the next week, the former beating Baltimore 34–10, but the Packers won as well, beating Los Angeles 35–21 for the Western title.

The new Dallas Cowboys lost their first ten games, then on December 4, they managed a 31–31 tie against the Giants
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

 at Yankee Stadium in New York. At 0–11–1, they still finished at .000, rather than at .042, under the rules at the time (ties being ignored in computing winning percentage prior to 1972
1972 NFL season
The 1972 NFL season was the 53rd regular season of the National Football League. The Miami Dolphins became the first NFL team to finish a championship season undefeated and untied when they beat the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII.-Major rule changes:...

).
Week WESTERN EASTERN
1 Tie (Bal, Chi) 1-0-0 4 teams (Cle, NYG, Pit, St.L) 1-0-0
2 BALTIMORE COLTS 2-0-0 Tie (Cle, NYG) 2-0-0
3 4 teams (Bal, Chi, GB, SF) 2-1-0 Tie (Cle, NYG) 3-0-0
4 Tie (Bal, Chi) 3-0-0 Tie (Cle, NYG) 3-0-0
5 Tie (Chi, GB) 3-1-0 NEW YORK GIANTS 3-0-1
6 GREEN BAY PACKERS 4-1-0 Tie (Cle, Phi) 4-1-0
7 BALTIMORE COLTS 5-2-0 PHILADELPHIA EAGLES 5-1-0
8 BALTIMORE COLTS 6-2-0 PHILADELPHIA EAGLES 6-1-0
9 BALTIMORE COLTS 6-2-0 PHILADELPHIA EAGLES 7-1-0
10 BALTIMORE COLTS 6-3-0 PHILADELPHIA EAGLES 8-1-0
11 Tie (Bal, GB, SF) 6-4-0 PHILADELPHIA EAGLES 9-1-0
12 GREEN BAY PACKERS 7-4-0 PHILADELPHIA EAGLES 9-2-0
13 GREEN BAY PACKERS 8-4-0 PHILADELPHIA EAGLES 10-2-0

Final standings

W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PCT= Winning Percentage, PF= Points For, PA = Points Against

Note: Prior to 1972, the NFL did not include tie games when calculating a team's winning percentage in the official standings



NFL Championship Game

Philadelphia 17, Green Bay 13 at Franklin Field
Franklin Field
Franklin Field is the University of Pennsylvania's stadium for football, field hockey, lacrosse, sprint football, and track and field . It is also used by Penn students for recreation, and for intramural and club sports, including touch football and cricket, and is the site of Penn's graduation...

, University of Pennsylvania
University of Pennsylvania
The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...

, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

, December 26, 1960

Awards

Most Valuable Player
NFL Most Valuable Player Award
The National Football League Most Valuable Player Award is given by various entities, most notably the Associated Press , to the player who is considered most valuable in the league. When the award is referred to without mentioning the organization, it generally means the AP award. The AP NFL MVP...

Norm Van Brocklin
Norm Van Brocklin
Norman Mack "Norm" Van Brocklin , nicknamed "The Dutchman", was an American football player and coach. He was also a first rate punter in college and in the NFL...

, Quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...

, Philadelphia
Coach of the Year
NFL Coach of the Year Award
The National Football League Coach of the Year Award is presented annually by various news and sports organizations to the NFL head coach who has done the most outstanding job of working with the talent he has at his disposal. Currently, the most widely recognized award is presented by the...

Buck Shaw
Buck Shaw
Lawrence T. "Buck" Shaw was an American football player and coach. He served as the head coach for Santa Clara University, the University of California, Berkeley, the San Francisco 49ers, the United States Air Force Academy, and the Philadelphia Eagles...

, Philadelphia

External links

  • NFL Record and Fact Book (ISBN 1-932994-36-X)
  • NFL History 1951-1960 (Last accessed July 8, 2007)
  • 1960 season in details
  • Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League (ISBN 0-06-270174-6)
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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