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[14] [15] In 1958, the Baltimore Colts and New York Giants played "The Greatest Game Ever Played" for the championship. Being the first nationally televised football game, along with its thrilling ending greatly increased the popularity of the NFL. Through these breakthroughs, pro football finally earned its place as a major sport.
The 1958 NFL Championship Game was the 26th NFL championship game, played on December 28 at Yankee Stadium in New York City. It was the first NFL playoff game to be decided in sudden death overtime. [9] The Baltimore Colts defeated the New York Giants 23–17 in what soon became widely known as "the Greatest Game Ever Played". [16]
The book concludes that "the game had already shown the fast-moving, high-scoring excitement in pro football's future." Red Grange himself later called the game, "The greatest football game I ever saw or participated in." In 2019, for the NFL's 100th season, the game was named #51 on the list of the greatest NFL games ever played.
The event featured the first-ever indoor pro football games. The first professional indoor game came on December 29, 1902, when the Syracuse Athletic Club defeated the "New York team" 5–0. Syracuse would go on to win the 1902 Series, while the Franklin Athletic Club won the Series in 1903. The World Series only lasted two seasons. [3] [151]
Sudden death overtime was finally approved for the NFL championship game in 1946 [7] and has remained in effect ever since. [8] [9] The first playoff game requiring overtime was the 1958 NFL Championship Game. The 1955 and 1960 NFL championship games were played on Monday afternoons, Christmas having fallen on a Sunday in those years.
The Lions would play the Bears in the first ever Thanksgiving Day NFL game in 1934. The site would be the University of Detroit Stadium with 26,000 people in attendance, according to the Pro ...
The 1920 Akron Pros were named the first APFA (NFL) champions. The National Football League champions, prior to the merger between the National Football League (NFL) and American Football League (AFL) in 1970, were determined by two different systems. The National Football League was established on September 17, 1920, as the American Professional Football Association (APFA). The APFA changed ...
The American Professional Football Association is formed on September 17, 1920, at Canton, Ohio, with Jim Thorpe elected president. [1] The fourteen teams were mainly drawn from the Ohio League, Chicago Circuit, New York Pro Football League and other teams from the lower midwest.