By Ron Griffitts
Contributing columnist
On Dec. 26, 1960 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia, the Green Bay Packers (8-4) coached by Vince Lombardi met the Philadelphia Eagles (10-2) coached by Buck Shaw in what was later termed a “changing of the guard” game as the Packers, who had not been in a title game since 1944, began their domination of 1960’s NFL football.
The Pack was led on offense by quarterbacks Bart Starr (1368 YDS, 4 TDS), Lamar McHan (517 YDS, 3 TDS), running backs Jim Taylor (1101 YDS, 11 TDS), Paul Hornung (671 YDS, 13 TDS), Tom Moore (237 YDS, $ TDS) and receivers Max McGee (787 YDS, $ TDS), Boyd Dowler (505 YDS, 2 TDS), and Paul Hornung (257 YDS, 2 TDS).
Paul Hornung was their place kicker and made 15 of 28 field goal attempts. They were led on defense by Jesse Wittington with six interceptions, Dan Currie with four and Hank Gremminger, Ray Nitschke and Emleen Tunnell who each had three.
The Eagles were led on offense by quarterbacks Norm Van Brocklin (2471 YDS, 24 TDS), Sunny Jurgensen (486 YDS, 5 TDS), running backs Clarence Peaks (465 YDS, 3 TDS), Billy Ray Barnes (315 YDS, 4 TDS), Ted Dean (304 YDS) and receivers Pete Retzlaff (826 YDS, 5 TDS), Tommy McDonald (802 YDS, 13 TDS) and Bobby Watson (563 YDS, 4 TDS).
Bobby Walston was their place kicker and converted on 14 of 20 field goal attempts. They were led on defense by Don Burroughs with nine interceptions, Chuck Weber with six and Bobby Freeman with four.
Green Bay scored first on a 20-yard Paul Hornung field goal to give the Packers a 3-0 lead after the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Hornung added another 20-yard field goal and Tommy McDonald scored from 35 yards out on a pass from Norm Van Brocklin to give the Eagles a 7-6 lead at halftime.
They only score in the third quarter was a Bobby Watson 15-yard field goal as the Eagles led 10-6 going into the final quarter of play.
Max McGee gave the Packers the lead however on 7-yard pass from Bart Starr for a 13-10 Green Bay lead.
But, a Ted Dean five-yard rushing touchdown gave Philadelphia the lead 17-13 and that proved to be the final score.
That was the only title game Vince Lombardi ever lost and the Pack were back the next year while the Eagles did not return to a title game until the Super Bowl in 2004.
Lombardi led the Packers to wins in five of the next seven NFL championship games, culminating in wins in Super Bowls I and II.
Statistics for this article were from pro-football-reference.com.
