10 Greatest Games for Each Season of the Super Bowl Era

[Todd Pence]

A project I've long been considering and finally decided to try my hand at - a personal list of top ten games for every season of the Super Bowl era, beginning with 1966. When and if I see this to completion, I'll have amassed a list of five hundred great games. Anyway, here's my list for 1966, in chronological order. AFL fans will doubtless be disappointed that only one AFL game made the list, that was just the way it worked out. although there were several worthy candidates.

Sep. 11: Steelers 34, Giants 34 - Wild back-and-forth opener features three Giant TDs of 70+ yards
Sep. 18: Packers 21, Browns 20 - '65 title game rematch features Pack driving 85 yards for fourth quarter win
Oct. 2: Broncos 40, Oilers 38 - Two of AFL's worst teams produce gem as five Blanda TDs aren't enough for Oilers. Broncs win on last second FG.
Nov. 6: Vikings 20, Packers 17 - Vikes march 73 yards to score in last two minutes to defeat future champs
Nov. 13: Cowboys 31, Redskins 30 - First of two classic shootouts this year between Meredith and Jurgensen, teams combine for nearly a thousand yards
Nov. 20: Eagles 35, 49ers 34 - King Hill leads incredible fourth-quarter comeback
Dec. 4: Browns 49, Giants 40 - Browns gets 3 TDs in last 5 minutes for comeback
Dec. 10: Packers 14, Colts 10 - Pack come back late in fourth quarter, then make goal-line stand against Johnny U
Dec. 11: Redskins 34, Cowboys 31 - Meredith-Jurgensen II, 31 total fourth quarter points
Jan. 1: NFL Championship - Packers 34, Cowboys 27 - Cowboys roar back from big deficit only to come up short at end

Let me know if you strongly feel that I've left a game out that should be in, or you disagree strongly with one of my choices.

[ChrisBabcock]

Great idea!... if you can see it through all 50 years. This... uh... may take you awhile.
Suggestion: When possible post commentary/highlights with some games if you can. That Browns comeback over the Giants looks like it was a heck of a game.
Looking forward to more.

[Todd Pence]

Okay, I'll go back and edit a bit of commentary in now. One game that just missed the cut was the REAL first-ever Monday Night game on Halloween, which featured fourth-quarter TDs by Larry Wilson and Gale Sayers.

[BD Sullivan]

Two others to consider

10/16: The undefeated Cards and Cowboys meet in STL. Bob Hayes fumbles a punt late with Dallas leading 10-7. Bakken FG salvages a tie.
10/23: John Brodie hits Monte Stickles for a 21-yard TD with 3 seconds left--48 seconds after Detroit had taken the lead--for a 27-24 win. Garo Yepremian's debut.

[JohnH19]

Two others to consider

10/16: The undefeated Cards and Cowboys meet in STL. Bob Hayes fumbles a punt late with Dallas leading 10-7. Bakken FG salvages a tie.

I recently viewed the GOTW program of that game. It was by no means a great game. In fact, it was pretty awful.

Was Washington 72 Giants 41 considered?

[Rupert Patrick]

This is kinda sorta the book I am writing, where I started in 1933 and for 1933-69 for every league-season I chose the two most interesting games of each season and wrote a piece on them of about 3000 words, depending on the more material I could find on them but if I didn't have much material on the games, I only wrote 500-800 words about it. For the AAFC and AFL I also chose the two most interesting games of each season for those years, so in 1966 I chose two NFL and two AFL games and wrote about them. From 1970 forward I picked the four most interesting games of each season. The material I used to write them was video of broadcast or radio broadcasts, game film, play by play and newspaper articles that were published immediately after the game, along with my accumulated knowledge about the game. I avoided memoirs and biography books and books of any kind (except for encyclopedias) because the supposed facts in those types of books are often wrong when players try to remember them several decades after the fact, and besides, I wanted to write my own book and not copy somebody else's book. I wanted to take a fresh look at these games

The basic rationale I used for choosing the game was if I had a time machine and could go back and witness any game during the season, what would it be? In order to reach the conclusion, I studied every box score during the season, and generally whittled it down to eight or ten really good ones, and from there eliminated them until I had the the two or four I needed, but in many cases, I knew going in what the number one game would be. With that in mind, for 1966 I chose in order for the NFL (1) the 1966 NFL Championship Game and (2) The Redskins Giants 72-41 scorefest. For the AFL I picked in order (1) the Houston Denver game from October 2nd and (2) San Diego vs. Buffalo from October 16th.

The piece I wrote about the 1966 NFL Championship game was used for the Packers book.

[Todd Pence]

I didn't really consider the 72-41 Skins Giants game, mainly because it was a 31-point blowout. But I did consider the earlier game between the two teams, where the Giants came from behind in the fourth quarter to get their only win of the year - and the fact that this later inspired the 72-41 game was one of the points of interest in its favor.

[CSKreager]

Let me throw this one in for '66:

11/24- Cowboys 26, Browns 14. First Cowboys Thanksgiving game and first NFL, a big statement win for a team that was becoming big-time (Fell behind in first half, 13 unanswered 2nd half points). Battle for first place in the Eastern Division

[Todd Pence]

Okay, here's 10 from 1967:

9/10 - Bills 20, Jets 17: Jets cruise into fourth with 17-0 lead only to suffer stunning meltdown that eventually proves fatal to Eastern title hopes
10/8 - 49ers 27, Rams 24: Niners come close to blowing 20-0 lead, salvage game with late TD to hand Rams only loss of regular season
10/15 - Rams 24, Colts 24: Rams fight back in fourth to earn crucial tie enabling them to eventually be in a position to win West
10/22 - Cowboys 24, Steelers 21: Don Meredith takes away Steeler upset with late game winning drive
11/5 - Colts 13, Packers 10: Unitas stuns champs with 2 TDs in final three minutes
11/12 - Redskins 31, 49ers 28: Sonny pulls off another miracle game-winner
12/3 - Colts 23, Cowboys 17: Colts fight from behind in 4th to stay unbeaten
12/3 - Packers 30, Vikings 27: Late fumble recovery seals win for Pack
12/9 - Rams 27, Packers 24: Late punt block sets up winning Ram TD
12/31 - Packers 21, Cowboys 17 - NFL Championship: Yeah, you really should know about this one already

[SixtiesFan]

Let me throw this one in for '66:

11/24- Cowboys 26, Browns 14. First Cowboys Thanksgiving game and first NFL, a big statement win for a team that was becoming big-time (Fell behind in first half, 13 unanswered 2nd half points). Battle for first place in the Eastern Division

I recall watching this one on TV. It could be considered the first really big win for the Dallas Cowboys.