I'm sorry if this was already a topic (I'll delete this thread if so).
First thing to come to most minds is Layne getting knocked out in the finale at Chicago. This of course invites two 'what-if's: do Lions win had Layne not got knocked out? And if Lions do win, do they also beat the Giants?
And, of course, the Giants would, IRL, beat Chicago, 47-7, for the League Championship. I've done my share here of bringing up the sneakers. But given that lopsided final score at-hand, and Vince & Tom as NYG's coordinators, and also no George Halas as Bears' HC, perhaps sneakers shouldn't be given too much of a reason.
But how about a seemingly forgotten element? That Eastern Conference race? Posting their first and only winning season of the decade, the Cardinals get off to a hot start winning their first four (then making it 5-1 two weeks later). The G-men themselves were one of those teams they beat!
And Washington. They were the big surprise team the previous year - winning at Cleveland in that '55 opener en route to an 8-4 finish; still well in the race, just a half-game behind the Browns, with two weeks to go. Well '56 was a letdown, but not as much of one as I previously thought. After starting 0-3, they put up 5 wins in a row: handing StL that first loss and then beating both the Lions and then the Giants.
Yes, 1956 was the 'off' year for Cleveland that decade, finishing at 5-7! It was the year after Otto Graham's retirement. Sandwiching those three Redskin wins mentioned in the last paragraph, was a sweep over the Browns themselves. See 'Redskin Rule' for the first of those wins. StL also ended up sweeping Cleveland.
Back to that Eastern Conference race. At the end of Wk#9, it was NYG in the lead at 6-2-1 (coming off that tie at home vs Bears), the Cardinals at 6-3, and Washington at 5-3 already having had a bye. If the Redskins win their rematch against the Giants the following week, they close the gap some more (6-3-0 to 6-3-1) but not to be. G-men win it, Cards lose at home to Green Bay, and though NYG didn't mathematically clinch it just yet the wind was pretty much knocked from the sails suspense-wise.
Much to say about this campaign in both conferences, but that seemingly forgotten EC race worth mentioning.
Further thoughts?
PS - man, looking at that cover of the Chicago Cardinals 'Press, Radio and Television Guide' (you can see it on wiki for each '50s season of theirs)...could it have possibly been made to look just a little bit more intimidating?? This is a professional FOOTBALL team we're talking of! Giant-sized Cardinal-man carrying the ball already, perhaps? I mean you got the Monsters of the Midway cross-town with that obvious Aura. But I guess the writing was already on the wall by then, they being pressured more and more to leave town - this even before Charles Sr passed on ('47/'48) then Wolfner entering the picture.
Those '56 Cardinals and also the Redskins of that year, Kuharich pumping one last breath of competitiveness from the year prior...I'd especially like to hear your takes on both those squads! Thanks in-advance!
Not a great HC, and of course not a good one either. But for what's its possibly worth, Kuharich wasn't bad. He did take over a Washington team smack in the middle of that dark age between Flaherty/Baugh and George Allen and forged some however fleeting semblance of competitiveness/hope as well as a decade later doing the same for Philly in midst of their dry spell between Bednarik/Shaw and Vermeil. Nothing to sneeze too hard at. I guess a latter-day version of him could be Lindy Infante or Ron Meyer. Again, not great, not even good, but really "not bad" either FWIW.