To the surprise of absolutely zero fans who have even the lowest passing interest in the NFL and its history, the most memorable playoff game played between the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys occurred on New Year’s Eve in 1967.
The game is so famous that it has its own nickname which needs no further description. For example, Dwight Clark’s celebrated touchdown reception in the 1981 NFC Championship Game is forever known as simply “The Catch.” Also, John Elway leading his Broncos 98 yards for a tying score in the 1986 AFC Championship Game is proclaimed as “The Drive.”
The 1967 NFL Championship’s uncomplicated moniker was derived from the dangerous conditions in which the game was played, and it happened to be the coldest game ever contested.
MEMORABLE MOMENT #1: December 31, 1967–The Ice Bowl
Despite the -15 degrees Fahrenheit temperature and -48 degrees wind chill at the kickoff, the game itself offered enough drama to be remembered as a classic. After taking a quick 14-0 in the first quarter, the Packers’ offense bogged down and was rendered useless for most of the rest of the game.
The Cowboys battled back to take a 17-14 lead on a 50-yard pass from halfback Dan Reeves to Lance Retzel with the first play of the fourth quarter. The two teams then traded punts, and the Packers owned possession of the ball on their own 32 with just under five minutes to play.
The drive started with Starr completing a swing pass to Anderson which gained six yards. On the next play, Mercein ran the ball for seven more yards off tackle to the 45-yard line and near the sideline of the Packers.
After a Bowd Dowler first-down reception, the Cowboys’ defense foiled the Packers’ famed sweep play for a nine-yard loss. Three swing passes, two to Donny Anderson and one to Chuck Mercein, netted 41 yards to reach the Dallas 11.
An eight-yard trap run by Mercein drove Green Bay to the three-yard line, and Anderson drove for two yards, setting up a first-and-goal from the one. However, after two unsuccessful tries for paydirt, mainly due to the icy footing of the “frozen tundra” of Lambeau Field, the Packers faced third-and-goal with 16 seconds remaining. To make matters more tense, the Packers had no timeouts left, which meant that another fruitless try for a touchdown would most likely leave them not enough time to try a game-tying field goal.
Starr conferred with head coach Vince Lombardi before the third-down play during their last timeout. When Starr told Lombardi about his idea for a play, the legendary coach famously said between shivers, “Run it, and let’s get the hell out of here!”
PACKERS EARN THEIR THIRD STRAIGHT NFL CHAMPIONSHIP
The play quarterback Bart Starr verbalized in the huddle, another wedge play designed for Mercein, was not the one he explained to Lombardi on the sideline. Instead of handing the ball off, Starr took the snap, burrowed himself behind guard Jerry Kramer, and fell into the end zone for the game-clinching touchdown.
Two weeks later, the Packers played in far different conditions at the Orange Bowl in Miami. In 71-degree weather, the Packers defeated the Oakland Raiders 33-14 in Super Bowl II.
LAMBEAU FIELD WAS PARTLY TO BLAME
Even though Lombardi could not control the air temperature, he was partly responsible for the miserable game-field predicament.
During the summer of 1967, Lombardi installed an underground heating system for Lambeau Field. It was the first of its kind in the National Football League and was designed to keep the turf from freezing even in the most extreme conditions.
However, the electrical system beneath the turf failed when it was needed most. The temperature on December 30 was in the mid-30s, and when the tarp that covered the field was unfurled 24 hours before kickoff to see how the heating mechanism was working, things looked normal. After the Cowboys’ walkthrough on Saturday, Bob Hayes, the team’s world-class sprinter, ran a couple of deep patterns, broke a sweat, and said, “It feels good.”
The next morning was game day, and the temperatures dipped to Arctic depths.
What happened next, according to Bud Lea of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, resulted in sheer horror for the Packers and Cowboys:
At Lambeau Field, Packers assistant coaches Ray Wietecha and Bob Schnelker were heading back to the locker room after inspecting the field two hours before the game. As soon as the tarp was removed, it began freezing fast. They didn’t have the nerve to tell Lombardi that his heating system was breaking down, so they passed along the news to Chuck Lane.
“I went in there and told him that the heating system had failed and that his field was frozen,” Lane said. “He flew into a rage, acting as though I had destroyed his heating system. He went out and inspected the field, and I got away from him and went up to the press box. He was looking for someone to kill at that point, and I didn’t want to be the guy.
“This was the first year they had the heated field. They never had the expertise or experience to regulate it properly. They put a tarp over the top of it, and the tarp didn’t breathe, so the heat would come up underneath and form condensation and the moisture would drop back onto the field. Once they took the tarp off, it froze quickly.”
Of course, the Cowboys felt like Lombardi was playing dirty pool and purposefully sabotaged the field. Dallas lineman Jethro Pugh said after testing the turf during pregame, “That bastard Lombardi. He turned off his machine.”
WHAT IT WAS LIKE TO PLAY IN AND WATCH “THE ICE BOWL”
The real drama on this day was just how the players and fans went about braving the elements of the coldest NFL game ever played. According to accounts from the participants, the weather was not just uncomfortable, it was downright dangerous.
Here are some narratives depicting the circumstances of those brave souls who were there:
THE FANS
Green Bay fan Pete Helf: “I remember we walked the last three city blocks to the stadium backward because you couldn’t walk into the wind. Half a million people claim they were at the game. But if you want to find out who was really there, just ask where they bought their dogs and beer. The restrooms were the only place your lips wouldn’t freeze to the bottle.”
Green Bay fan Robert Cornell: “I was selling hotdogs at the game. I couldn’t stand outside so I sold out of the heated restrooms. Made enough money by halftime to quit and watch the game.”
Green Bay fans Nancy Brooking and Nick Wagner: “We were in the stands and people around us were burning newspapers to keep warm. I remember we bought a hot coffee and it turned cold before it reached my lips.”
Actor and Green Bay fan Willem Dafoe: “It was my first Packers game. Everyone was hunkered down because of the cold, but there was still tailgating and beer.”
Green Bay fan James R. Koschmann: “My Dad and I were there because a friend of his didn’t want to brave the elements. I was 20 years old and Dad was about 44. He’s gone now, and I’m 70. At halftime, people were handing around a flask of whiskey to try and keep warm. It wasn’t working!”
PLAYERS AND OTHER PERSONNEL
Dallas lineman George Andrie: “During ‘warm-ups’, we had our hands on the ground and they were freezing. We told the equipment guy, ‘We need some gloves.’ Ernie Stautner, our defensive line coach, said, ‘Gloves are for sissies. We need to show them we’re tougher than they are.”
Dallas lineman Bob Lilly: “The Green Bay players all had gloves on. And this was their weather.”
Green Bay PR director Chuck Lane: “The press box wasn’t heated. I asked some of the crew to go across the street to the gas station and had them pick up some antifreeze. We splashed that against the windows so we could see out.”
Dallas tight end Pettis Norman: “The officials decided not to use whistles because the metal whistle had stuck to the referee’s lips before kick-off and ripped off his skin. So they told us that they’d just say ‘ready’ at the start of the play and ‘stop’ at the end.”
Green Bay Packers historian Cliff Christl: “The halftime show was supposed to feature the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse marching band. But it was canceled because the instruments froze and wouldn’t play. In fact, 11 members of the band had to go to local hospitals to be treated for hypothermia after a pregame practice.”
PACKERS AND NFL HISTORY WERE DEFINED
The eyewitness reports from the players, coaches, and the 50,861 diehards in the bleachers, as well as the folklore that the actual game and events leading up to it generated for the 56 years since it was played, make this event not only the most memorable playoff game in the Green Bay and Dallas rivalry, but it marks arguably the most recognized and remembered affair in the long history of the NFL.
