On This Day in Football History

1960 - Vince Lombardi Suffers the ONLY Postseason Loss of His Coaching Career

Led by quarterback Norm Van Brocklin (pictured, below) and linebacker Chuck Bednarik (left), the veteran Philadelphia Eagles barely hold off Vince Lomardi's up-and-coming Green Bay Packers, 17-13, to win the NFL title at Franklin Field. After the Packers take a 13-10 lead in the fourth quarter, a 58-yard kickoff return by Fred Dean sets up the winning Eagles touchdown.

The Packers try to respond, but Bednarik tackles Jim Taylor on the eight-yard line as time runs out and the Eagles deal Coach Lombardi his only lifetime loss in the postseason. [source: my Page-A-Day Sports 2007 calendar]


The Packers would win the NFL championship the following year (1961), then again in '62, '65, '66 and '67 - the last two, of course, being the first two Super Bowls ever; which led the Super Bowl trophy to be named, appropriately, the "Lombardi Trophy".
---JohnnyU