As the last eight NFL teams left standing in the chase for a Lombardi trophy preparing try to reach the AFC and NFC Championship Games, now is a good time to look back at some of the great past conference championship games in the league’s history.
If we get one, or even two classic championship games, we’ll want to know where they rank. So, here’s a little guide.
Before we get into it, the year’s listed reflect the year of the season, not necessarily the year the game was played. Two, this is strictly in the Super Bowl era, which started in 1966. Prior to 1970, they were known as the AFL and NFL Championship Games, respectively.
Get it? Got it? Good!
1967: Green Bay Packers 21, Dallas Cowboys 17
On New Year’s Eve in 1967, the Dallas Cowboys traveled to Lambeau Field to take on the Green Bay Packers. The two teams, who had 12 combined Hall of Fame players, engaged in one of the most iconic games in the history of the sport, the Ice Bowl.
The Packers won with one of the gutsiest plays ever called.
The Cowboys led by three, but that was on a third down and the Packers didn’t have a time out. If Bart Starr had been stuffed, there’s no way that Green Bay could have kicked a tying field goal in time.
The action was back-and-forth. The Packers jumped out to a 14-0 lead, but Dallas came back with 17 unanswered points, taking a 17-14 lead in the fourth quarter.
In addition to the 12 Hall of Fame players (a number that should be higher), the game also featured Hall of Fame coaches and former New York Giants assistants Vince Lombardi and Tom Landry and was a rematch of the previous year’s NFL Championship Game.
The two teams would go in opposite directions after this game. Vince Lombardi left the Packers after the Super Bowl and the team made the playoffs only twice until 1993. The Cowboys would go on to be the NFC’s most dominant team in the 1970’s, making four Super Bowls and winning two.
1968: New York Jets 27, Oakland Raiders 23
The New York Jets and Oakland Raiders met earlier in the year in the famed Heidi Bowl. Two weeks after the AFL Championship Game, the Jets would beat the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III, which is arguably the most important Super Bowl ever, and it’s not a long argument. In between those two games, however, was a classic.
The Jets scored 10 points in the first quarter and either tied or led through most of the game. But when Pete Banaszak scored on a four-yard run roughly halfway through the fourth quarter, the Raiders led 23-20. The lead would not last long.
Joe Namath marched the Jets down the field in three plays. One of them was a 52-yard completion to Don Maynard. On the next play, Namath found Maynard for a six-yard touchdown.
Late in the fourth, the Raiders were well into Jets territory, but turned the ball over when Daryle Lamonica’s apparently accidental lateral missed Charline Smith and New York’s Ralph Baker recovered. Oakland would get the ball back one more time, but it was far too late.
The Raiders entered the game as defending AFL champions, but this contest started a rather ugly trend for Oakland. They’d lose the following year to the Kansas City Chiefs in the final AFL Championship Game. Then, after the merger, they lost the first AFC Championship Game to the Baltimore Colts. They’d lose the AFC Championship Game in 1973, 1974, and 1975 before finally breaking through in 1976.
Conversely, the Jets made the playoffs the following year, but never again in Namath’s career. They’ve made it to four AFC Championship Games since 1968, but have yet to reach another Super Bowl.
1981: San Francisco 49ers 28, Dallas Cowboys 27
This is one of the most well known games of the history of the NFL and featured one its greatest plays.
https://youtu.be/ciI3E9l6wfI?t=33s
That capped an 89-yard scoring drive. But while that touchdown and ensuing PAT put the 49ers ahead, time was not out.
Dallas had less than a minute to go, but needed only a field goal to win. On the first play of the following drive, Danny White found a streaking Drew Pearson at midfield and 49ers’ defensive back Eric Wright made a fantastic tackle to not only keep Pearson from advancing to field goal range, but from possibly scoring. The following play, Lawrence Pillers sacked White, forcing a fumble that was recovered by San Francisco’s Jim Stuckey.
While the winning drive and certainly winning touchdown are a huge part of Montana’s legacy, the game was not a good one for him. Montana threw three touchdowns, but also contributed to four of the 49ers six turnovers, throwing three interceptions and losing a fumble. The Cowboys turned the ball over three times.
While the Dallas Cowboys would reach the NFC Championship Game the next year, this game essentially ended their run atop the NFC, while simultaneously jump-starting the San Francisco 49ers as the team of the 1980’s.
1986: Denver Broncos 23, Cleveland Browns 20 (OT)
If you’re a Cleveland Browns fan, you might want to avert your eyes for these next two entries. Really, we won’t be offended at all.
When Bernie Kosar found Brian Brennan for a 48-yard touchdown to give Cleveland a 20-13 lead with 5:43 remaining, things looked really bad for the Denver Broncos. When the Broncos misplayed the ensuing kickoff and had to dive on the ball on their own two-yard line, it looked like Cleveland was headed to the Super Bowl.
Looks can be deceiving.
In Denver’s huddle, guard Keith Bishop said “We got them right where we want them”, which seemed crazy, but ended up being prophetic.
John Elway quickly worked his way out of the shadow of his own goal line and by the two-minute warning, the Broncos had crossed midfield. The following two plays went Cleveland’s way, as Elway threw an incomplete pass on first down and was sacked on second, setting up a third-and-18.
Given the strength of Cleveland’s secondary, they should have allowed nothing more than a 10-yard completion, forcing a 4th and long.
It didn’t work that way. Actually, the Broncos faced only two third downs on “The Drive”, converting the third-and-18, and then the scoring play. Both passes were completions from Elway to Mark Jackson. After Jackson’s touchdown with 37 seconds left, Rich Karlis converted an extra point and while that only tied the game, it sealed Cleveland’s fate.
The Browns won the coin toss in overtime and were forced to punt and Denver wasted little time, driving down the field to set up a 33-yard kick from Rich Karlis. While the kick was close, it was good and the Cleveland was officially put out of its misery….
Until the next year’s AFC Championship Game.
1987: Denver Broncos 38, Cleveland Browns 33
Unlike the previous year’s game, this game was in Denver. Also unlike the previous year’s game, Cleveland never led, but the Browns fumbled away a chance to tie the game late.
It was an alert strip by Jeremiah Castille, an awful missed block from Webster Slaughter, and a fumble from a guy that was his team’s best player all day. Ernest Byner rushed for 67 yards, had 120 receiving yards, and two touchdowns.
The Broncos dominated most of the game, leading 14-0 after the first quarter, 21-3 in the second, and 28-10 in the third. The Browns clawed back into the game, tying it a 31 all, only to see Denver go up when John Elway found Sammy Winder on a 20-yard touchdown strike that proved to be the game winner.
Cleveland’s next drive ended in “The Fumble.” Had Byner held on to the ball, he likely would have scored and at worst would have given the Browns a 1st and goal from inside of the two.
The two teams would meet two years later in the same game with the Broncos coming out with a far less stressful 37-21 victory. Cleveland sports fans can take some solace in the fact that based on Denver’s success in the three ensuing Super Bowls (39-20, 42-10, 55-10 losses), the Browns likely would not have won a championship.
But the city of Cleveland hasn’t won a championship in any sport since 1964, and these were two toss-up games that both went against them in rather crushing fashion.
1990: New York Giants 15, San Francisco 49ers 13
When the NFL Network released its list of the 100 greatest players in NFL History in 2010, No. 1 was Jerry Rice, No. 3 was Lawrence Taylor, and No. 4 was Joe Montana. If a conference championship game features three of the best four players and gets decided by a winning field goal sneaking in the left upright as time expires, it’s one of the best 10 conference championship games ever.
Matt Bahr’s field goal won the game for the New York Giants and ended the San Francisco 49ers chance at a three-peat. No team in the Super Bowl era has ever won two straight championships and come as close to winning a third as the 49ers did in 1990. As San Francisco was trying to run out the clock, Roger Craig fumbled the ball right into the hands of LT. The Giants marched down the field and set up the winning kick.
New York kicked five goals, including the one as time expired and another in the fourth quarter that was set up by a brilliant fake punt call. The game’s only touchdown was a 61-yard pass from Montana to John Taylor.
This conference championship game was also the end of an era for the 49ers and the following week’s Super Bowl would mark the end of an era for the Giants.
A hit from Leonard Marshall injured Montana, knocking him out for the remainder of the game and all of the following season. By the time Montana was healthy in 1992, Steve Young was the San Francisco quarterback. Montana would play only once more for the 49ers and would never start another game for the team.
It was also the final game in a 49ers’ uniform for Hall of Fame safety Ronnie Lott, as well as 1980’s mainstays Roger Craig, Kenna Turner, and Eric Wright.
Bill Parcells would retire from the Giants after the Super Bowl, while defensive coordinator Bill Belichick would become the head coach of the Cleveland Browns. After defeating the Buffalo Bills in the Super Bowl, New York would only win one more playoff game in the 1990’s, only making the postseason twice.
1995: Pittsburgh Steelers 20, Indianapolis Colts 16
As coach of the San Francisco 49ers, Jim Harbaugh experienced three consecutive crushing postseason defeats. This one surely helped him prepare for those losses. This game featured eight scores with neither team notching as many as two in a row.
The 9-7 Indianapolis Colts were a complete Cinderella story, as this was only one of two playoff appearances the team had from 1978-1998. Bill Cowher and the Pittsburgh Steelers had experienced some tough AFC Championship defeats of their own in 1992 and 1994 but were one of the AFC’s best through most of the 1990’s, and were 11-5 in 1995.
The Colts went up on a 47-yard pass from Harbaugh to Floyd Turner in the fourth quarter, which was their first and only touchdown of the game.
With just over three minutes remaining, the Steelers went on what proved to be the game winning drive. Pittsburgh gradually moved the ball until Neil O’Donnell and Ernie Mills connected on a 37-yard pass to give the Steelers the ball at the one. Two plays later, Bam Morris punched it home to put his team up.
Harbaugh and the Colts then moved the ball to the Pittsburgh 29 and with five seconds left, had one chance.
A potentially winning Hail Mary fell to the ground by a matter of inches, briefly resting on the body Aaron Bailey before rolling off.
Pittsburgh entered the game favored by 11 points, but this ended up being a hidden classic in the history of conference championship games, and the NFL in general.
1998: Atlanta Falcons 30, Minnesota Vikings 27 (OT)
As a pure hypothetical, if the 15-1 Carolina Panthers and 14-2 Arizona Cardinals advance to the NFC Championship Game this weekend, assuming no team suffers additional injury in the divisional, what would you think the spread of that game be?
Carolina might be giving about three points for the home field, but not much more. When the 15-1 Minnesota Vikings and 14-2 Atlanta Falcons squared off, Minnesota was an 11-point favorite. Spoiler alert: They didn’t cover.
While Atlanta struck first, Minnesota was well in control of the game for most of the action, leading 20-7 in the second quarter and 27-17 in the fourth. The Falcons chipped away, though, with Morten Andersen kicking a 24-yard field goal early in the final quarter and Chris Chandler finding Terance Mathis for a 16-yard touchdown pass in the final minute to tie the game.
It’s what happened in between that will always haunt Vikings fans.
Gary Anderson, who hadn’t missed a kick all season, lined up for a 38-yard kick with just over two minutes left that would have effectively iced the game.
Atlanta would tie the game and then win it in overtime, when Morten Andersen made a winning field goal from nearly the exact same spot on the field as Minnesota’s kicker had missed from.
While Anderson’s kick would have likely punched the Vikings’ Super Bowl ticket, it’s not why they lost. Chandler threw, and amazingly enough, rushed for more yards than his opposite number, Randall Cunningham.
The Vikings could have also stopped Chandler and the Atlanta offense after the kick was missed, but didn’t come close. The Falcons marched 71 yards in just over a minute and faced only one third down. In overtime, the Vikings had two chances with the ball and mustered only one first down on each possession.
Atlanta would lose the Super Bowl to the Denver Broncos. Neither team has reached the Super Bowl since.
2006: Indianapolis Colts 38, New England Patriots 34
Tom Brady and Peyton Manning have one of the greatest player vs. player rivalries in the history of sports. Speaking from personal experience, which of the two is greater is an endless debate. And strangely enough, proponents of both of these future Hall of Famers would do well to start with the 2006 season, and even this game.
Manning won his first and (to date) only Super Bowl in 2006. Manning and the Indianapolis Colts advanced to that Super Bowl despite trailing Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, and the New England Patriots 21-3 at one point and 21-6 at halftime. Any ideas that he could not win the big games were soundly dispelled in this one.
Brady, on the other hand, was the unquestioned leader of the Patriots offense that was seventh in scoring in 2006. The team’s leading receiver in receptions (61), yards (760), and touchdowns (4) was Reche Caldwell, who played in eight more NFL games after the 2006 AFC Championship Game. Still, New England was minutes from the Super Bowl.
But this game was great even beyond what it meant to two icons.
The biggest play on the Colts winning drive was a 32-yard pass from Manning to Bryan Fletcher. Not Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, or Dallas Clark, but Bryan Fletcher, who lasted three years in the NFL and never caught more (or less) than 18 passes in a single season. That would be the most unusual play from the drive, if only the next one hadn’t happened.
Manning completed a pass to Wayne, who fumbled the ball straight up in the air. Despite the fact that he was surrounded by Patriots, the ball fell easily into Wayne’s hands. Three more runs from Joseph Addai and the Colts were end zone with the lead and won it when Marlin Jackson intercepted Brady.
The game was a true classic between two of the best quarterbacks to ever play, and it also featured something that no championship game is likely to ever feature again: Not one, not two, but three offensive linemen scored touchdowns. Logan Mankins of the Patriots and Jeff Saturday of the Colts each recovered a fumble in the end zone, while Manning found tackle eligible Dan Klecko on a one-yard touchdown pass.
That oddity alone might earn this game a spot on this list, even if it were a blowout. Fortunately, we don’t have to test that theory, as this game was a classic.
2014: Seattle Seahawks 28, Green Bay Packers 22 (OT)
Last season’s NFC Championship Game was as bizarre as it was great. But before we look back at this game, let’s look back even more recently to Blair Walsh’s missed field goal on Sunday and revisit some words from the always quotable Richard Sherman.
Richard Sherman on first thought when kick wife left: "Thank you Jesus. We never gets breaks."
— Reid Forgrave (@ReidForgrave) January 10, 2016
Apparently this game had slipped Mr. Sherman’s mind.
The Green Bay Packers led 16-0 at halftime. Seattle finally got on the board with a fake field goal that surprised absolutely no one, except the Green Bay Packers. On a fourth-and-10, punter and holder Jon Ryan pulled the ball up and rolled to his left. Apparently everyone on the Green Bay defense thought the punter would try to run for 10 yards, as they sprinted out to cut his angle off. While they succeeded in doing that, the Packers completely missed Garry Gilliam running to the end zone.
Well executed, but a definite lapse. Break No. 1.
With a little more than five minutes remaining and the Packers still up 19-7, Russell Wilson threw his fourth interception of the day, this one to Morgan Burnett. Burnett, who had plenty of room in front of him, decided to be cautious and gave himself up on his own 43. Green Bay went nowhere.
Instead of a possible pick-six and a definite return well into field goal range, the Packers were forced to punt. Break No. 2.
Even with that, Green Bay was up 19-7 with just over two minutes left when Russell Wilson scored on a one-yard run to cut the lead to 19-14. The Packers still had the game in hand, but they had to recover the onside kick.
Break No. 3.
Seattle would score on the ensuing drive and the two-point conversion gave them a three-point lead. With very little time on the clock, Aaron Rodgers proceeded to drive Green Bay down into Seahawks territory rather easily (a problem that would rear its ugly for Seattle two weeks later), but the Packers ultimately settled for a field goal to send the game into overtime.
The Seahawks won the coin toss and scored a touchdown on the first possession, ending the game. While the touchdown was executed very well, the coin toss was a break. Given how well Rodgers moved the ball against the Seahawks with little time on the clock and how well Tom Brady would move it against them two weeks later, Green Bay getting the ball could have spelled a big problem for the Seahawks. Break No. 4.
That’s four obvious breaks in the second half alone, and we don’t even need to get into Mike McCarthy’s play-calling, which was absurd for a Pop Warner Coach and unforgivable for a coach with Aaron Rodgers.
This was a bizarre classic and the Seahawks got plenty of breaks to win it. That’s not to say that Sherman should give any of the breaks he or his team have gotten back or apologize for them, but saying they never get any isn’t quite accurate.