1958 NFL Championship Game - Aftermath

Aftermath

An estimated 45 million people watched the game on television in the United States. This audience could have been even greater except that because of NFL restrictions, the game was blacked out in the greater New York City area. Still, the impact from this game is far reaching. One year later, Texas billionaire Lamar Hunt would form the American Football League, which began play with 8 teams in the 1960 season. The growth of the popularity of the sport, through franchise expansion, the eventual merger with the AFL, and popularity on television, is commonly credited to this game, making it a turning point in the history of football.

The game is, to date, the only NFL championship game ever decided in overtime. The drive by Baltimore at the end of regulation, with Unitas leading the team quickly down the field to set up the game-tying field goal, is often cited as the first instance of a "two minute drill", for which Unitas became famous.

The Baltimore head coach was Weeb Ewbank. He would coach Baltimore to a second straight championship game win over New York the next season. Ewbank would eventually be fired from the Colts, and would take the job of head coach for the New York Jets. Ewbank led the Jets to victory over the Colts in Super Bowl III, also considered a monumental victory in the history of pro football.

The Giants head coach was Jim Lee Howell, and he was aided by two coordinators who went on to greatness themselves. The defensive coordinator was Tom Landry, who left the team in 1960 to take over the then-expansion Dallas Cowboys and led them to two Super Bowl championships. The offensive coordinator was Vince Lombardi, who left the team following the game to take the head coaching position with the Green Bay Packers. Lombardi led the Packers to five championships in the 1960s, including the first two Super Bowls, and had the Super Bowl Trophy named after him after his death. In order to advance to both those Super Bowls, Lombardi's Packers needed to defeat Landry's Cowboys in the 1966 and 1967 NFL Championship Games. Ironically 54 years later, Raymond Berry would present the Vince Lombardi trophy to the New York Giants, who won the Super Bowl that year.

Writer Mark Bowden, at the urging of his editor Morgan Entrekin, set out to write a book about the game in 2006, looking ahead then to the 50th anniversary. Bowden credited Sports Illustrated writer Tex Maule with the "best game ever" phrase which he chose for his book title. Eagles' coach Andy Reid helped him analyze the film footage he was able to secure. Bowden said that while many who played in the game whom he interviewed (particularly Giants) maybe quibbled with the "best" characterization, they, "to a man, remark on how radically the popularity of the game jumped after that season." Bowden dedicated his book to David Halberstam. Halberstam's book The Fifties provided source information and context for The Best Game Ever, and Halberstam's sports books also were inspiring to Bowden. Asked about any insight writing the book had given him, Bowden remarked in part, "I wonder, if you got a group of New York Giants from 2006 or ’07 together 50 years from now, whether you would get the same sort of hilarity and knee-slapping comradeship that you find still exists among these players."