By Darin December 31 isn’t just New Year’s Eve—it’s one of the most significant dates in football history. From the bone-chilling 1967 Ice Bowl, where Bart Starr led the Packers to victory over the Cowboys, to the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins punching their ticket to the Super Bowl, and key Hall of Fame birthdays, dive into a timeline of championship milestones, record-breaking runs, and legendary moments that ended the year with a bang.
December 31 Football History Timeline
- December 31, 1961 – New City Stadium, Green Bay, Wisconsin – The NFL Championship of 1961 pitted the Giants against the Packers. The Green Bay Packers won their first of 5 NFL titles in 7 years under head coach Vince Lombardi. shutdown New York Giants 37-0 per the Pro Football Reference website. Paul Hornung scored a TD, kicked three field goals, and three extra points to lead the Packers. As a side note, New City Stadium was renamed Lambeau Field in 1965, after the death of the legendary Packers coach Curly Lambeau, per an interesting story on the stadiumsofprofootball.com website.
- December 31, 1967 – Oakland’s Alameda County Coliseum – The AFL Championship game pitted the host Raiders against the Houston Oilers. Quarterback Daryle Lamonica, who had been claimed off waivers from Buffalo earlier in the season, led the Silver and Black to a 13-1 record. Houston, on the other hand, went from last place in the AFL’s Eastern Conference the previous season to the top position in the 1967 season. Lamonica had two scoring passes and one TD with his legs, while George Blanda booted four field goals through the uprights to help Oakland win its first AFL Championship. Final score Oakland Raiders 40, the Houston Oilers 7. (source)
- December 31, 1967 – Lambeau Field, Green Bay – The NFL Championship, which is often remembered as “The Ice Bowl.” With game time temps around -13°F, Lambeau Field lived up to its nickname of the frozen tundra. Some interesting facts about this game. Referee Magazine tells how head ref Norm Schachter said there was only one official whistle blown all game, and it was right before the opening kickoff. At the time, only metal whistles were available. Right before kick-off, the Umpire lost some skin off his lips. The crew never tweeted another one the rest of the game, and Schachter’s own whistle was found to have the wooden ball frozen in place inside the metal part. As for the players, it would have been a great game no matter what the temperature was, as there would be 12 future Hall of Famers on the field that day in the arctic conditions, plus each head coach would get a bust in Canton, too, according to a JS Online article. Even when you don’t consider the great people involved or the extreme weather, it was a fantastic game to boot! Drama at the end as Bart Starr keeps the ball and plunges into the frozen end zone. The Green Bay Packers ‘ last-second heroics defeated the upstart Dallas Cowboys, 21-17, in the coldest NFL game on record!
- December 31, 1972 – Three Rivers Stadium, Pittsburgh – The AFC Championship game was played as Pittsburgh, a mere week removed from their thrilling Immaculate Reception win over Oakland, faced the undefeated Dolphins. The Miami Dolphins were too much for the Steelers in this one, keeping the loss column clean and knocking off Pittsburgh, 21-7. Yes, these were the 1972 Dolphins, who would go on to win the Super Bowl and become the only Super Bowl-era team to go undefeated and win the title. One interesting question arises: why were the Steelers the home team if Miami clearly had the better record? Well, I found the best answer on Funtrivia.com by Drewh2os: “From 1970 through 1974, after the merger of the AFL and NFL, teams were not seeded by winning percentage. Home playoff games were determined by a predetermined rotation among the three divisions. Select division winners would play all playoff games at home, regardless of their opponent’s comparative record. The AFC Eastern Division Champion Miami Dolphins had gone undefeated yet played the AFC Championship Game in Pittsburgh because the AFC East was not in the “home game” rotation that year, and Pittsburgh was.” The current system, in which the best-winning-percentage team receives home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, began in 1975.
- December 31, 1973 40th Sugar Bowl: #3 Notre Dame beats #1 Alabama, 24-23
- December 31, 1974 – 41st Sugar Bowl: #8 Nebraska beats #18 Florida, 13-10
- December 31, 1991, J. Donald Crump resigned as CFL Commissioner. According to a Wikipedia post, Crump was the 7th commissioner of the Canadian Football League and held the position for just shy of two years. Previously, he had been an executive with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
- December 31, 1997, Marv Levy retires as coach of the NFL Buffalo Bills after 12 seasons, including 4 consecutive losing Super Bowl appearances. Marv was 72 years old at the time.
- On December 31, 2017, the Cleveland Browns, with a 28-24 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers at Heinz Field, earned the dubious distinction of becoming only the 2nd team in NFL history to finish a season with a 0-16 record. The other was the 2008 Detroit Lions. Pro Football Reference shows us that a Ju-Ju Smith-Schuster 96-yard kickoff return TD in the third quarter was the difference maker in the contest.
December 31 Football Hall of Fame Birthdays
- Charles Rinehart
Conclusion
From the freezing turf of Lambeau Field to historic AFL and NFL Championships and the birthdates of Hall of Fame legends like Hugh McElhenny, December 31 has consistently delivered dramatic, game-changing football history. Whether it marked the start of a dynasty (like Lombardi’s Packers), the continuation of a perfect season, or the end of a Hall of Fame coaching career, this date proves that the final hours of the year are always prime time for gridiron greatness and unexpected milestones.
Special thanks to our sources of information listed above and to Pro-Football-Reference.com and Newspapers.com
