The game
On 31 December 1967 the Green Bay Packers hosted the Dallas Cowboys at Lambeau Field in the NFL championship game, played for the 1967 season. Green Bay won 21-17. The game is remembered as the Ice Bowl because of the cold, which was extreme even for Wisconsin in winter.
The winner would face the champion of the American Football League in the second Super Bowl. Because of that, the game was both a title decider and a route to a larger prize. It was the Packers’ third straight NFL championship and a rematch of the 1966 title game, which Green Bay had also won, in Dallas.
The cold
At kickoff the temperature was reported to be about -13 degrees Fahrenheit, which is roughly -25 Celsius. Wind chill was far lower. Figures for the effective temperature vary between accounts, but all agree that conditions were dangerous for both players and spectators.
Several reports say that the field’s underground heating system, installed to keep the playing surface from freezing, did not work as intended, leaving the turf hard and slick. Referees’ metal whistles are said to have frozen to their lips, so officials had to shout instead. These details have been repeated often, and while they match the general picture, they are best treated as part of the game’s lore.
Players wore what protection they had, but the clothing of the day was not designed for such cold. Television coverage showed breath and steam rising from the huddles. Fans in the stands, who numbered in the tens of thousands, were reported to have suffered in the conditions.
The first half
Green Bay started well. Bart Starr, the Packers’ quarterback, threw two touchdown passes to Boyd Dowler in the first half, giving Green Bay a 14-0 lead. The Cowboys then responded with two scores before halftime after mistakes by the Packers, cutting the margin to 14-10 at the break.
The Cowboys, coached by Tom Landry, were a younger and rising team. They had lost the previous year’s title game to Green Bay by a narrow margin, and they were determined not to repeat it.
The fourth quarter
Early in the fourth quarter Dallas took the lead. A halfback option pass from Dan Reeves to Lance Rentzel produced a long touchdown, and the Cowboys led 17-14. With the Packers’ offence struggling in the cold, the lead looked as if it might hold.
Green Bay’s final drive began with less than five minutes left, deep in its own territory. Starr moved the offence downfield in short gains, using passes and runs. Fullback Chuck Mercein, who had joined the team late in the season, made several useful plays, including a long reception and some runs. The Packers reached the Cowboys’ one-yard line with very little time left.
The sneak
With seconds remaining, Green Bay faced a choice. A running play would risk a fumble or a stop and a clock that would expire. The Packers called their final timeout and Starr consulted with coach Vince Lombardi. The decision was a quarterback sneak.
Starr took the snap and went forward behind guard Jerry Kramer, whose block on Dallas tackle Jethro Pugh created the opening. Starr reached the end zone with 16 seconds left. By common account, the call was Starr’s own idea, put to Lombardi on the sideline, although the retelling has changed in detail over the years.
The sneak is one of the best-known plays in American football. Kramer’s block is routinely cited as the key to it, and film of the play is shown often on anniversaries of the game.
Aftermath
Two weeks later Green Bay won the second Super Bowl over the Oakland Raiders, 33-14, completing a run of two Super Bowl wins and five NFL titles in seven years. Lombardi then stepped down as head coach, though he remained with the club in another role before moving to Washington in 1969. He died in 1970.
Dallas, after losing narrowly again, kept improving and became a regular contender through the following years. The Cowboys did not win their first Super Bowl until after the 1971 season.
Why people remember it
Several elements make the Ice Bowl more memorable than a typical title game. There is the weather, which makes the survival of the players part of the story. There is the finish, in which the final seconds came down to a single yard. And there is the cast, with Lombardi, Starr and Landry among the best-known names in the game’s history.
The game also marked a point in football’s rise on television. The first Super Bowl, which had been played earlier in 1967, drew a large audience, and the championship games that followed helped the sport grow. The Ice Bowl was shown on CBS to a national audience. Details of the viewing figures are not given here because the sources vary.
A caution on terminology is useful. The Ice Bowl was not a Super Bowl. The first Super Bowl, played in January 1967 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, belongs to the previous NFL season, and the Super Bowl I result is told in a separate article. The Ice Bowl was the championship game of the 1967 season, though played on the last day of the calendar year.
What the game says about its era
The season was a time when professional football was moving from a niche sport to a major television attraction, and the Packers were its most successful team. Their last big victory under Lombardi was achieved in difficult conditions through methodical play, which matched the coach’s reputation. Whether the game was truly the best ever played is a matter of taste, but it has a strong claim to be the most atmospheric.