Colts’ 1958 title win voted greatest game
plus those watching on TV, what would happen after Steve Myhra’s 20-yard field goal tied it. No postseason game had ever been tied after regulation.
”We really didn’t know what to do,” Colts standout receiver Raymond Berry said. “We’d never played it. Nobody had ever played it. Nobody really knew what came next.”
New York won the coin toss for overtime, couldn’t move the ball, and Unitas guided the Colts 80 yards on 13 plays to Ameche’s conclusion to the NFL’s greatest game.
”I can’t judge for anyone else,” said Ameche, whose nickname emanated from his willing to practice, “but it’s the greatest game I ever played in.”
The greatness of the event was not particularly marred by the sloppiness on the field. There were six lost fumbles, and Colts coach Weeb Ewbank — the only man to lead NFL and AFL championship teams — shackled Unitas for most of the OT drive.
But the status of a game some media called ”an epic” never has diminished, and in the midst of the league hitting the century mark, it has been deemed No. 1 amongst all.
It received 18 first-place votes , by far the most in the balloting. Next best for top votes was the Patriots’ rally from 28-3 to beat the Falcons in the 2017 Super Bowl, which got 10 and finished ninth overall. The Ice Bowl got eight first-place selections.
Sixty-one years later, though, ColtsGiants reigns.
“If you’re going to point to one game that gave the NFL momentum to accomplish some of the things that the league has been able to do,” said Pete Rozelle, then the GM of the Rams and generally considered the best commissioner in pro sports history, ”it would have to be the 1958 championship game.”