A Look at the 1960 Philadelphia Eagles

I know I've been talking a lot of hockey and basketball for obvious reasons. I am planning my first baseball story of the season, but I am stuck on what it should be. I know this much: we are 108 days away from the next NFL season. The schedule's out and has been for nearly two weeks now, and we are a month away from that sports lull that begins after the Stanley Cup and the Larry O'Brien Trophy are both awarded. For me, I'm about a month away from getting my first of many fantasy teams together.

So yeah, the time to talk football is now. It's been a while since I discussed a championship season, and this one, well, it has to be discussed, because it was very improbable.

The year was 1960, and until that year, the NFL was the only pro league for four decades. This was the year that the American Football League was created and served as the NFL's competition, but while that league's first years will be a story saved for later, the 1960 NFL season is the subject. Well, one team from that year is. The Philadelphia Eagles were quite hard luck; they began play in 1933 and their first ten seasons were disastrous. All losing seasons, with a 5-6 campaign in 1938 being their best year. 1943 was the famous "Steagles" season that saw the Eagles and the Pittsburgh Steelers merge for that year due to both teams being shorthanded because of players enlisting in World War II; they went 5-4-1 that season.

The Eagles' official first winning season was a 7-1-2 campaign in 1944, beginning a string of good seasons that included three straight NFL Championship appearance to end the 40s. The Eagles lost the championship in 1947 to the Chicago Cardinals (that team's last championship to date), but they would win the next two in 1948 (7-0 over the Cardinals) and 1949 (14-0 over the Los Angeles Rams). The 1950s saw them go though a lot of coaches following their championships, with 1958 being the team's first under Buck Shaw.

1960 saw the Eagles come off a 7-5 season that saw them finish tied for a distant second place in the Eastern Conference. Philly lost their season opener, but would win four straight games to enter their bye in a tie for first in the East. The Eagles took sole possession of first place with their Week 7 win over the Steelers, and they never looked back. Overall, the Eagles won nine straight games after their Week 1 loss, and it was their ninth win on December 4, 1960 over the relocated St. Louis Cardinals (in their first year in St. Louis) that clinched the Eastern Conference for the Eagles.

The Eagles finished at 10-2, spending the final two weeks of the regular season waiting for their opponent in that year's NFL Championship Game. They would have their opponent on the final week--the Green Bay Packers, who clinched the Western Conference in their regular season finale. The game was played at Philadelphia's Franklin Stadium, and it was a defensive battle throughout the entire game. Packers scored first on a Paul Hornung field goal, making it 3-0 Packers after the first quarter. Hornung doubled GB's lead in the second quarter, but the Eagles took the lead after Norm Van Brocklin chucked a 35-yard touchdown pass to Tommy MacDonald. A FG made it 10-6 Eagles, and after a scoreless third quarter, Max McGee's TD early in the fourth gave Green Bay the lead back. However, Ted Dean returned the following kickoff 58 yards, giving Philly a short field. Dean later ran in a five yard TD to give the Eagles the lead with 5:21 left.

The Packers' next possession ended with a fumble, but punts being traded resulted in Green Bay having one more chance with barely over a minute left. Packers' last timeout had to be burned on the drive, which ended with a pass to fullback Jim Taylor caught, only for Taylor to be tackled inbounds, causing the final seconds to tick away.

The Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Green Bay Packers, 17-13, on Monday, December 26, 1960--the second and last NFL Championship game to take place on a Monday (due to that Sunday being Christmas; 1955 was the only other time)--to capture their third NFL Championship in team history, and their first in 11 years. This was a huge upset, as the Eagles handed iconic coach Vince Lombardi his first and only playoff loss in his legendary career. Norm Van Brocklin was named MVP of the game, going 9-for-20 for 204 yards, a TD, and an INT. Nicknamed "The Dutchman," Van Brocklin played for 12 seasons, most of them with the Los Angeles Rams, winning a championship in 1951. Van Brocklin retired as a player following his 1960 victory, and left the Eagles after they reneged on a deal to make him the next head coach following Buck Shaw's own retirement.

The following season would see Van Brocklin as the expansion Minnesota Vikings first head coach, holding the position for the team's first six seasons of play (1961-66) before resigning. After a year off, Van Brocklin became head coach of the Atlanta Falcons in 1968, replacing the departing Norm Hecker, who started that year 0-3. His coaching tenure in Atlanta lasted until the middle of the 1974 season, and overall, Van Brocklin finished with a 66-100-7 (.402) record as head coach. Van Brocklin passed away on May 2, 1983 at the age of 57.

As for the Eagles, the following season saw them finish second behind the Giants by a half game, beginning a 17-year playoff drought for the team. The drought ended in 1978, but they'd have to wait an extra year for their first playoff win since that 1960 championship, as 1979 saw them defeat the Bears on Wild Card Weekend. The following year, 1980, saw the Eagles in the Super Bowl for the very first time, losing to the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XV. Regarding another championship, the Eagles and their fans would have to wait 57 years, as on February 4, 2018, Philly won Super Bowl LII over the New England Patriots. They added a second Super Bowl Championship seven years later in 2024.

The Eagles' 1960 championship was definitely the stuff of legends, and that's an understatement. They beat the Lombardi Packers, the only team to do so. They dominated that entire season after losing on the opening week, and they won a defensive battle in the big game. This actually started a trend; think about it. The Eagles' last three championships were against Lombardi's Packers, the Brady/Belichick Patriots, and the Chiefs dynasty. If you ask me, that is an epic boast; winning championships against dynasties like that, and it all started with a thrilling game on the last Monday of 1960.