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The 1958 National Football League Championship Game was played on December 28, 1958 at Yankee Stadium in New York City. It was the first National Football League (NFL) playoff game to go into sudden death overtime. The final score was Baltimore 23, New York 17. The game has since become widely known as "The Greatest Game Ever Played".〔Barnidge, Tom. (1958 Colts remember the 'Greatest Game' ), nfl.com, reprinted from Official Super Bowl XXXIII Game Program, accessed March 21, 2007.〕 The game was the 26th annual NFL championship game.〔''Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League'' (ISBN 0-06-270174-6)〕〔http://www.nfl.com/news/story/5706748 "December 28, 1958: A legend is born", NFL.com〕〔http://static.espn.go.com/nfl/s/epstein/colts.html "Title game wasn't that great for '58 Colts" by Eddie Epstein, espn.com〕〔http://www.ravensnests.com/1958game/turnngpt.htm "The Turning Point", RavensNest.com〕 The game marked the beginning of the NFL's popularity surge, and eventual rise to the top of the United States sports market.〔 A major reason was that the game was televised across the nation by NBC. Baltimore receiver Raymond Berry recorded 12 receptions for 178 yards and a touchdown. His 12 receptions set a championship record that would stand for 55 years, until broken by Demaryius Thomas' 13 receptions in Super Bowl XLVIII. ==Background== Both teams finished the 1958 season with a 9–3 record. For the Giants, it was their fifth consecutive winning season, a stretch that included an NFL Championship in 1956. In contrast, 1958 was only the second winning season in Colts' history since the team's founding in 1953. Baltimore started off the season winning their first six games before losing to New York, 24–21, in week 7 of the regular season. However, Colts starting quarterback Johnny Unitas was injured at the time and did not play in the game. Two weeks later, Unitas returned to lead the Colts to a critical come-from-behind win against Hall of Fame quarterback Y. A. Tittle and his San Francisco 49ers. Trailing, 27–7, at the end of the first half, Baltimore stormed back to win the game, 35–27, clinching the NFL's Western Conference championship and allowing them to rest their starters for the final two games of the year. New York started the season 2–2 before going on to win 7 of their last 8 games, including a critical 19–17 win over the Detroit Lions. In that game, New York fell behind late when the offense lost a fumble that was returned for a touchdown. Later on, however, they stopped Detroit punter Yale Lary on a fake punt attempt and drove for the go-ahead score. They then secured the win by blocking a Lions field goal attempt as time expired in the game. In their final game, the Giants managed to defeat the Cleveland Browns with Pat Summerall's game-winning 49-yard field goal on the final play (the longest field goal made in the entire season among all NFL kickers). The win enabled them to advance to the Eastern conference playoffs, where they played the Browns again, this time shutting them out, 10–0. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「1958 NFL Championship Game」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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