1961 NFL Championship Game The 1961 National Football League championship game was the 29th title game . The game was played at " New " City Stadium , later known as Lambeau Field , in Green Bay , Wisconsin on December 31 , 1961 . The attendance was 39 , 029 . The game was a match - up against the Eastern Conference Champions New York Giants ( 10 - 3 - 1 ) against the Western Conference champions Green Bay Packers ( 11 - 3 ) . Paul Hornung , on leave from the Army , scored 19 points for the Packers . The victory would be the first of five NFL titles won in a seven - year span by the Packers and their coach , Vince Lombardi . Overview . This was the first championship to be held in Green Bay . The Packers only other championship home game until then was played in Milwaukee in 1939 . The Giants were playing in their 3rd championship game in four years . With 40 , 000 tickets sold at $ 10 each and $ 615 , 000 in TV revenue , this game was the first NFL Championship to generate $ 1 million in revenue . Temperature at game time hovered at 20ºF and for several days the field had been covered with a tarp topped by a foot of hay . The covering was particularly significant as just two days before , the temperature dipped to - 15ºF . Field conditions were of paramount concern if the teams were to make effective use of the running game . All the Packers players used cleats and about half of the Giants players , led by coach Allie Sherman , chose sneakers , believing sneakers would grip better on a frozen field . At 6am on game day workers began the arduous process of snow and hay removal by hand using baskets , as heavy equipment could have potentially damage the field . $ 5 , 000 each would be paid to the winners and $ 3000 each to the losing team ' s players . Green Bay had already beaten the Giants 20 - 17 on Dec 3rd , in Green Bay . Game summary . First Quarter . After both teams exchanged punts , the Giants were on the move to the Green Bay 46 - yard line when the Giants Kyle Rote , who was wide open but looking back into the sun , dropped a long pass from Y . A . Tittle at the GB 10 . When the Packers took over for their 2nd possession , Max McGee returned the favor by dropping a 50 yard pass from Starr . However , Jim Taylor , despite having injured a kidney in the Rams game two weeks before , and Paul Hornung kept the Packers drive moving to the NY 6 - yard line as time expired . Second Quarter . Capping a 12 - play 80 - yard drive , Hornung , the NFL ' s MVP for 1961 , slashed outside right tackle for a touchdown on the first play of the 2nd quarter . Hornung ' s extra - point gave GB a 7 - 0 lead . The Giants next two possessions , resulted in two Tittle interceptions within two minutes . The first by Ray Nitschke led to a Bart Starr to Boyd Dowler slant pass in front of the goal post for a 13 - yard Touchdown . Both Nitschke and Dowler were on leave from Ft Lewis In Washington . The second Packer interception , by Hank Gremminger , resulted in a Ron Kramer 14 - yard Touchdown from Starr . Charley Conerly then replaced Tittle at Quarterback and most of the Giants had switched to cleats by this time . Conerly hit Kyle Rote with a 35 yard pass to the Green Bay 15 , but Bob Gaiters missed Rote ( who was wide open again ) in the end zone on a 4th down halfback option pass . With time in the half running down , Hornung gained 24 yards on two carries , and wide receiver Ron Kramer caught a pass from Starr over the middle , broke two tackles and gained 38 yards . Hornung followed with a 17 - yard field goal , as time ran out , to make the halftime score 24 - 0 , Packers . Third Quarter . In an unusual turn of events , the Packers were given five downs on their first possession of the quarter . On first down , Hornung ran up the middle . Then , on second down , Bart Starr scrambled for 15 yards and fumbled the ball away . But the Packers were flagged for an illegal procedure penalty . After the Giants refused the penalty , the officials at first gave the ball to the Giants . But realizing a procedure penalty negates any resulting play , the officials correctly gave the ball back to Green Bay , albeit with a 1st down instead of second down . Despite the extra play , Green Bay eventually punted . The following series also resulted in a GB punt , with the Giants Joe Morrison fumbling and Forrest Gregg recovering for the Packers . Hornung then booted a 22 - yard field goal making it 27 - 0 , GB . The Packers continued their march towards the championship with hard running by Hornung and Tom Moore ( replacing Taylor ) and Starr ' s third touchdown pass . The Giants responded with Tittle at Quarterback again as the quarter ended . Fourth Quarter . The veteran Tittle , who would lead the Giants to two more championship appearances in ' 62 and ' 63 , could do no better throwing an interception to the Packers Jesse Whittenton . Jim Taylor back in the game , promptly rumbled outside the right tackle on a 33 yard run to the Giants 13 . Hornung ended the scoring with a 19 - yard field goal . A fourth Tittle interception had the Packers knocking on the goal line again as the gun sounded ending the game . Vince Lombardi . This was the fourth shutout in NFL Championship game history and coach Lombardi ' s first of five championships in seven years . Lombardi used a strategy in this game that was common in all the Packers championships . A strategy of fundamentally sound football ( the Packers had no turnovers and only 16 yards in penalties ) and to beat the opposition at their strength , in this case running the ball at the Giants linemen Andy Robustelli and Rosi Greer . In 1959 Lombardi had taken over a Green Bay franchise that was the worst team in the league in 1958 and in three years turn them into NFL Champions .