1963 NFL season The 1963 NFL season was the 44th regular season of the National Football League . On April 17 , NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle indefinitely suspended Green Bay Packers running back Paul Hornung and Detroit Lions defensive tackle Alex Karras for gambling on their own teams , as well as other NFL games ; Hornung and Karras would miss the entire season . In addition , five other Detroit players were fined $ 2 , 000 each for placing bets on one game in which they did not participate . The season ended when the Chicago Bears defeated the New York Giants in the NFL Championship Game . JFK Assassination . On November 24 , just two days after the assassination of President Kennedy , the NFL played its normal schedule of games . NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle said about playing the games : " It has been traditional in sports for athletes to perform in times of great personal tragedy . Football was Mr . Kennedy ' s game . He thrived on competition . " However , the Philadelphia Eagles and the Washington Redskins had sought postponement of the games . Attendance at games went unaffected despite the assassination . Before the Eagles played their game against the Redskins , each of the Eagles players contributed $ 50 to the family of Dallas Police Officer J . D . Tippit , who was killed by the assassin , Lee Harvey Oswald . Conference races . The Eastern and Western Conference races were undecided until the final day of the regular season . In the Eastern , the Browns were 7 - 1 - 0 after eight games , but on November 10 , the Browns lost 9 – 7 at Pittsburgh , while the Giants beat the Eagles 42 - 14 , to tie New York and Cleveland at 7 – 2 – 0 . When the Giants won again and the Browns lost , the former had the lead . The Western Division race was close as well . The Bears were 5 – 0 and the Packers 4 – 1 as of October 13 . In " Week Six " , Green Bay won at St . Louis , 30 – 7 , while Chicago lost at San Francisco , 20 – 14 , tying the Bears and Packers for the lead at 6 – 1 . Both teams continued to win , and then met in Chicago on November 17 , where Green Bay lost , 26 – 7 . The games scheduled for " Week Eleven " took place on the weekend after the Kennedy assassination . Unlike the American Football League , which cancelled its schedule , the NFL chose to play the games , although they were not televised due to round - the - clock network TV coverage of the assassination aftermath . The Giants lost at home to St . Louis , 24 - 17 , while Cleveland beat visiting Dallas 27 - 17 , to give the three teams identical 8 - 3 - 0 records . The Bears were losing at Pittsburgh until Roger Leclerc kicked a field goal to get a 17 - 17 tie , and to stay half a game ahead of Green Bay . In " Week Twelve " , Green Bay ' s chance to win was cancelled when Detroit tied the game 10 - 10 , while Chicago averted another loss by tying Minnesota 17 - 17 . The three way tie in the Eastern was pared down when Cleveland beat St . Louis 24 - 10 , and New York won ( 34 - 27 over Dallas ) . " Week Thirteen " saw both the Bears and Packers winning , while Cleveland lost to Detroit , 38 - 10 . New York won 44 - 14 over Washington , but at 10 - 3 - 0 , New York was trailed by Pittsburgh , which had an unusual 7 - 3 - 3 record , and the final game of the season would match the Steelers and Giants at Yankee Stadium . Under the rules of the day , a Steelers win over the Giants would have given New York a 10 - 4 - 0 ( . 714 ) finish , while the Steelers ' 8 - 3 - 3 finish would have been a . 727 record and the trip to the championship game . It didn ' t happen that way . In a game that decided the conference title , New York beat Pittsburgh 33 - 17 . In the Western race , Green Bay needed to win and for Chicago to lose . The Bears ' 24 - 14 win over Detroit was announced while the Packers were in San Francisco , making the 21 - 17 win on the coast a moot point . Final standings . " W = Wins , L = Losses , T = Ties , PCT = Winning Percentage , PF = Points For , PA = Points Against " " Note : Prior to 1972 , the NFL did not include tie games when calculating a team ' s winning percentage in the official standings " NFL Championship Game . Chicago 14 , New York 10 at Wrigley Field , Chicago , Illinois , December 29 , 1963