NFL Championship Game , 1965 The 1965 National Football League Championship game was the 33rd championship game for the NFL . The game was played on January 2 , 1966 at Lambeau Field , Green Bay , Wisconsin . The game matched the Eastern Conference champions Cleveland Browns ( 11 - 3 ) who were the defending NFL champions . The Western Conference champions Green Bay Packers ( 10 - 3 - 1 ) had defeated the Baltimore Colts a week earlier in a Western Conference play off . The Packers were making their first appearance in the championship game since 1962 . This was the first NFL championship game televised in color . With the victory the Packers won their 9th overall NFL title , 6th in the championship game era . Game Day Preparations The Packers coached by the irascible Vince Lombardi , would feature on offense , Bart Starr , Paul Hornung , Jim Taylor and Carroll Dale , along with linemen Jerry Kramer , Forrest Gregg and Fuzzy Thurston . Defensively Green Bay showcased Herb Adderly , Ray Nitschke , Willie Wood and Dave Robinson . Cleveland , coached by Blanton Collier , had the implacable Jim Brown , WR ' s Gary Collins , Paul Warfield , guard Gene Hickerson and kicker Lou " The Toe " Groza on offense . Cleveland ' s defense however , during the regular season , allowed an average of 23 . 2 points and twice gave up 40 + points in losses to the lowly Cardinals and Rams . Despite a heavy snowstorm that blanketed the field , 50 , 777 hearty fans showed up in 26ºF weather . A tarp covered the field until shortly before kickoff and a moderated wind of 12 mph blew through Lambeau field . Scoring THE GAME . 1st Qtr Tom Moore returned the opening kickoff to the GB 23 - yard line and the Packers wasted no time in moving the ball as Bart Starr mixed Taylor and Hornung on running and short passing plays . After a Taylor 6 - yard run up the middle to the Cleveland 47 , Starr faked to Hornung and lofted a pass to Carrol Dale at the Cleveland 20 . Cleveland ' s DB Walter Beach slid on the tricky surface while Dale kept his footing and galloped into the end zone amid the frenzied cheers of the Green Bay faithful . Don Chandler ' s kick put GB in front 7 - 0 . Cleveland took possession and immediately turned to Jim Brown . However instead of running , Brown circled out of the backfield and turned towards the right sideline where Frank Ryan hit him with a 30 yard pass despite good defense by linebacker Dave Robinson . Ryan continued passing hitting Warfield over the middle for 19 yards and Gary Collins on a square - out pattern near the right corner of the end zone for 17 yards and a touchdown . Green Bay fans responded by pelting Collins with snowballs . On the extra - point attempt , holder Bobby Franklin fumbled the snap , and Cleveland ' s kicker Lou Groza , who did not miss an extra point all year , pick up the errant ball , passed to Franklin and Green Bay ' s Willie Wood promptly tackled him , keeping Green Bay ahead , 7 - 6 . After a short punt gave the Browns possession in Green Bay territory , Ryan passed to Warfield for 11 yards and Jim Brown ran for 5 more . On the play Brown jumped to the outside when he found the middle awash in green and yellow jerseys . Green Bay ' s strategy throughout the game would be to clog the middle forcing Brown to hesitate while looking for room to run . Brown took extra steps to cut on the wet field thus giving the GB defense time to catch up . On 3rd down and 2 , Ryan , instead of handing off to Brown , crossed up the defense and sent Warfield to the Post . Warfield beat safety Tom Brown and CB Doug Hart to the goal line but the ball slid through Warfield ' s outstretched hands and the Browns had to settle for a field goal . Lou Groza , the 41 year - old 6 ' 1 " , 240 lb lineman whose career extended all the way back to the A . A . F . C . , cooly kicked a 24 yard field goal to put Cleveland in front 9 - 7 . When the Packers took over on their own 27 , Jerry Kramer escorted Paul Hornung around left end on the famous " Green Bay Sweep " , picking up 34 yards . Bart Starr passed to Boyd Dowler for 11 yards and Taylor gained 8 up the middle . Another sweep , this time led by Fuzzy Thurston followed by Hornung gave Green Bay a first down at the Cleveland 6 as the 1st qtr ended . 2nd Qtr Cleveland ' s defense stiffened and Chandler kicked a 15 yard field goal , making it 10 - 9 , GB . With 7 : 42 left in the 2nd period , and Jim Brown unable to make headway , Cleveland ' s Frank Ryan again attempted to go deep to Warfield . The speedy Warfield , who caught only 3 passes all year , was now covered by GB defensive back Bob Jeter , replacing Doug Hart . Jeter ' s speed enabled him to keep up with Warfield and he batted down Ryan ' s pass at midfield . On 3rd down and 10 , Ryan threw a quick pass to Leroy Kelly who was streaking up the right sideline . The ball was underthrown and GB ' s Willie Wood made a spectacular play tipping the ball to himself and returning the interception to the Cleveland 9 yard - line . Again Cleveland ' s defense rose to the occasion and held the Packers to a 23 - yard field goal by Chandler , extending the Packer lead to 13 - 9 . With the clock winding down , Cleveland took over on their own 16 yard line . Field conditions were rapidly deteriorating , and Frank Ryan sent Jim Brown around left end on Cleveland ' s own version of the sweep and Brown tip - toed his way for 9 yards . Ryan then sent Brown sweeping around the right end . Cleveland ' s HOF guard Gene Hickerson led the way giving Brown room to find good footing and sprint down the sideline for 15 yards . After an incomplete pass and the middle of the field turning into a quagmire , Ryan sent Brown around left end . Brown found good traction near the sideline and picked 8 more yards . On 3rd down , Brown again tried sweeping around the right , but the Green Bay defense swarmed over him , forcing Cleveland to punt . Green Bay took over deep in their own territory where Bart Starr committed one of the few mistakes of a Lombardi coached team . On 3rd down , Starr overthrew Hornung in the left flat and Jim Beach intercepted , toe tapping the sideline to give Cleveland the ball at the Green Bay 30 yard line . Frank Ryan looked down field but threw incomplete to Collins at the goal line . Ryan ' s next pass attempt went awry as Ray Nitschke charged up the middle on a delayed blitz forcing a sack . Ryan then completed a pass to Brown on the left flat and Brown angled towards the sideline but was stopped at the Green Bay 21 , 1 yard short of the first down . Groza ' s field goal sent the teams into halftime at 13 - 12 , GB . 3rd Qtr The 2nd half was all Green Bay as the weather brought more snow , fog , mud and less wide open play . When Green Bay ' s Elijah Pitts carried a Cleveland punt backwards for - 10 yards , the Packers were forced to start from their own 10 - yard line . The Packers methodically marched down field as Forrest Gregg , Fuzzy Thurston , Ken Bowman and Jerry Kramer all made room for Taylor and Hornung to run . Hornung for 6 yards , Taylor for 8 , Taylor left for 7 yards , Taylor for a 1st down to the Cleveland 46 . A screen pass to Taylor for 10 yards , Hornung outside the right tackle for 20 yards . The 11 play , 90 yard drive culminated as Paul Hornung followed Jerry Kramer on a 13 yard TD sweep around left end . The play captured from an end zone ground level camera is on what seems like every Packer highlight reel . Chandler ' s point made the score 20 - 12 , GB . Fog rolled in as Cleveland looked to get even . With a 1st down on their own 31 , Ryan scrambled for 8 yards and the Packers LeRoy Caffey was flagged for a 15 yard face mask penalty , one of only three penalties on the day for the Packers . Jim Brown however was unable to find any running room and Ryan continued to pass , hitting Collins for 11 yards , then looked for Brown in the end zone . The pass to Brown was slightly underthrown and Ray Nitschke was able to stretch and knock the ball out of Brown ' s hands . Cleveland would not get that close to the goal line the rest of the day . Ryan ' s next pass slipped out of his hand and Groza was brought in for the field goal attempt . Forrest Gregg however , broke through the Cleveland line and deflected Groza ' s kick . 4th Qtr The Packers continued to run Taylor ( 27 carries on the day for 96 yds ) and Hornung ( 18 carries for 105 yds ) to chew up the clock . Chandler kicked his third field goal bringing Lombardi and the Packers one step closer to their 3rd championship as a unit . Cleveland had one last chance when Leroy Kelly took Chandler ' s ensuing kickoff and promptly angled towards the right sideline . At midfield , Chandler , the kicker , was the last player in Kelly ' s path . Kelly , with 10 more yards of room to his right , eschewed the sideline , cut back and into Chandler ' s path . Chandler held his ground and dropped Kelly on the frozen tundra . Cleveland could not move the ball and punted again . The Packers also failed to move the ball , but Chandler was hit as he attempted to punt from the end zone giving the ball , and another opportunity to run down the clock , back to Green Bay . A last minute interception by Herb Adderly sealed Cleveland ' s fate . VInce Lombardi - Jim Brown . Vince Lombardi proved to be a master tactician by stressing a ball control offense , assigning Nitschke to shadow Brown all day , and switching defensive assignments when Warfield was getting open early in the game . The Packers ran the ball 47 times for 204 yards on the day while holding Cleveland to just 38 total offensive plays . Lombardi coached the team to stop Jim Brown and force Cleveland ' s other players to step up and try and win the game This would be Jim Brown ' s last NFL game as he left at the top of his game to pursue a career in Hollywood . Brown , who had carried his team to an NFL title in 1964 , would have no regrets , despite the fact that he was still a month shy of 30 years old . References . Chuck Heaton , " Packers Sink Browns , 23 - 12 " , Cleveland Plain Dealer , January 2 , 1966 , Browns history database retrieved December 12 , 2007 1 . http : / / www . pro - football - reference . com / teams / cle / 1965 . htm 2 . http : / / www . pro - football - reference . com / teams / gnb / 1965 . htm 3 . The Football Encyclopedia , St Martin ' s Press , New York , NY , ISBN 0 - 312 - 05089 - 5 , p . 391 4 . Ray Scott , Ken Coleman , or Frank Gifford during CBS ' s TV / radio original full game broadcast 5 . Coach Lombardi diagrams " power sweep " @ http : / / www . youtube . com / watch ? v = 2v3Qgt0Fb8I , retrieved on 6 / 29 / 2010 6 . Interviews with the 1965 Green Bay team @ http : / / www . youtube . com / watch ? v = 2p _ sWXgBm0c & feature = related , retrieved on 6 / 29 / 2010 7 . http : / / www . pro - football - reference . com / boxscores / 196601020gnb . htm 8 . The Football Encyclopedia , St Martin ' s Press , New York , NY , ISBN 0 - 312 - 05089 - 5 , p . 392 9 . http : / / www . imdb . com / name / nm0000987 / bio , retrieved 6 / 29 / 2010