Before the season, on January 26, 33-year-old Pete Rozelle, the general manager of the Los Angeles Rams, was elected NFL commissioner as a compromise choice on the twenty-third ballot.
Played at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, after the NFL Championship game, it benefitted the players' pension fund.
The two-time defending league champion Baltimore Colts led the Western Division after their bye in week 9 but lost the last four games to finish at .500 and fourth in the West.
With the first pick, the Los Angeles Rams selected running back Billy Cannon from Louisiana State University.
Because the league awarded the Dallas Cowboys franchise about two months later on January 28, 1960, this marked the only time that an NFL expansion team did not have the benefit of a college draft in its first year.
The Cowboys' first game saw them take a 14–0 lead over the Pittsburgh Steelers on a Saturday night at the Cotton Bowl, with Jim Doran catching a pass from Eddie LeBaron for the first score, but lost 35–28.
The breakthrough came in Week Six on October 30, when unbeaten New York (3–0–1), two-time defending division champions, came off their bye and lost at home to St. Louis, 20–13, while the Browns and idle Eagles were both at 4–1.
In the former, the Giants' Frank Gifford was severely injured in a tackle by linebacker Chuck Bednarik late in the game [20] that almost ended his career.
[23] The new Dallas Cowboys lost their first ten games but managed a 31–31 tie against the Giants at Yankee Stadium in New York on December 4.