[2][3][4] The contest was touted as "The Million Dollar Game," owing to the $600,000 in television broadcast rights paid to the NFL by NBC combined with a $400,000 gate to be generated through a projected sale of 40,000 tickets at the unitary price of $10 per seat regardless of location in the stadium.

[1] The Packers' only other championship home game until then was 22 years earlier in 1939, played at the State Fair Park in West Allis outside Milwaukee.

Temperature at game time hovered at 20 °F (−7 °C) and for several days the field had been covered with a tarp, topped by a foot (30 cm) of hay.

At 6 a.m. on game day, workers began the arduous process of snow and hay removal by hand using baskets, as heavy equipment could have potentially damaged the field.

[9][10][11][12] Green Bay had defeated the Giants 20–17 four weeks earlier at County Stadium in Milwaukee to clinch the Western title before a record crowd of 47,012.

[13][14] Injured in late October, Packer right guard Jerry Kramer was sidelined for the remainder of the season.

Jim Taylor, despite having injured a kidney in the Rams game two weeks before,[10] and Hornung kept the Packers drive moving to the NY 6-yard line as time expired.

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.

The following series also resulted in a GB punt, with the Giants Joe Morrison fumbling and Forrest Gregg recovering for the Packers.

The Packers continued their march toward a championship with hard running by Hornung and Tom Moore (replacing Taylor).

The veteran Tittle, who led the Giants to two more championship appearances in 1962 and 1963, could do no better than Conerly, throwing an interception to the Packers Jesse Whittenton.

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 Rosey Grier.

In 1959, Lombardi (who formerly happened to be the offensive coordinator for the New York Giants) had taken over a Green Bay franchise that was the worst team in the league in 1958,[18] and in three years turned them into NFL Champions.