A week earlier, the Packers defeated the Baltimore Colts in a tiebreaker Western Conference playoff at Lambeau Field, while the Browns were idle.
Green Bay was relegated to the third place Playoff Bowl the previous two seasons, with a victory over the Browns and a loss to the St. Louis Cardinals.
The home field for the NFL title game alternated between the conferences; in odd-numbered seasons, the Western team was the host.
[5][6] The Packers, coached by Vince Lombardi, featured Bart Starr, Paul Hornung, Jim Taylor, and Carroll Dale on offense, along with linemen Jerry Kramer, Forrest Gregg, Bob Skoronski and Fuzzy Thurston.
Cleveland, coached by Blanton Collier, had Jim Brown, WR's Gary Collins, Paul Warfield, guard Gene Hickerson and kicker Lou "The Toe" Groza on offense.
A tarp covered the field until shortly before kickoff and a moderated wind of 12 mph (19 km/h) blew through Lambeau field.3 4 7 Intermittent rain fell during the game, later turning to light snow.
The Packers extended their halftime lead of 13–12 on their first two possessions of the second half — a 90-yard touchdown drive capped by a Paul Hornung run and a fourth-quarter field goal by Don Chandler, accounting for the final score of 23–12.
Tom Moore returned the opening kickoff to the Green Bay 23-yard line and the Packers wasted no time in moving the ball as Bart Starr, who had bruised ribs tightly taped, mixed running plays to Jim Taylor and Paul Hornung with short passes to both backs.
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.
Green Bay's strategy throughout the game would be to clog the middle forcing Brown to hesitate while looking for room to run.
On 4th down Lou Groza, the 41-year-old 6-foot 1-inch, 240 lb lineman whose career extended all the way back to the A.A.F.C., coolly kicked a 24-yard field goal to put Cleveland in front, 9–7.
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 had been sidelined by injury and caught only 3 passes all year, was now covered by GB defensive back Bob Jeter, replacing Doug Hart.
Cleveland's HOF guard Gene Hickerson led the way giving Brown room to find good footing and sprint down the sideline for 15 yards.
Walter Beach intercepted, toe tapping the sideline to give Cleveland the ball at the Green Bay 30 yard line.
The second half was dominated by Green Bay as the weather brought more snow, fog, mud, and less wide open play.
Green Bay's Elijah Pitts carried the punt backwards for −10 yards, and 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.
After a short gain by Taylor 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.6 Chandler's point made the score 20–12, GB.
The pass was catchable but Ray Nitschke made a great effort to stretch and barely knock the wet ball out of Brown's hands.
Starr then slipped on the muddy turf as he retreated to pass, but regained his balance and threw a strike to wide open Boyd Dowler over the middle.
Packer fullback Jim Taylor was named the game's outstanding player by Sport magazine and received a 1966 Chevrolet Corvette.