Former Eagles remember 1960 championship
PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Chuck Bednarik felt Green Bay’s last shot for a championship squirming under his chest, trying to break free for one last play. Bednarik wouldn’t budge, keeping his beefy body and hands firmly on Packers fullback Jim Taylor and his eyes on the clock.
Some Packers hustled to the line, but Bednarik made sure it wouldn’t matter.
He looked up as the seconds ticked off and the crowd cheered on … 5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1.
Bednarik let Taylor free (“You can get up now!” he hollered down) and leapt in the air, arms and legs kicked out, hugged a nearby teammate and walked off Franklin Field a champion.
The Philadelphia Eagles held on for a 17-13 win on Dec. 26, 1960 over Bart Starr, Vince Lombardi and the rest of the Green Bay Packers. For the first time since 1949, the Eagles were the NFL champions.
Forty-four years later, the franchise is still waiting for another one.
“We weren’t that great, but we played well and got a couple of breaks,” Bednarik said.
“You can’t go any higher,” said Hall of Fame receiver Tommy McDonald. “We were at the top of the hill looking down yelling, ‘Hello! Nobody expected us to be here.”‘
Indeed, the Eagles showed few signs of becoming a championship team in 1960. They had losing seasons from 1955-58 and went 7-5 under coach Buck Shaw in 1959.
Philadelphia didn’t look like contenders early in ’60, either. They lost by 17 to Cleveland in the opener, then squeaked out a two-point win the next week against the not-yet-hated rival Dallas Cowboys in their expansion season.
The Eagles then won two straight before going on the road for a rematch with Cleveland. The Browns won three NFL titles – there was no Super Bowl until 1967 – in the 1950s and hadn’t lost to the Eagles since 1957.
The game would be the turning point for the Eagles. They trailed most of the way until quarterback Norm Van Brocklin rallied them in the fourth quarter, leaving it up to kicker Bobby Walston.
Facing the open, windy end of the stadium, Walston’s wobbly 38-yard attempt spun like a top and barely cleared the crossbar for 31-29 win.
“The Browns, in my opinion, were always the team to beat,” said Bednarik, who turns 80 in May. “I was beyond myself. Of course, I didn’t carry on like those jerks today.”
Cornerback Tom Brookshier recalled someone yelling from the sideline, “We’re going to win the championship!”
The Eagles returned home to beat Pittsburgh in front of 58,324 fans – their largest crowd since 1950. They won again the next week against Washington, leaving them 6-1 going into New York against Frank Gifford and the Giants.
“New York was such a mountain to climb,” said Brookshier, now 73. “It was the New York press and Giff and all those guys were heroes. We were just guys from Philly.”
Clinging to a 17-10 lead late in the game, Bednarik saved the win with one of the most monumental hits in league history.
Gifford caught a pass over the middle and raced toward the sideline when Bednarik came around and leveled Gifford, knocking him unconscious and jarring the ball loose. Linebacker Chuck Webber recovered the fumble, clinching the win.
Gifford was knocked out cold, arms out. Bednarik stood over him, raised his right arm, fist clenched with his thumb extending down and yelled, “This … game is over!”
Gifford was carried off on a stretcher and wouldn’t play again until 1962.
“He gave Frank such a shot you could have heard it in the back of the stadium,” Brookshier said.
“It was the New York name, it was Gifford,” Bednarik said. “That’s the combination. That’s the only reason that hit is so well remembered.”
In a scheduling quirk, the Eagles beat the Giants again the next week at home, won two of their final three game games and were 9-2 heading into the Dec. 26 championship game against Green Bay at Franklin Field.
Like they did most of the season, the Eagles played from behind. They trailed 13-10 until Ted Dean scored on a 5-yard run with 5:20 left – their sixth fourth-quarter comeback of the season.
On Green Bay’s final drive, Starr went over the middle to find Taylor, who shook off one tackler until he was wrapped up by Bednarik at the 9-yard line.
It was the only postseason loss suffered by Lombardi. His 9-1 record is matched only by New England coach Bill Belichick.
The Eagles earned a $5,116 bonus for the win. The winner’s share this year is $68,000.
After the season, Shaw left and Van Brocklin retired – imagine Andy Reid and Donovan McNabb quitting next week – and the Eagles didn’t play in another championship game until the 1981 Super Bowl.
With each empty season, the 1960 Eagles have only seen their legacy grow. Being remembered as the last champions is fine with Bednarik, the tart-tongued Hall of Famer who disavowed the Eagles because of a dispute with owner Jeffrey Lurie.
Bednarik, known as the last of the 60-minute men, eventually pawned his ring and his Hall of Fame ring for cash.
He isn’t shy about criticizing today’s players.
“My favorite expression is they’re a bunch of pussycats,” he said. “They’re overpaid and underplayed.”
Bednarik wants the Eagles to lose in the Super Bowl to maintain the 1960 team’s legacy as the last title team.
He also doesn’t like Terrell Owens, because his showboating style is the antithesis of the type of players with whom he played.
“I hope somebody knocks him unconscious,” Bednarik said. “He ruins the rest of the team.”
McDonald still loves the Eagles. He said he is ready for this year’s Eagles to experience what he felt.
“I’ve been drooling. I drool at the mouth,” he said. “I’m so anxious for them to go to the Super Bowl. I would say if McNabb and the team can play mistake-free, I think they can win.
“Then they’ll know how great it is to be a champion in this city.”