The game took place at Yankee Stadium where the Baltimore Colts took on the New York Giants in the NFL championship. Both team finished the 1958 season at 9-3 and was the fifth straight winning season for the Giants which included two prior championship appearances. For the Colts this was just the second time in team history that they had managed a winning record.
The game started off sloppy with a sack fumble of Unitas which New York recovered at the Colts 37 yard line. On the very next play the Colts had a strip sack and recovery of their own, taking the ball right back. This was a common theme throughout this hard fought battle.
The Giants struck first when Pat Summerall hit a early field goal late in the first. In the second quarter more messy football took place, another fumble by the Giants resulted in a 2 yard touchdown run by Alan Ameche of the Colts. Unfortunately for New York their running back Frank Gifford was having a hard time holding onto the ball and fumbled for the 3rd time in the game. This latest turnover resulted in the Colt's driving 86 yards for their second straight score. Taking a 14-3 lead into halftime the game looked comfortable for them.
The Giants first touchdown came after they stopped the Colts on 4th down at their own 1. After the stand Gifford led the Giants 95 yard down the field and eventually taking it in on an easy 1 yard run by Mel Triplett. The Giants scored again early in the fourth after a 46 yard completion that got them to the Baltimore 14 yard line.
Down 14-17 with under 2 minutes to go, Johnny Unitas ran a perfect two minute drill and the Colts scored the game tying field goal with only seconds to spare. This resulted in the first championship game that had ever gone into a sudden death overtime.
After the coin toss and rules were explained, the Colts kicked the ball off and the Giants return man fumbled but was able to recover the ball at his own 20. The giants had a quick three and out which resulted in a 80 yard touchdown drive by the Colts to win the game.
This game really should have belonged to the Giants but they fumbled the ball 6 times total and lost 4 of them totaling 5 turnovers where the Colts only had 2.
17 people who participate din this game ended up in the hall of fame, including the Giants offensive coordinator Vince Lombardi and also their defensive coordinator Tom Landry.
If you want to hear about a historical sports event let me know in the comments!