For the first time in 10 years, the NFC Championship game is returning to Titletown, USA - Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Green Bay Packers are playing in their 4th NFC Championship game since Brett Favre took over the quarterback duties. So far, they’ve lost in Dallas and won twice at home. This fourth attempt will be against Eli Manning and the New York Giants.

It’s not the first time the Giants have come to Wisconsin for the Championship game, and hardly the first time they’ve played Green Bay for the title. Of course, the last time these two teams met in the final game, it was for the NFL Championship, and that was in New York, a game held in Yankee Stadium in 1962. (Green Bay won the game, 16-7 in a hard fought battle.) There is a long history between the Giants and the Packers, this is simply a renewal of a long rivalry between the two organizations.

The Green Bay Packers were NFL Champions in 1929, 1930 and 1931. It was the first time a team won three consecutive NFL titles, and the last time until, well, we’re getting ahead of ourselves. In those years, there was no championship game, the champion was the team with the best record at the end of the year.

The NFL divided the league into two divisions and began playing a championship game in 1933. The Packers next played for a championship in 1936. In the fourth NFL Championship game held, the Packers defeated the Boston Redskins 21-6 in a game held in New York City. The owner of the Redskins, George Preston Marshall, claimed that Boston did not support the team, so he held the game in New York.

The Packers next played in the Championship game in 1938, against the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds. Although Green Bay outgained the Giants, the score came out 23-17 in favor of the New Yorkers.

Revenge came in the form of the 1939 Championship game when the Packers hosted the New York Giants at State Fair Park in West Allis. Yes, the game was held at State Fair Park, in terrible weather with wind gusts estimated up to 35 miles per hour. Green Bay had 3 passes intercepted in that game, but they also picked off 6 Giant passes that day. The score was only 7-0 at the half, but Green Bay scored 20 points in the second half while shutting out the visiting New Yorkers. Final score, 27-0 and the Green Bay Packers had their 5th NFL Title.

The Packers next played in the NFL Championship game in 1944 and won the game 14-7. The victims? The New York Giants, and the game was held in New York.

The Lambeau era was coming to an end, and the Green Bay Packers were about to enter a sixteen year dry spell.

The Lombardi era began in 1959, when Vince Lombardi came to Green Bay as the head coach. He had formerly been an assistant coach for the New York Giants.

The first appearance for Lombardi’s Packers in the NFL Championship game was in 1960, against the Philadelphia Eagles. Norm van Brocklin and Tommy McDonald were the stars of the game as the Eagles defeated the Packers 17-13. (The Eagles would also win one of the only games the Packers lost in the 1996 Championship year, and we won’t even mention 4th and 26.)

Green Bay returned to the Championship game in 1961, when City Stadium hosted the game in Green Bay on December 31, 1961. The Packers won 27-0. Oh, they beat the New York Giants.

The Lombardi Packers returned to the NFL Championship game on December 30, 1962, to Yankee Stadium to play the New York Giants, again. Green Bay won that game, too, 16-7.

That was the last time the Packers played the Giants for the NFL Championship, although Lombardi’s Packers played in 3 more NFL Championship games in 1965, 1966 and 1967 beating the Browns, the Cowboys and Cowboys in those games. The Packers went on to play in the first two AFL-NFL World Championship games. 2 years later, those games would be renamed Superbowl I and Superbowl II. It is worth noting that the 1967 Championship game was held on December 31, 1967 when the temperature was -13° with wind chills in the neighborhood of -48° and the game became known popularly as “The Ice Bowl.”

The Packers then went into a 29 year drought and did not return to Championship status until 1995 when the Cowboys beat the Packers for the NFC Championship in 1995. The Packers came back to win the NFC Championship in 1996 and Superbowl XXXI in 1997.

The Packers also won the NFC Championship in 1997 but lost Superbowl XXXII in 1998.

So this Sunday, the Packers return to the Championship game against one of their old Championship rivals, the New York Giants. It’s going to be cold, some are saying the second coming of The Ice Bowl, with the predicted temperature at kickoff to be 1°.

We are not going out on a limb and making any predictions, because there are far too many things that can go wrong in a game like this one. That said, if history means anything at all, well, the Giants won one of those games, too.

Rivalries

Everyone wants to believe that their team has the greatest rivalry with some other team, and there are some good ones out there in the NFL. The rivalries between the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins are of legend, as is the rivalry between the Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants. Often they are based on proximity, like the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers or the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers or even the intense rivalry between the Kansas City Chiefs and Denver Broncos.

There is no doubt, however, that the fiercest, most nasty and oldest rivalry in the NFL is between the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears. Today’s players don’t seem to recognize the rivalry as much as the fans do. The outright nastiness between fans of these two teams is the stuff of legend, but the history of the two franchises is the real evidence that these two teams don’t like one another very much.

The Packers own the most NFL Championships with 9 outright NFL Titles and 3 Superbowl Titles making a total of 12 NFL Titles. The Chicago Bears have 8 outright NFL Titles and one Superbowl Title for a total of 9.

Legend has it that prior to a regular season face-off between the rivals, there was a knock on the Packer locker room door as Vince Lombardi was giving his final pregame talk. An aide interrupted him to say, “Coach Halas is at the door!” White as a ghost, Lombardi went to the door, figuring that some tragedy must be interrupting the kick-off. Sure enough, there was George Halas at the door. “What is it, George? What’s wrong?” Lombardi asked with concern in his voice. “Vince,” the legendary owner-coach of the Bears said, “I just wanted to let you know that we’re gonna kick your ass!”

Such is the stuff rivalries are made of. (Green Bay did win that game.)

The Green Bay Packers, incidentally, are the only team to win three consecutive NFL titles. They did it twice, 1929-1931 and 1965-1967. Given today’s rules and free agency, it is a feat that will likely never be matched again.

Will the NFL Title return to Titletown for the 13th time? We’ll know pretty soon, but it won’t even be a possibility if Green Bay does not defeat the New York Giants on Sunday. If history is any indicator at all, well, the Packers have defeated the New York Giants 4 of 5 opportunities to do so in a championship game. This is the 6th opportunity. Will Green Bay make it 5 of 6?

We won’t know until about 9:00 PM on Sunday.