Frozen Tundra: The Ice Bowl
On the first day of 1967, the Packers survived a 34–27 game at Dallas to advance to the inaugural Super Bowl. On the final day of 1967, the two teams met again for the NFL title and the chance to play in Super Bowl II. Their efforts — and the Arctic conditions in which they played — resulted in one of the most memorable games in NFL history.
The day before the rematch, it was partly cloudy and about 15 degrees. But a cold front blew in from Canada and harkened the coldest New Year’s Eve in Green Bay history — minus-13 degrees, with a wind-chill of minus-46.
Lombardi used to joke that he prayed for cold weather, which he felt gave his hardened team an edge. Feeling the chill air on December 31, defensive tackle Henry Jordan said, “Vince stayed down a little bit too long for this one.”
Players’ hands quickly numbed, and several developed frostbite in their toes. Dallas quarterback Don Meredith came down with pneumonia after the game and was hospitalized upon his return to Texas. Cowboys halfback Dan Reeves split his lip open on the field; it didn’t bleed until after the game when he retreated to a heated locker room.
Four fans had heart attacks at sold-out Lambeau Field, and one elderly spectator died.
Lombardi had anticipated the event by ordering the installation of an $80,000 underground heating system, 750,000 volts buried about six inches below the turf. The system failed. (Some of the Cowboys swore Lombardi turned it off.) When groundskeepers removed the tarp before the game, condensation immediately froze and formed a slick sheet of ice.
In this improbable environment, the Packers and Cowboys managed to stage a highly entertaining game. Green Bay jumped out to a 14–0 lead on two touchdown passes from Bart Starr to Boyd Dowler. But Dallas got on the board when defender George Andrie scooped up a fumble and rumbled into the end zone, and the Cowboys added a short field goal. On the first play of the fourth quarter, the visitors stunned the home crowd when Reeves threw an option pass to Lance Rentzel, 50 yards for the go-ahead touchdown.
With 4:50 remaining, down 17–14, the Packers took over on their 32-yard line. Methodically they drove down the frozen field, landing at the Dallas 3-yard line when fullback Chuck Mercein gained eight yards up the middle on a fake sweep.
After the Cowboys stuffed Donny Anderson on two inside runs, Starr called Green Bay’s final timeout. There were sixteen seconds left. If the Packers passed the ball, they would have time to kick a tying field goal and send the game into overtime should it fall incomplete. If they ran, it would be all-or-nothing.
Consulting with Lombardi on the sideline, Starr suggested a basic wedge play — with a twist. Instead of handing off to Mercein as the play dictated (and unbeknownst to his teammates), Starr would keep the ball. “Then do it, and let’s get the hell out of here,” the coach said.
On a quick count, center Ken Bowman and right guard Jerry Kramer fired out to knock defensive tackle Jethro Pugh backward, and Starr dove behind them and into the end zone. Green Bay had won the NFL championship by a matter of inches.
Afterward, Cowboys coach Tom Landry still couldn’t believe the Packers had run the ball. “It was a dumb call,” he said. “Now it’s a great play.”
But Lombardi didn’t see it that way. “If you can’t run the ball in there in a moment of crisis, you don’t deserve to win,” he noted. “These decisions don’t come from the mind, they come from the gut.”
The Play
35 WEDGE
The wedge is among the oldest plays in football, and certainly one of the most basic. The center fires out straight ahead, and the other four linemen, and usually the tight end(s), simply block to the inside gaps. In effect, they form a tight “wedge,” practically shoulder-to-shoulder, to push the defenders off the line of scrimmage en masse.
The wedge isn’t likely to result in many big plays, but it’s a good bet to get you a yard or two if your offensive linemen are strong enough to move the pile.
The wedge can be run from a power formation. On the climactic play of the Ice Bowl, Lombardi ran it from a standard two-receiver set, preserving the illusion that the Packers might be passing. Tight end Ron Kramer blocked down on a Dallas defensive end, and receivers Boyd Dowler and Carroll Dale went after linebackers.
Normally (see diagram), the handoff goes to the fullback in 35 Wedge. Chuck Mercein fully expected to get the ball. Starr and Lombardi were the only two people in the stadium who knew that the quarterback intended to keep the ball and plunge for the winning touchdown himself.
