Eagles

Browns

Giants

Cardinals

Steelers....

.... Redskins

Packers

Lions

49ers

Colts

Bears

Rams

Cowboys

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NFL teams: West, East

The1960 NFL season was the 41stregular season of theNational Football League.

Before the season, on January 26, 33-year-oldPete Rozelle, the general manager of theLos Angeles Rams, was electedNFL commissioner as a compromise choice on the twenty-third ballot.^[1][2] Meanwhile, the league expanded to 13 teams on January 28 with the addition of theDallas Cowboys, with a fourteenth team, theMinnesota Vikings, to start in1961.^[3][4][5][6] Also, on March 13th, theCardinals relocated fromChicago toSt. Louis and became theSt. Louis Cardinals,^[7][8][9] the same moniker as theNational League baseball club.

In thechampionship game, the hostPhiladelphia Eagles defeated theGreen Bay Packers by four points atFranklin Field.^{[10][11][12][13]}Two years earlier in1958, both teams had finished in last place in their respective conferences, combining for only three wins. This loss wasVince Lombardi's only post-season defeat as an NFL head coach. Following this loss in 1960, Lombardi's Packers won five NFL championship games in seven years, and easily won the first twoSuper Bowls.

The NFL introduced thePlayoff Bowl, a game forthird place between the runners-up from each division. Played at theOrange Bowl inMiami,Florida, after the NFL Championship game, it benefitted the players' pension fund. TheDetroit Lions played theCleveland Browns in the inaugural game and the Lions won by a point,^[14] the first of three straight wins by Detroit in the series.

The two-time defending league championBaltimore Colts led the Western Division after their bye in week 9 but lost the last four games to finish at .500 and fourth in the West. TheNew York Giants, winners of the Eastern Division the previous two seasons, won only one of their final five games and finished third in the East.

During this season, theAmerican Football League (AFL) was launched as a competitor to the NFL. The two leagues co-existed for the entire 1960s, agreed to amerger in1966, and became one combined league in1970.

The1960 NFL draft was held on November 30, 1959, atPhiladelphia'sWarwick Hotel. With the first pick, theLos Angeles Rams selected running backBilly Cannon fromLouisiana State University.

Because the league awarded theDallas Cowboys franchise about two months later on January 28, 1960, this marked the only time that an NFL expansion team did not have the benefit of a college draft in its first year.^[15]

The1960 NFL expansion draft was held on March 13, 1960, with theDallas Cowboys selecting 36 players from the other 12 teams.

All teams but Dallas played a home-and-away game against the other five members of their own division, one inter-division game, and one game against the new team (Dallas): Dallas, although assigned to the Western Division, was a "swing team" and played each team once.

This was the final season for the 12-game schedule in the NFL.

A bye was required because of there being thirteen teams, with one team having a bye in each of the 13 weeks.

The Cowboys' first game saw them take a 14–0 lead over thePittsburgh Steelers on a Saturday night at theCotton Bowl, withJim Doran catching a pass fromEddie LeBaron for the first score, but lost 35–28.^[16]

Philadelphia lost its opener at home to Cleveland, 41–24, then went on a nine-game winning streak. The breakthrough came inWeek Six on October 30, when unbeaten New York (3–0–1), two-time defending division champions, came off their bye and lost at home to St. Louis, 20–13, while the Browns and idle Eagles were both at 4–1. InWeek Seven, New York beat Cleveland, 17–13, and the Eagles beat Pittsburgh 34–7.^[17] The Eagles clinched the Eastern Division after ten games at 9–1;^[18] they dropped a game the next week in the snow at Pittsburgh,^[19] and finished the regular season at 10–2, 1½ games ahead of Cleveland. Two of the wins in the streak were in consecutive games (November 20 and 27) against New York.

In the latter game, the Eagles trailed 17–0, then 23–17, beforeNorm Van Brocklin threw two touchdown passes in the final quarter for a 31–23 victory. In the former, the Giants'Frank Gifford was severely injured in a tackle by linebackerChuck Bednarik late in the game^[20] that almost ended his career.^[21][22] New York entered that November 20 game at 5–1–1, but won only once in the last five games, including a tie against Dallas - the Cowboys lost their remaining eleven games that year - and finished third in the Eastern at 6–4–2. The Giants won the next three division championships for five in six seasons, but not the league title.

The Western Division race was one in which Baltimore,Chicago, Detroit, Green Bay, andSan Francisco all had a lead at one time.

The Bears fell back after aWeek Six loss to the 49ers, 25–7. InWeek Seven, the 4–2 Colts and the 4–1 Packers met on November 6 in Green Bay. Two-time defending NFL champion Baltimore, which had lost an earlier match, won 38–24, to take the lead in the Western. InWeek Ten, the Colts (6–2) came off their bye and lost at home to San Francisco, 30–22, to begin a streak of four defeats. Baltimore's 20–15 loss to the Lions, and Green Bay's 41–13 win at Chicago, tied the Colts and Packers at 6–4 inWeek Eleven. After the Packers' 13–0 win at San Francisco, their record was 7–4, while the Colts, Lions and 49ers were all at 6–5. While San Francisco and Detroit both won the next week, the former beating Baltimore 34–10, the Packers had won the day before, beatingLos Angeles 35–21 for the Western title, their first in 16 years.^[23]

The new Dallas Cowboys lost their first ten games but managed a 31–31 tie against the Giants at Yankee Stadium in New York on December 4. They finished at 0–11–1: as ties were excluded in calculating winning percentage prior to1972, the Cowboys had a winning percentage of .000, rather than .042.

Conference leaders

• A bye was required in 1960, as the league had an odd number of teams (13); one team had the bye each week.
  The fourteenth team,Minnesota, would join the league in1961, and the NFL subsequently initiated a 14-game regular season.

• Philadelphia 17, Green Bay 13 atFranklin Field,University of Pennsylvania, inPhiladelphia,Pennsylvania, on Monday, December 26.^{[10][11][12][13]}

ThePlayoff Bowl was between the division runners-up, forthird place in the league. This was its first year (of ten) and it was played three weeks after the regular season.

• Detroit 17, Cleveland 16 at theOrange Bowl inMiami,Florida, on Saturday, January 7, 1961.^[14]

• West 35, East 31 at theLos Angeles Memorial Coliseum inLos Angeles,California, on Sunday, January 15, 1961.^[24]

• Dallas Cowboys:Tom Landry became the expansion team's first head coach.
• Los Angeles Rams:Sid Gillman was replaced by former Rams quarterbackBob Waterfield. Gillman became coach of theLos Angeles Chargers of the American Football League.

• The expansionDallas Cowboys began play at theCotton Bowl, which they shared with theDallas Texans of the American Football League
• The relocatedSt. Louis Cardinals moved toBusch Stadium (Sportsman's Park)

• 1960 American Football League season

• NFL Record and Fact Book (ISBN 1-932994-36-X)
• NFL History 1951–1960 (Last accessed July 8, 2007)
• Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League (ISBN 0-06-270174-6)

• NFL seasons
• 1960 NFL season

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from November 2013