The stage is set for Championship Weekend as four NFL teams find themselves just one game away from Super Bowl XLIX.
There have been many entertaining title games in league history. Some football fans argue that the best matchup occurred before the merger—in the “Ice Bowl”—though there are plenty of AFC and NFC championships which present strong arguments as well.
Here are the five greatest conference championship games of all time.
5) 2009 NFC Championship—New Orleans Saints 31, Minnesota Vikings 28 (OT)
The Vikings outgained the Saints in yards—475 to 257—but five turnovers were the difference in this game.
Things really heated up late in the game—with the score tied—when the Vikings and QB Brett Favre advanced to the Saints’ 33-yard line with 1:06 left. A penalty for having 12 men on the field pushed Minnesota to the edge of field goal-range, and Favre then made an ill-advised throw across his body into heavy coverage. The result was an interception by Tracy Porter that would later cost his team the game.
The Saints took advantage of the interception in the extra session, and they later kicked a field goal to win the game. Vikings fans and even casual observers still can’t quite figure out how the Saints won this game—looking at the box score—but it marked the end of Favre’s reign as a dominant quarterback in the NFL.
Another interesting storyline that emerged from this game involved Gregg Williams’ defense, which purportedly had a bounty on Favre.
Still, Porter was the hero on the day. And he would come up big again just two weeks later—intercepting a Peyton Manning pass and taking it to the house en route to a victory in Super Bowl XLIV.
4) 1967 NFL Championship—Green Bay Packers 21, Dallas Cowboys 17
Two teams battled on New Year’s Eve in near-arctic conditions—13 degrees below zero—on this day. This legendary game would later become known as the “Ice Bowl.” Packers QB Bart Starr surprised his own linemen with just a few seconds left and no timeouts, taking the snap and plunging forward for the winning score.
“We got out of this alive. Thank you, Lord.” The Ice Bowl’s place in Cowboys history: http://t.co/n7ucBwjO0Z pic.twitter.com/CgqtyqkMoW
— Packers News (@PGPackersNews) January 9, 2015
This was a rematch of the previous year’s championship bout, when Vince Lombardi’s Packers edged Tom Landry’s Cowboys at the Cotton Bowl, 34-27.
Green Bay advanced and went on to defend its title in Super Bowl II against the Raiders.
3) 1987 AFC Championship—Denver Broncos 23, Cleveland Browns 20 (OT)
After a slow first half, this game sure heated up late. After Bernie Kosar hit Brian Brennan for a 48-yard score, John Elway turned his back to the deafening noise coming from behind the end zone.
Standing at his own 2-yard-line with under six minutes remaining, things looked bleak for Elway and the Broncos. Following a sack, the Broncos faced a 3rd-and-18 with 1:47 remaining when Elway hit Mark Jackson for a 20-yard gain. Elway then found Jackson a few plays later, firing low for a diving score to cap off “The Drive” and send the game to overtime.
On this day in 1987, John Elway lead Broncos on “The Drive” to defeat Browns in AFC Championship Game. pic.twitter.com/cS0Rq0bBxH
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) January 11, 2015
After shocking the Cleveland faithful on the “The Drive,” Elway later put Rich Karlis in range to boot Denver to victory in overtime.
The Broncos’ late-game momentum would carry over to the first half of Super Bowl XXI against the Giants.
Denver went on to beat Cleveland—with some help from “The Fumble”—in the AFC title game again just one year later.
2) 2008 NFC Championship—New York Giants 23, Green Bay Packers 20 (OT)
The cold weather in Lambeau shockingly turned against the Packers on this day, as Favre struggled to find a rhythm despite picking apart the Seahawks’ defense in the snow just one week earlier. The game-time temperature was zero degrees—with a wind chill of minus-23.
But Eli Manning and Plaxico Burress did not allow the temperature to affect their chemistry—hooking up 11 times for 154 yards in the game.
The world had to mentally prepare for the “other” Manning in a Super Bowl after Corey Webster picked off Favre in Packers territory. Lawrence Tynes then nailed a game-winning 47-yarder in awful weather.
The Giants would then go on to make history—preventing the then-undefeated Patriots from running the table in Super Bowl XLII.
1) 1982 NFC Championship—San Francisco 49ers 28, Dallas Cowboys 27
The ultimate “changing of the guard” moment took place in this game. After representing the NFC in the Super Bowl for half of the ’70s, the Cowboys fell in dramatic fashion to Joe Montana—and the 49ers’ dynasty officially began.
With under a minute remaining in the game, Montana rolled right and fired high—where only Dwight Clark’s outstretched arms could reach. And “The Catch” was born.
Bill Walsh’s West Coast offense was on display and gained national recognition in this game. The passing concepts from it would dominate the league in the decades that followed.
This game marked the beginning of a very successful era for the Niners. San Francisco advanced to Super Bowl XVI and went on to win four titles in a nine-year span.
