1968 NFL Championship Game

Lore & Background

By the 1968 season, the Baltimore Colts had become the NFL's standard-bearer. Under Don Shula, the team paired Johnny Unitas's veteran precision with a ferocious defensive front that could shut down even the most creative offenses. The Dallas Cowboys, fresh off their 1967 Ice Bowl triumph, came to Baltimore expecting a repeat of their physical dominance. What they found instead was a Colts defense that met every drive with relentless pressure and a special-teams unit that delivered when the margin was razor-thin.

The game itself was a war of attrition. Both offenses struggled to sustain long drives, and the score crept up in small increments. The Cowboys, as was their way, leaned on Tom Landry's methodical scheme to keep the game tight. But the Colts' back-to-back ability to stop Dallas on critical downs, combined with a final-play field goal that put the game to bed, told the story of a team that refused to blink.

In the broader arc of Colts history, the 1968 championship is the bridge between the early-1960s Unitas dynasty and the four-Super-Bowl run of the early 1970s. It proved that the Shula system could still win in the biggest moments, even when the road ahead—Super Bowl III against a hungry Jets squad—would test the franchise to its limits.

In Their Own Story

The air in Memorial Stadium tasted of iron and cold December. Forty thousand voices pressed against the concrete bowl while the Colts' defensive line set its hands on the dirt, shoulder pads locked, helmets catching the late-afternoon sun. The Cowboys had driven again, methodical as ever, and the scoreboard read 13–13 with seconds bleeding away. Unitas stood in the huddle, jaw set, saying nothing he didn't need to say. The snap came. The pocket held. And when the ball sailed through the uprights, the stadium detonated—helmets clattering, arms raised, the kind of noise that would echo in the ears of every kid in Baltimore for the rest of his life. Sixteen. Thirteen. The dynasty was still breathing.

Reader's Guide

The occasion: the 1968 NFL Championship Game, the final regular-season-plus-playoff contest of the NFL's single-conference era, pitting the Baltimore Colts against the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys entered as reigning champions after their 1967 Ice Bowl victory, and the game carried the weight of a rivalry that defined the late 1960s.

What happened: the contest was a low-scoring, physically brutal affair. Both offenses managed the clock, both defenses made critical stops, and the margin never separated by more than a few points. The Colts ultimately prevailed 16–13, with the final play—a field goal—sealing the victory in the closing moments. The win earned Baltimore a berth in Super Bowl III, where they would fall to the New York Jets.

Why it's remembered: for Colts fans, this game is the proof that the Shula-era team could win ugly, win close, and win against the league's best. It sits between two Super Bowl appearances and represents the franchise at its most complete—a defense that could stifle, an offense that could grind, and a coaching staff that trusted its players in the final seconds. In an era of 50-point blowouts, a 16–13 championship felt like a fistfight, and that's exactly what it was.

Did You Know?

• The Dallas Cowboys entered the game as defending NFL champions, having won the 1967 Ice Bowl against Green Bay in freezing conditions.
• The Colts' 1968 championship was the final step before Super Bowl III, where Baltimore lost to the New York Jets 16–7 in one of the sport's most famous upsets.
• Don Shula, the Colts' head coach, would go on to win two Super Bowls with the team (II and V) and later two more with the Miami Dolphins, making him one of the NFL's most decorated coaches.
• The game was played in Baltimore before the franchise relocated to Indianapolis in 1984, meaning every 'Colts' reference in this era points to the Maryland team.