The 1966 New York Giants: A long way away from any Super Bowl

By Richard K. Barry

By 1966 I was already a huge New York Giants fan and had exactly 20 years of disappointment to look forward to. Neighbourhood kids used to knock on my door on Sunday afternoons to see if I would come out and play or, they used to ask, was I going to stay inside and "watch the Giants lose."

Yes, it was that bad. 

But stay inside to watch the Giants I did, and it's something I've been doing ever since. 

You may know 1966 was a special year for the New York Giants, sort of.

A Bleacher Report article this past summer listed the group that year as number 26 of "The 30 Worst Team in NFL History."

So, what, you may ask, is the relationship of that woeful season to today's Super Bowl? Well, as the Green Bay Packers were finishing an impressive 12-2 regular season record and on their way to beating the Kansas City Chiefs in the very first Super Bowl, the Giants were going 1-12-1.

What made this even more difficult was the fact that the Giants previously had two assistant coaches, Vince Lombardi and Tom Landry, who would face each other in the NFL championship game that season as head coaches when the Packers beat the Cowboys.

My guess is that the 20 lost years for the Giants would never have happened if they had been able to hold on to either one of these legends. 

Just to add a little insult to injury, the Giant's quarterback during that stellar 1-12-1 season was Earl Morrall, who left the team two years later to go to Baltimore where he stepped in for the injured Johnny Unitas and proceeded to lead the team to a 13-1 record and an appearance in the Super Bowl (albeit to lose to the Jets).

And then Morrall went to the Dolphins in 1972 and played a pivotal role in their undefeated season. 

Just some fun facts to think about.

Here's the entry from the Bleacher Report on that terrible 1966 season for the Giants:

The 1966 season got off on an indifferent note for New York. But any indecision one had about how the Giants were going to do that year would be solved after watching the remainder of the regular season. 

A 34-34 tie on the road in Week 1 against the Pittsburgh Steelers was followed by a 52-7 thrashing at the hands of the Dallas Cowboys one game later. Big Blue then broke through with a victory against the Redskins on Oct. 16. That was followed by an eight-game swoon to end the season. 

The defense, once the pride and joy of Giants football, was awful. They gave up 501 points in 14 games, including allowing 72 to Washington on Nov. 22.

I mean, the Giants were so bad they even tied, then lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers that year, who were 5-8-1 (inside joke).

Long time ago, but interesting to remember it all.

Here's to hoping for better things for the Giants at today's Super Bowl.


(Cross-posted at Lippmann's Ghost.)