How it unfolded
With the Giants leading 17–14 and the clock winding down, Baltimore started its final drive from its own 14. Johnny Unitas hit Raymond Berry repeatedly for 73 yards, and Steve Myhra kicked a 20-yard field goal with seven seconds left to force 17–17 — the first championship game in NFL history to reach sudden-death overtime, a rule most fans in the building did not know existed. Baltimore won the coin toss in overtime, and Unitas drove 80 yards in 13 plays over 8:15 before Alan Ameche scored from one yard out. Berry finished with 12 catches for 178 yards. On the Giants sideline stood offensive coordinator Vince Lombardi and defensive coordinator Tom Landry; more than ten future Hall of Famers played or coached. NBC's national telecast drew roughly 45 million viewers.
Why it still matters
Long called 'the greatest game ever played,' its legacy is less the score than the viewing habit it created. Pro football crossed from regional sport to national television product that day; two years later the AFL launched, and Pete Rozelle's league-wide TV rights sale followed the same logic. Sudden-death overtime entered the public vocabulary through this game.