In 1961, the league expanded to 14 teams with the addition of the Minnesota Vikings, after the team's owners declined to be charter members of the new American Football League. The schedule was also expanded from 12 games per team to 14 games per team. The Vikings were placed in the Western Conference, and the Dallas Cowboys were switched from the Western Conference to the Eastern. In the Western Conference, Green Bay (11-3-0) led the conference from week six on and were not seriously challenged, winning the conference by two games over the Detroit Lions (8-5-1). In the Eastern Conference The Giants and Eagles, both at 9–3, met in week 13, in Philadelphia (December 10). After New York trailed 10–7, Coach Allie Sherman replaced Y.A. Tittle with Charlie Conerly, who at 40 was the NFL's oldest player.
Conerly threw for three touchdowns for the 28–24 win. The Giants would go on to win the conference by 1/2 game over the Eagles. The 1961 NFL championship game was played at "New" City Stadium, later known as Lambeau Field, in Green Bay, Wisconsin on December 31, 1961. The attendance was 39,029. The game would be a mismatch, as the Packers would hammer the Giants 37-0. Ray Nitschke, Boyd Dowler, and Paul Hornung, were on leave from the U.S. Army. Paul Hornung scored 19 points for the Packers and was Named the MVP Most Outstanding Player in the 1961 Championship Game, and awarded a 1962 Corvette from Sport magazine. The victory would be the first of five NFL titles
won in a seven-year span by the Packers and their coach, Vince Lombardi.