On April 17, NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle indefinitely suspended Green Bay Packers running back Paul Hornung and Detroit Lions defensive tackle Alex Karras for gambling on their own teams, as well as other NFL games; Hornung and Karras would miss the entire season. In addition, five other Detroit players were fined $2,000 each for placing bets on one game in which they did not participate. On November 24, just two days after the assassination of President Kennedy, the NFL played its normal schedule of games. NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle said about playing the games: "It has been traditional in sports for athletes to perform in times of great personal tragedy. Football was Mr. Kennedy's game. He thrived on competition." Attendance at games went unaffected despite the assassination. Although the choice to play the games was protested, and Rozelle had also eventually regretted the decision, he stated that Kennedy's secretary, Pierre Salinger, had urged him to allow the games to be played. The Eastern and Western Conference races
were undecided until the final day of the regular season. Week Thirteen saw both the Bears and Packers winning, while Cleveland lost to Detroit, 38–10. New York won 44–14 over Washington, but at 10–3–0, New York was trailed by Pittsburgh, which had an unusual 7–3–3 record, and the final game of the season would match the Steelers and Giants at Yankee Stadium. Under the rules of the day, a Steelers win over the Giants would have given New York a 10–4–0 (.714) finish, while the Steelers' 8–3–3 finish would have been a .727 record and the trip to the championship game. It didn't happen that way. In a game that decided the conference title, New York beat Pittsburgh 33–17. In the Western race, Green Bay needed to win and for Chicago to lose. The Bears' 24–14 win over Detroit was announced while the
Packers were in San Francisco, making the 21–17 win on the coast a moot point. The 1963 NFL Championship Game was played on December 29, 1963 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The game pitted the visiting New York Giants (11–3) against the Chicago Bears (11–1–2). The game would be a tough defensive battle with the edge going to the Bears, as Tittle was held to only 11 completions in 29 attempts, and the Bears superior scouting was shown by their success defending against the Giants' screen passes. In the end, the Bears would triumph 14-10 over the Giants, and would lay claim to the 1963 NFL Championship.