Sixty-five years ago, the Packers learned their own Parable of the Talents, which birthed a dynasty
Story and photography by Jay Sorgi | For On Mission
PHILADELPHIA — Sometimes, memories linger in a historic place the way that memories of failure linger in the mind. That is, until accountability, reconciliation and commitment spawn what God made us to be.
That’s what the lingering ghosts of Philadelphia’s Franklin Field might say. It’s a place where Confiteor became conversion for the Green Bay Packers.
On Monday, December 26, 1960, the now-130-year-old stadium on the University of Pennsylvania campus in West Philadelphia hosted the 1960 NFL Championship Game between Vince Lombardi’s Packers and the host Philadelphia Eagles.
The scoreboard result brought the Packers lessons that launched Lombardi’s Packers into his personal, Jesuit-educated quest for Magis, the Latin word for more, and the chase to become the most of what God created within them: Arguably the greatest dynasty in NFL history.
The NFL moved its championship game from Christmas Day — a Sunday — to Monday at 11 a.m. Green Bay time, so families could worship on Christmas, share a family meal, and not plop themselves in front of a television set to watch 10 hours of football as the league did for Christmas 2025.
Before the team bus left the hotel that Monday morning, it’s likely that Lombardi attended his typical daily Mass, perhaps at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, where St. Katharine Drexel has her resting place.
The Philly-born saint and the Brooklyn-born coach shared a deep desire for the Eucharist and a fight against the sin of racism, as Lombardi — who had fought anti-Italian discrimination his whole life — had already quadrupled the number of Black players on the Packers’ roster since arriving in Green Bay a year earlier.
The first quarter brought the first of four times the Packers brought the football inside the Eagles’ 10-yard line, and the first Confiteor moment where postgame confessionals would involve what the Packers “failed to do.”
St. Paul writes in the fifth chapter of his letter to the Ephesians, “Watch carefully then how you live, not as foolish persons but as wise, making the most of the opportunity … do not continue in ignorance, but try to understand what is the will of the Lord” (Eph 5: 15-17).
On fourth down, Lombardi failed to follow the wisdom of making the most of a sure opportunity.
He failed to take three points from an easy field goal and instead went for the first down on fourth-and-two at the six-yard line against an Eagles defense with three Pro Bowlers and Hall of Fame center/linebacker Chuck Bednarik.
The Packers failed to gain the first down, as Hall of Fame fullback Jim Taylor was stuffed at the line of scrimmage, and the Packers ended the drive with no points.
In the end, that decision in the southeast end zone of Franklin Field would haunt Lombardi, just as every missed opportunity to discern and listen to God’s calling can lead to regret that lingers.
Later in the game, Willie Davis made a similar mistake.
The Parable of the Talents in the Gospel of St. Matthew calls for us all to take what we have been given and maximize those gifts, not hold them back out of fear.
The late Hall of Fame defensive end said that on a crucial play in that game, he “stayed home” in fear of a cutback run by an Eagle instead of fully pursuing the runner.
In the fourth quarter, the then-overcautious Davis could be seen feet away from Eagles running back Ted Dean as he crossed the goal line with a five-yard touchdown run to give the Eagles a 17-13 lead.
Make that stop and another defensive play on third down, and perhaps it’s a 13-13 tie instead.
Davis often shared how that play haunted him, another green-and-gold Confiteor moment.
Had Lombardi gone for the first-quarter field goal or had Davis fully used his quickness to stop Dean before the end zone, the Packers might have only needed a field goal during their final drive to win the NFL title.
Instead, they had to overcome a four-point deficit and score a touchdown. They came within 27 feet of it.
With eight seconds left and the ball on the Eagles’ 22-yard line, Hall of Fame quarterback Bart Starr completed a pass to Taylor, who fought to get to the nine-yard line before “Concrete Charlie” Bednarik personified his nickname, tackled him, and kept him down until the final seconds melted off the clock.
If the score had been 13-13 or 17-16, Lombardi could have set up Hall of Fame running back/kicker Paul Hornung for a 30-yard kick (the goalpost was on the goal line at the time), one he probably would have made to give the Packers their seventh NFL championship.
Opportunities lost. Talents not fully invested. Championship lost. Regret gained.
Confetior.
The Packers walked into the west visitor’s locker room filled with the pall of “what I failed to do.”
Lombardi took that accountability within himself. He saw his young team, with an average age of 25.7 years old and only one player older than 30, would receive many more opportunities.
Their confession of “what I failed to do” would spawn grace and greatness.
Lombardi did the football version of stepping into the confessional, letting his players know his faults in preparation and execution for this game. He took ownership, just as he asked his players to.
And in that locker room, he gave a football version of an Act of Contrition.
“We will never lose another postseason game,” Lombardi said with simultaneous gentleness and ferocity.
Davis looked at himself in the mirror as well, vowing to never fail to pursue his goals — on the field and in life — with all-out effort.
Just as God often uses confession of our own imperfections to utilize our talents to drive us to our life’s greatest victories, Lombardi, Davis and the Packers followed through on their promise of Magis, of becoming more of what God called them to be.
The Packers set a record that still stands, winning every one of the nine postseason games Lombardi would coach in Green Bay. That included five NFL championships in seven years and a record three consecutive titles in 1965-67.
Davis became the team’s defensive captain and trailblazer with not only a Hall of Fame football career but also a business career that shattered stereotypes about Blacks in leadership.
The second day of Christmas 1960, in the birthplace of America, became a day of second birth, of the launch of second chances, of the dawn of a football dynasty.
One that, through grace reflecting God’s own, created a Packers Parable of the Talents.