Remembering the NFL’s lost third-place game

After what has happened with the Saints in the NFC title game, what would you think if the Black and Gold would have had one more game to decide if they are the third best team in the league? Confused why I would even broach the subject?

Well, a third-place game used to be a thing in the NFL.

Between 1960 and 1969, the NFL came up with a novel idea – a Playoff Bowl or officially called the Bert Bell Benefit Bowl named after NFL commissioner who suffered a fatal heart attack in 1959. It was a third-place game played for charity.

The location was the Orange Bowl in Miami. It was based on the premise to aid in the NFL player benefit pool. The game took place one week following the NFL championship game. The teams from the Eastern and Western divisions that fell short of the NFL title game faced off in the consolation game.

Even though the combatants were playing for third place, one game was particularly dramatic. In December 1965, the Baltimore Colts were set to face the Dallas Cowboys in the Bell Bowl. Colts starting quarterback, the legendary Johnny Unitas, was unavailable with a knee injury. His backup, future Saints quarterback Gary Cuozzo, was nursing a shoulder issue. As a result, Colts head coach Don Shula turned the reigns over to running back Tom Matte, a former single-wing QB for Woody Hayes at Ohio State.

Matte, wearing No. 41, ran for 57 yards and was 5-of-12 for 40 yards passing and two touchdowns. The Colts won. Easily. The 35-3 blowout was not the first game Matte started either. In fact, it was his third straight start at quarterback. He played in the regular season finale and then Baltimore’s playoff loss to the Packers, a 13-10 heartbreaking result shown above.

Could you envision Sean Payton turning the offense in New Orleans over to Alvin Kamara or Mark Ingram?

The concept was dropped following the ’69 game, but it would be much more interesting to watch the a third-place game than to suffer through another Pro Bowl.