We take a trip to Chicago’s Wrigley Field today for a contest between our Packers and George Halas’ Bears. On this November Sunday, the teams were both fighting for supremacy in the conference, and the Packers were looking to win three N.F.L. titles for the second time in their history. It would be a nation-changing week after this game, as President John F. Kennedy would be assassinated the following Friday.
On this and the following page are the coaching staff members for the 1963 Bears. There are at least a couple of future N.F.L. head coaches listed here, learning under George Halas.
We just saw them spotlighted in our 1962 “Salute to the Packers” series, but here is the Packers’ coaching staff one season later as presented for Chicago fans to read about.
The probable starting line-ups for the game today, as well as a listing of the other players for each team.
Perhaps we can learn something today from this article on how to watch pro football on television in 1963.
Here is a more detailed roster for your Green Bay Packers that season.
This is a composite of two pages which showed the Chicago fans just who the “stars” were for Green Bay.
In case you want to see who backed up the starters in that era, here is the depth chart for both teams at that point of the 1963 football season.
We have this fine publication in the Packerville, U.S.A. archives, and we didn’t pay that much more than the original price years ago when we found a copy in a used book store.On this November day, the Packers lost to the Bears 26-7 in front of 49,166 fans at Wrigley Field. Besides the immediate discomfort of losing to a longtime rival, the long-term effects were disastrous. By beating Green Bay twice, Chicago had the tie-breaker advantage when both teams finished 11-2-1. The Bears then played the New York Giants, who lost their third title game in as many years — 14-10 — at Wrigley on December 29, 1963.
