After 47 years, Ice Bowl still sends a chill down spine

The NFL loves it when a good plan comes together. Or so it must seem for the poor Detroit Lions, whose play-off demise on Sunday was sparked by a highly-questionable refereeing decision.

The upshot of the most talked about wildcard game of the weekend is that the Dallas Cowboys got back possession midway through the final quarter, made it count and took an ultimately unassailable lead, their first of the entire game. That’s how it goes. For the NFL, it meant a bonanza of intrigue. Instead of the Green Bay Packers hosting the not-great Carolina Panthers on Sunday evening in the divisional round play-off game, they will now welcome the Cowboys onto Lambeau Field.

It’s just over 47 years since their most famous encounter at the same venue, the still revered “Ice Bowl”, which took place on New Year’s Eve, 1967.