Quarter 4
When Warfield caught his first pass of the day to the 1, it seemed a foregone conclusion that the Browns would go up 24-0. But the Colts stuffed two straight plunges by Brown. Then Lou Michaels hit Ryan before he could handoff, drop­ping him at the 3. So Groza added the 3-pointer. Browns 20 Colts 0
Would the goal-line stand light a fire under the Colts offense, which now had the advantage… More of the wind at their backs? Unfortunately for the visitors, the breeze had died down some.
Against the wind, Groza's kick came down at the 18. Tom Matte returned the ball to the 29. The possession started badly for Colts, Unitas being sacked for -4. But he came back with a completion to Orr to the 42. He then threw a long pass that Jimmy dived and caught at the 15. But the officials ruled he was out of bounds. Bill Glass spilled Unitas for a 4y loss. An overthrown aerial to Orr ended still another sterile possession for the Colts.
Starting from their 36 after Roberts's 14y punt return, the Browns could at least run some time off the clock. But they did much more than that. They moved smartly into Baltimore territory, thanks primarily to Ryan's 13y pass to Brewer and a pass interference penalty on Logan against Collins at the 35. A holding penalty back to the 49 threatened to take the starch out of the march. No problem, though. Ryan threw long again for Collins, the ball sailing just over the outstretched hand of Boyd who had Gary well covered at the 10. The 6'3" 210 lb WR escaped the grasp of the 5'10" 190 lb Boyd and ran through the EZ into a group of exuberant fans who engulfed him. A phalanx of policemen had to bail him out. Browns 27 Colts 0 (6:10)
Logan misread the Cleveland formation on the play. He thought it was a strong right - a formation in which his zone coverage was short and outside - when it was actually strong left. In a Cleveland strong-left formation, Logan's coverage was deep and in the middle. When he left that area, Collins broke into it.
The Colts never adjusted to help Boyd, who was an All-Pro DB. They held War­field to one catch but paid the price on the other side. When a receiver and quarterback have a day like that, we call it Pitch & Catch, said Warfield. That was Frank Ryan to Gary Collins.
Even the Baltimore announcers agreed it would take more than one of Unitas's miracles to pull this one out. The only question was whether Unitas & Company could avoid their first shutout in 31 games. But in another case of "just when you think everything that can go wrong has gone wrong ...," Modzelewski deflected Unitas's pass, sending it into the hands of Beach who returned it to the Colt 43 with 4:50 left.
The proud Blue and White defense finally forced a 3-and-out, with Marchetti having the pleasure of dumping Brown for a 10y loss. But even that satisfaction was negated by a holding penalty on the punt that gave Cleveland an automatic 1st down at the Colt 46. That allowed the Browns to run out the clock. The Colts, led by Marchetti, managed to bury Ryan when he threw one last pass. Frank climbed wearily to his feet. He had welts on his nose and cheek. Collier took out Collins, then Warfield to allow the crowd to cheer for each. With less than a minute to play, fans started coming out of the stands, attacking both goal posts, invading the field, and finally forcing the officials to end the contest early. They surrounded Ryan and hoisted him on their shoulders.
FINAL: BROWNS 27 COLTS 0
The Browns' victory ended the seven-year reign of the Western Conference since the Giants beat the Bears in 1956.

Sports Illustrated's Tex Maule summarized the game like this: It was a bizarre game. Baltimore came to Cleveland as one of the finest offensive teams ever to win a divi­sional championship and left without having scored a point on the worst defense in the league.... But for this game, Cleveland became one of the great defensive teams of championship game history.
The Sport Magazine MVP award, a Corvette sports car, went to Gary Collins, who set a championship game record with three TD receptions.
Final statistics:

First downs: Browns 20 Colts 11
Rushing: Browns 41-142 Colts 25-92
Passing: Browns 18-11-1/197 Colts 20-12-2/89
Return yardage: Browns 4-44 Colts 6-61
Fumbles-Lost: Browns 0-0 Colts 2-2
Penalties: Browns 7-59 Colts 5-48
Punting average: Browns 3-44.0 Colts 4-33.8
The individual statistics are enlightening

Ryan completed 11 of 18 for 206y and 3 TDs. Unitas connected on 12 of 20 for just 95y.
Did the Browns clamp down on the Colt receivers? Berry caught just 3 passes for 38y. Orr snagged only 2 for 31. Less