Vince left West Point in 1954 for an assistant coaching position with the New York Giants, under head coach and former classmate Jim Lee Howell. Lombardi was in charge of the Giants' defensive strategy. The previous season, the Giants suffered with a 3-9 record and scored the lowest number of points in the league. Within three years of Vince's arrival, however, the Giants were a championship team. His leadership channeled the talents of football great Frank Gifford, whom he switched from defense to offense. For each of the five years that Vince coached the Giants, Gifford was nominated as a halfback on the all-pro team and the Giants did not have a losing season.

By 1958, the 45-year-old coach had grown tired of being an assistant coach. He accepted a challenging five-year contract in Wisconsin as the general manager and head coach of the perpetual losing team, the Green Bay Packers. At the time, the Packers had no clout in professional football, for they had won only one game the previous year. Vince saw the team as a chance to prove both himself and his coaching abilities to the world.

Lombardi held the first ever of his notoriously intense training camps to gear up for the 1959 season. "Dancing is a contact sport," he told his Packers, "Football is a hitting sport." He expected obedience, dedication and 110 percent effort from each man, but he also made a promise to them - If they obeyed his rules and used his method, they would be a championship team.

Three years later, that promise became a reality. At Lambeau Field in Green Bay on December 31, 1961, Vince watched proudly as the Packers defeated the New York Giants 37-0 for the National Football League championship.

Despite long hours and fierce competition, Vince never put forth anything but his best effort. Just as he drilled his men to be the paramount players in professional football, he challenged himself. Vince constantly looked to implement new plays and game strategies (even changing his players' jersey numbers before a game to confuse George "Papa Bear" Hallas and his Chicago Bears). The Packer's offensive line became so powerful, their run was dubbed the "Green Bay Sweep."