The New York Giants have appeared in five NFC Championship Games in their history, winning all five. Three of those games are among the 14 greatest upsets in the history of the game, which officially began in 1970. All three of those wins came on the road.

Here they are courtesy of USA Today’s Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar.

January 22, 2012
New York Giants 20, San Francisco 49ers 17 (OT)

Very few people expected the 9-7 Giants to beat the 13-3 49ers in this conference championship game — Tom Coughlin’s team had already lost to Jim Harbaugh’s squad, 27-20, in Week 10 of that season. But the Giants would not go away in this game, and in overtime, San Francisco receiver Kyle Williams’ fumbled punt return set kicker Lawrence Tynes up for a game-winning field goal halfway through overtime. It was Tynes’ second overtime game-winner in a conference championship game, matching his effort in the 2007 season. The Giants’ ultimate result that season was also eerily similar: a Super Bowl win over an allegedly better Patriots team.

The football gods were in the Giants’ corner that season but they earned everything they got. That championship game was one of the hardest-hitting contests in memory. Anyone who has any doubt regarding Eli Manning’s Hall of Fame worthiness, I urge you to re-watch this game. What a courageous and poised performance.