1940 NFL Championship Game

The 1940 National Football League Championship Game, was the 8th in NFL history. The game was played at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C. on December 8, 1940. The Chicago Bears defeated the Washington Redskins, 73-0, the most one-sided victory in NFL history. The game was broadcast on radio by Mutual Broadcasting System, the first NFL title game broadcast nationwide.

Background

Washington had defeated Chicago 7-3 in a regular season game three weeks earlier. After the contest, Redskins owner George Preston Marshall told reporters that the Bears were crybabies and quitters when the going got tough. As the Bears prepared for the rematch, Chicago head coach George Halas fired up his team by showing them newspaper articles of Marshall's comments.

Before the game, Halas' friend Clark Shaughnessy, who was concurrently coaching the undefeated Stanford Indians, helped the Bears gameplan. Shaughnessy devised several counters for linebacker shifts that he had noted the Redskins use.^[1]

Game Summary

The Bears controlled the game right from the start, using the T formation as their primary offensive strategy. On their second play from scrimmage, running back Bill Osmanski ran 68 yards for a touchdown. Washington then marched to the Chicago 26-yard line on their ensuing drive, but wide receiver Charlie Malone dropped a sure touchdown pass in the end zone that would have tied the game.

Later in the first quarter, Bears Quarterback Sid Luckman scored on a 1-yard touchdown run to increase the lead 14-0. On their third drive, Joe Maniaci ran 42 yards for the Bears' third touchdown of the game.

The Bears held a 28-0 halftime lead and then continued to crush the Redskins, scoring 45 points during the second half. After Halas took the team's starters out, the backup players continued to pile on the points. The Bears ended up recording 501 total yards on offense, 382 total rushing yards, and 8 interceptions—returning 3 for touchdowns.

So many footballs were kicked into the stands after touchdowns that officials asked Halas to run or pass for the PAT on the last two TDs.²

This game also marked the last time that an NFL player (Bears end Dick Plasman) played without a helmet.¹

Redskins quarterback Sammy Baugh was interviewed after the game, and a sportswriter asked him whether the game would have been different had Malone not dropped the tying TD pass. Baugh reportedly quipped, "Sure. The final score would have been 73-7."

Legacy

The game still marks the most lopsided victory in NFL history. Chicago's 73 points remains the most ever scored by one team in league history, in the regular season or postseason.^[2] Chicago's 7 rushing touchdowns is the second-most in league history, and the most ever in a post season game.^[3]

The First Fifty Years, a 1969 book that chronicles the first half-century of the NFL, listed the game as one of "Ten [Games] That Mattered" to the growth of pro football in the United States.^[4] "On a Sunday in the 1940 December," the book states, "the Chicago Bears played perfect football for a greater percentage of the official hour than any team before or since. In the championship game, as an underdog to the team which had just beaten them, the Bears made an eleven-touchdown pile and used it as a pedestal to raise the NFL to view in all corners of the country. ... Pro football, the T-formation and the Chicago Bears were the sudden sports news of the year."

Scoring summary

• CHI TD - Osmanski 68 yard run (Manders kick) CHI 7-0
• CHI TD - Luckman 1 yard run (Snyder kick) CHI 14-0
• CHI TD - Maniaci 42 yard run (Martinovich kick) CHI 21-0
• CHI TD - Kavanaugh 30 yard pass from Luckman (Snyder kick) CHI 28-0
• CHI TD - Pool 15 yard interception return (Plasman kick) CHI 35-0
• CHI TD - Nolting 23 yard run (kick failed) CHI 41-0
• CHI TD - McAfee 35 yard interception return (Stydahar kick) CHI 48-0
• CHI TD - Turner 20 yard interception return (kick failed) CHI 54-0
• CHI TD - Clarke 44 yard run (kick failed) CHI 60-0
• CHI TD - Famiglietti 2 yard run (Maniaci pass from Sherman) CHI 67-0
• CHI TD - Clarke 1 yard run (pass failed) CHI 73-0

Final statistics

Source: ³

Statistical comparison

Individual leaders

^*Completions/Attempts ^aCarries ^bLong play ^cReceptions

References

Notes