1940 NFL Championship Game
Encyclopedia
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. This was the first NFL title game that was broadcast nationwide on radio by Mutual Broadcasting System
.
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.
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."
aCarries
bLong play
cReceptions
1940 NFL season
The 1940 NFL season was the 21st regular season of the National Football League. The season ended when the Chicago Bears defeated the Washington Redskins in the NFL Championship Game, 73–0. This game still stands as the most one-sided victory in NFL history...
National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
Championship Game, was the 8th in NFL history. The game was played at Griffith Stadium
Griffith Stadium
Griffith Stadium was a sports stadium that stood in Washington, D.C. from 1911 to 1965, between Georgia Avenue and 5th Street, and between W Street and Florida Avenue, NW. An earlier wooden baseball park had been built on the same site in 1891...
in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
on December 8, 1940. The Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
defeated the Washington Redskins
Washington Redskins
The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...
, 73-0, the most one-sided victory in NFL history. This was the first NFL title game that was broadcast nationwide on radio by Mutual Broadcasting System
Mutual Broadcasting System
The Mutual Broadcasting System was an American radio network, in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the golden age of U.S. radio drama, MBS was best known as the original network home of The Lone Ranger and The Adventures of Superman and as the long-time radio residence of The Shadow...
.
Washington had defeated Chicago 7-3 in a regular season game three weeks earlier. After the contest, Redskins owner George Preston Marshall
George Preston Marshall
George Preston Marshall was the owner and president of the Washington Redskins of the National Football League from 1932 until his death in 1969.-Contributions:...
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
George Halas
George Stanley Halas, Sr. , nicknamed "Papa Bear" and "Mr. Everything", was a player, coach, owner and pioneer in professional American football. He was the iconic longtime leader of the NFL's Chicago Bears...
fired up his team by showing them newspaper articles of Marshall's comments.
Before the game, Halas' friend Clark Shaughnessy
Clark Shaughnessy
Clark Daniel Shaughnessy was an American football coach and innovator. He is sometimes called the "father of the T formation", although that system had previously been used as early as the 1880s. Shaughnessy did, however, modernize the obsolescent T formation to make it once again relevant in the...
, who was concurrently coaching the undefeated Stanford Indians
1940 Stanford Indians football team
The 1940 Stanford Indians football team, nicknamed the "Wow Boys", represented Stanford University in National Collegiate Athletic Association intercollegiate competition during the 1940 season. First-year head coach Clark Shaughnessy inherited a team that finished with a 1–7–1 record the previous...
, helped the Bears gameplan. Shaughnessy devised several counters for linebacker shifts that he had noted the Redskins use.
The Bears controlled the game right from the start, using the T formation
T formation
In American football, a T formation is a formation used by the offensive team in which three running backs line up in a row about five yards behind the quarterback, forming the shape of a "T"....
as their primary offensive strategy. On their second play from scrimmage
Play from scrimmage
A play from scrimmage is the activity of the games of Canadian football and American football during which one team tries to advance the ball or to score, and the other team tries to stop them or take the ball away. Once a play is over, and before the next play starts, the football is considered...
, running back
Running back
A running back is a gridiron football position, who is typically lined up in the offensive backfield. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback for a rushing play, to catch passes from out of the backfield, and to block.There are usually one or two running...
Bill Osmanski
Bill Osmanski
Bill Osmanski was a college and professional football player, playing fullback. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1973.-College of the Holy Cross:...
ran 68 yards for a touchdown. Washington then marched to the Chicago 26-yard line on their ensuing drive, but wide receiver
Wide receiver
A wide receiver is an offensive position in American and Canadian football, and is the key player in most of the passing plays. Only players in the backfield or the ends on the line are eligible to catch a forward pass. The two players who begin play at the ends of the offensive line are eligible...
Charlie Malone dropped a sure touchdown pass in the end zone that would have tied the game.
Later in the first quarter, Bears Quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...
Sid Luckman
Sid Luckman
Sidney Luckman, known as Sid Luckman, was an American football quarterback for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League from 1939 to 1950...
scored on a 1-yard touchdown run to increase the lead 14-0. On their third drive, Joe Maniaci
Joe Maniaci
Joseph V. Maniaci was an American football player and coach in the United States. He played college football at Fordham University and then in the National Football League with the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Chicago Bears...
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
Dick Plasman
Dick Plasman is a former professional American football player who played running back for eight seasons for the Chicago Bears and Chicago Cardinals. He is notably the last player in the NFL to play a game without a helmet. He did so in the 1940 NFL Championship game....
) played without a helmet.¹
Redskins quarterback Sammy Baugh
Sammy Baugh
Samuel Adrian "Slingin' Sammy" Baugh was an American football player and coach. He played college football for the Horned Frogs at Texas Christian University, where he was a two-time All-American. He then played in the National Football League for the Washington Redskins from 1937 to 1952...
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."
Scoring summary
- CHI TD - Osmanski 68 yard run (MandersJack MandersJack "Automatic Jack" Manders was a National Football League running back for the Chicago Bears from 1933 through 1940. He is the older brother of Clarence Manders....
kick) CHI 7-0 - CHI TD - Luckman 1 yard run (SnyderBob SnyderBob Snyder was a football player and coach who spent more than three decades in the sport, including his most prominent position as head coach of the National Football League's Los Angeles Rams.-College career:...
kick) CHI 14-0 - CHI TD - Maniaci 42 yard run (Martinovich kick) CHI 21-0
- CHI TD - KavanaughKen KavanaughKen Kavanaugh was an American football player, coach and scout. He played college football at LSU, where he was named Most Valuable Player of the Southeastern Conference in 1939. He was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1963.After college, Kavanaugh played in the National Football...
30 yard pass from Luckman (Snyder kick) CHI 28-0 - CHI TD - PoolHampton PoolHampton Pool, High Street, Hampton, London is a heated open air pool or lido which unusually is open 365 days of the year .- Description :The pool is 36 x 14 meters. There is a diving board and two slides...
15 yard interception return (Plasman kick) CHI 35-0 - CHI TD - NoltingRay NoltingRaymond A. Nolting was an American football running back for the Chicago Bears, as well as a college football coach. He played college football at Cincinnati, before spending 6 seasons with the Bears. He rushed for over 2,000 yards, and had over 500 receiving yards before retiring in 1943...
23 yard run (kick failed) CHI 41-0 - CHI TD - McAfeeGeorge McAfeeGeorge Anderson McAfee was a former American football player. McAfee is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He played college football at Duke University. He is a former running back who played for the Chicago Bears...
35 yard interception return (StydaharJoe StydaharJoseph "Jumbo Joe" Lee Stydahar was an American football offensive tackle for the Chicago Bears from 1936 to 1942 and 1945 to 1946 and is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was born and raised about east of Pittsburgh in the small mining community of Kaylor, Pennsylvania in Armstrong...
kick) CHI 48-0 - CHI TD - TurnerBulldog TurnerClyde Douglas Turner was a professional football player for the Chicago Bears.-NFL playing career:...
20 yard interception return (kick failed) CHI 54-0 - CHI TD - Clarke 44 yard run (kick failed) CHI 60-0
- CHI TD - FamigliettiGary FamigliettiGary Famiglietti was a professional American football player who played running back for nine seasons for the Chicago Bears and Boston Yanks. He was born in Medford, Massachusetts and attended college at Boston University. He was drafted in the 3rd round of the 1938 NFL Draft.Famiglietti's most...
2 yard run (Maniaci pass from Sherman) CHI 67-0 - CHI TD - Clarke 1 yard run (pass failed) CHI 73-0
Statistical comparison
| Chicago Bears | Washington Redskins | |
|---|---|---|
| First downs | 17 | 17 |
| First downs rushing | 13 | 4 |
| First downs passing | 3 | 10 |
| First downs penalty | 1 | 3 |
| Total yards | 501 | 245 |
| Passing yards | 119 | 223 |
| Passing – Completions-attempts | 7-10 | 20-51 |
| Passing – Yards per attempt | 11.9 | 4.4 |
| Interceptions-return yards | 8-117 | 0-0 |
| Rushing yards | 382 | 22 |
| Rushing attempts | 57 | 14 |
| Yards per rush | 6.7 | 1.6 |
| Penalties-yards | 3-25 | 8-70 |
| Fumbles-lost | 2-1 | 4-1 |
| Punts-Average | 2-46.0 | 3-41.3 |
Individual leaders
*Completions/AttemptsaCarries
bLong play
cReceptions