The 1948 NFL season was the 29th regular season

Regular season (NFL)

The National Football League regular season begins the weekend after Labor Day. Each team plays 16 games during a 17-week period. Traditionally, the majority of each week's games are played on Sunday afternoon, with weekly games on Sunday night and Monday night, and occasional games on Thursday...

 of the 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...

. During the season, Halfback Fred Gehrke

Fred Gehrke

Fred Gehrke was a National Football League running back for the Cleveland-Los Angeles Rams, San Francisco 49ers and Chicago Cardinals. from 1940 through 1950. He is best remembered for designing the Los Angeles Rams logo in 1948, which was the first painted on the helmets of an NFL team...

 painted horns on the Los Angeles Rams

St. Louis Rams

The St. Louis Rams are a professional American football team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are currently members of the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Rams have won three NFL Championships .The Rams began playing in 1936 in Cleveland,...

' helmets, making the first modern helmet emblem in pro football. The season ended when the Philadelphia Eagles

Philadelphia Eagles

The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

 defeated the Chicago Cardinals

Arizona Cardinals

The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in Glendale, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

 in the NFL Championship Game.

Major rule changes

• Plastic helmets are prohibited. This rule was enacted because critics argued that they were being used more as a weapon than protection.
• A flexible artificial tee is permitted at the kickoff.
• When the intended passer is tackled behind the line of scrimmage, the game clock will stop temporarily until any receivers who have gone down field have had a reasonable time to return.
• When the offense is called for delay of game, the defense may decline the 5-yard distance penalty.
• If a foul occurs behind the line during a backwards pass or fumble, the penalty is enforced from the spot of the pass or fumble.
• It is illegal to bat or punch the ball while it is in a player's possession.
• All officials are equipped with whistles, not horns.

Division Races

In the Eastern race, the Eagles beat Washington 45–0 in Week Five to take a 1/2 game lead. When the 6–1–1 Eagles met the 6–2 Skins again in Week Ten, Washington lost a must-win game, 42–21.

The other race was all Chicago, as the Cardinals and Bears both had records of 10–1 going into the final week. A record crowd of 51,283 packed Wrigley Field on December 12 to watch. The Bears took a 21–10 lead, on George Gulyanic's as the fourth quarter began. Charley Trippi

Charley Trippi

Charles Louis Trippi is a former professional American football player for the Chicago Cardinals. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1968.Mr. Trippi currently resides in Athens, Georgia...

's touchdown cut the margin to 21–17, but the Bears had the ball and time on their side. The turning point came when the Cards' Vince Banonis

Vince Banonis

Vincent Joseph Banonis was an American football center and defensive tackle in the National Football League. He played for the Chicago Cardinals from 1942–1950 and the Detroit Lions from 1951–1953. He attended the University of Detroit. Banonis was elected into the College Football Hall of Fame in...

 picked off a pass from Johnny Lujack

Johnny Lujack

John Christopher Lujack Jr. is a former American football quarterback and 1947 Heisman Trophy winner.Lujack was born on January 4, 1925, in Connellsville, Pennsylvania. He played college football for the University of Notre Dame, and professionally for the Chicago Bears. Lujack was the first of...

, and ran the ball back to the Bears' 19, and Elmer Angsman scored the winning touchdown three plays later for the Western Division title and the trip to the championship.

Final standings

W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PCT= Winning Percentage, PF= Points For, PA = Points Against

Note: The NFL did not officially count tie games in the standings until 1972

NFL Championship Game

Philadelphia 7, Chi. Cardinals 0 in a blizzard

Blizzard

A blizzard is a severe snowstorm characterized by strong winds. By definition, the difference between blizzard and a snowstorm is the strength of the wind. To be a blizzard, a snow storm must have winds in excess of with blowing or drifting snow which reduces visibility to 400 meters or ¼ mile or...

 at Shibe Park

Connie Mack Stadium

Shibe Park, known later as Connie Mack Stadium, was a major league baseball park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. When it opened April 12, 1909, it became baseball's first steel-and-concrete stadium. In different eras it was home to "The $100,000 Infield", "The Whiz Kids" and "The 1964 Phold"...

, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

, December 19, 1948