NFL 1944

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1944 NFL season
Regular season
season September 17 - December 17, 1944
East Champions New York Giants
West Champions Green Bay Packers
Championship game
NFL Champion Green Bay Packers
NFL season
 <1943 1945> 

The 1944 NFL season was the 25th regular season of the National Football League held in the United States . The Boston Yanks joined the league as a newly formed team . The Brooklyn Dodgers also changed their name to Brooklyn Tigers . The Cleveland Rams and Philadelphia Eagles also returned to normal game play, while the Pittsburgh Steelers formed a team with the Chicago Cardinals for this season due to the player shortage caused by World War II. The joint team, which came to be known as Card-Pitt , played three games in Pittsburgh and two in Chicago, breaking the record for the lowest punting average of an NFL team at 32.7 yards per punt.

Since 1935, when teams without a win were more common, there have been two teams without wins in the season (Brooklyn and Card-Pitt with 0-10).

Since 1944 only five teams have had a winless season in the NFL: 1960 the Dallas Cowboys (0-11-1), 1976 the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-14), 1982 the Baltimore Colts (0-8-1), 2008 the Detroit Lions (0-16) and 2017 Cleveland Browns (0-16). The Colts season was shortened due to a league-wide player strike, while the Cowboys and Buccaneers were both new teams .

The season ended with the NFL Championship game in which the Green Bay Packers defeated the New York Giants .

Important rule changes

  • The free change rule has been adapted so that the substitution does not have to be registered with the officials before the move.
  • Communication between players and coaches on the field is permitted as long as this takes place in the marked zone on the edge of the field and this does not lead to a game delay.
  • If the offensive team receives a penalty for obstructing the pass in the opposing end zone, it is only a distance penalty and no longer an automatic touchback.

NFL draft

The 1944 NFL Draft was held on April 19 at Philadelphia 's Warwick Hotel. With the first pick , the Boston Yanks chose quarterback Angelo Bertelli of the University of Notre Dame .

Division phase

Each team played ten games over thirteen weeks. The Brooklyn Tigers lost seven of their games by touchdown (6 points) or less. On October 29, they had a 14-7 lead over Boston at halftime, but they lost the game of the week seven at 17:14. In the same week Card-Pitt lost their chance of the playoffs with the 42:20 loss to Washington. Card-Pitt even had a 28:23 lead against the Rams in their first game, which was played on September 24th in Pittsburgh, but lost at 28:30. Against the Packers, they were able to take a 7-0 lead at home before they lost the game 20:35.

In the Western Division there was no more competition for the Packers after their sixth victory. In the Eastern Division, Washington (5–0–1) and Philadelphia (4–0–2) were unbeaten after nine weeks. The teams met in Week 10 (November 26) in Washington and the Eagles won 37-7 and had 5-0-2 with the Redskins and Giants 5-1-1 with half a game behind. The Eagles lost in week eleven while the Giants and Redskins won and New York and Washington took the lead 6-1-1. In week twelve, 47,457 spectators cavorted at the New York's Polo Grounds to see the Giants and the Redskins. Washington was in the lead at 13:10 before losing at 16:13. In week thirteen the Eagles beat the Rams 26:13 and had a 7-1-2 final score to see how the 7-1-1 standing Giants did in the second leg in Washington. The Giants defeated the Redskins 31-0 and secured the division and home game rights for the championship.

Final results

Eastern Division
team S. N U SQ P + P-
New York Giants 8th 1 1 .889 206 75
Philadelphia Eagles 7th 1 2 .875 267 131
Washington Redskins 6th 3 1 .667 169 180
Boston Yanks 2 8th 0 .200 82 233
Brooklyn Tigers 0 10 0 .000 69 166
Western Division
team S. N U SQ P + P-
Green Bay Packers 8th 2 0 .800 238 141
Chicago Bears 6th 3 1 .667 258 172
Detroit Lions 6th 3 1 .667 216 151
Cleveland Rams 4th 6th 0 .400 188 224
Card Pitt 0 10 0 .000 108 328

Note: Until 1972, the NFL officially had no draws at the bottom of the table.

Legend:

S iege N iederlagen U nentschieden SQ games won (relative)
P + points made P- opposing points Championship participant

NFL Championship Game

The NFL Championship game took place on December 17, 1944 at the Polo Grounds , New York City .

1 2 3 4th total
New York Giants 0 0 0 7th 7th
Green Bay Packers 0 14th 0 0 14th

Awards

Joe F. Carr Trophy (Most Valuable Player) Frank Sinkwich , Halfback , Detroit

Season best

statistics Surname team value
fit yards Irv Comp Green Bay 1,159
yards run Bill Paschal new York 737
trapped yards Don Hutson Green Bay 866

Head coach

Eastern Division

Western Division

literature

Individual evidence

  1. Dennis Purdy: Kiss Em Goodbye: An ESPN Treasury of failed, forgotten, and departed teams . Ballantine Books, New York 2010, ISBN 978-0-345-52012-8 , pp. 69 .