NFL Championship Game 1933

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 1933 NFL Championship Game was the first edition of the National Football League final . On December 17, 1933 , the Chicago Bears , champions of the Western Division, defeated the New York Giants , the champions of the Eastern Division, at Wrigley Field in Chicago in front of 26,000 spectators 23-21.

prehistory

In the early days of the NFL there were no playoffs, since the beginning of the league in 1920 the team with the best win / loss ratio had been champions. This method resulted e.g. B. 1932 led to strange results, since Chicago Bears won the championship with only seven wins (plus one defeat, i.e. win rate of .875, plus six draws), although the Green Bay Packers won ten wins (but also three losses, i.e. win rate of .875) . 769, plus a draw). In order to counteract these questionable results, and in order to offer the spectators something in the Great Depression at that time, it was decided to play an NFL final game ("NFL Championship Game").

For this purpose, the NFL teams were divided into Eastern and Western divisions, so that the first two of the table played the newly created NFL final game, the forward pass was made easier (the rule that the thrower must stand at least five yards behind the line of scrimmage was abolished ) , and if the football went out, the ball-bearing team was allowed to start the next down 10 yards from the sideline instead of directly at the sideline. This should make the game more dynamic and attractive.

The first league champions of the Western Conference were the Chicago Bears around the running backs Bronko Nagurski , Red Grange and Jack Manders , who won ten games, scored a draw and lost twice. The winners of the Eastern Conference were the New York Giants around the running back trio Harry Newman , Ken Strong and Bo Molenda (11 wins, three losses). Without the final game, the Bears (win rate .833) would have become NFL champions ahead of the Giants (.786).

game

After two quick field goals from running back / kicker Jack Manders, the Bears took the lead 6-0. The Giants countered with the first touchdown in NFL playoff history when Harry Newman caught a 28-yard throw from quarterback Red Badgro in the end zone: after Ken Strong scored the extra point, New York led 7-6. After another field goal from Manders, Chicago went into halftime with a narrow 9-7 lead.

After the break, Giants running back Max Krause scored the second touchdown for New York after a 61-yard run, and after another good extra point from Strong, the Giants led 14-9. The Bears regained the lead when Bronko Nagurski threw an 8-yard touchdown throw to end Billy Karr : after a successful extra point from Manders, the score was 16-14 for Chicago. In the fourth quarter, New York countered with a third touchdown, when Harry Newman threw Ken Strong into the end zone from eight yards, so that after Manders' good extra point, the Giants led 21-16. Chicago won the final when Nagurski faked a run but threw to end Bill Hewitt , who in turn threw a legal lateral pass to the other end Billy Karr, who ran into the end zone: Manders' extra point marked the final score of 23-21 for Chicago.

The victorious Bears not only won the first NFL Championship game, but also the then large sum of 210 US dollars per capita. The Giants got $ 140 per player.

consequences

After the game, the league and fans agreed that they had seen a worthy final game. An NFL Championship Game , the forerunner of today's Super Bowl , was played continuously until 1966 .

Web links