1948 NFL Championship Game
|
|
1
| 2
| 3
| 4
|
Total
|
CHI
|
0
| 0
| 0
| 0
|
0
|
PHI
|
0
| 0
| 0
| 7
|
7
|
|
Date
| December 19, 1948
|
---|
Stadium
| Shibe Park
,
Philadelphia
,
Pennsylvania
|
---|
Favorite
| Chicago by 3½ points
[1]
[2]
|
---|
Referee
| Ronald Gibbs
|
---|
Attendance
| 36,309 (paid); 28,864 (actual)
|
---|
|
Cardinals:
Jimmy Conzelman
(coach),
Charley Trippi
Eagles:
Greasy Neale
(coach),
Pete Pihos
,
Steve Van Buren
,
Alex Wojciechowicz
|
|
Network
| ABC
|
---|
Announcers
| Harry Wismer
,
Red Grange
|
---|
|
The
1948 NFL Championship Game
was the 16th
title game
of the
National Football League
(NFL), played at
Shibe Park
in
Philadelphia
on December 19.
[3]
[4]
[5]
[6]
The game was a rematch of the
previous year's title game
between the defending champion, the
Chicago Cardinals
(11?1), champions of the Western Division, and the
Philadelphia Eagles
(9?2?1), champions of the Eastern Division. The Cardinals were slight favorites, at 3½ points despite losing quarterback
Paul Christman
with a fractured wrist injury.
[7]
[1]
[2]
It was the first NFL championship game to be televised. Due to heavy
snowfall
, the grounds crew needed the help of players from both teams to remove the tarp from the field.
[8]
[9]
The opening kickoff was delayed a half-hour until 2 p.m., and three extra officials were called into service to assist with out-of-bounds calls.
[8]
The stadium lights were also turned on for the entire game.
[4]
The Eagles won their first NFL Championship, defeating the Cardinals 7?0 with a final quarter touchdown. It was also the first championship for Philadelphia since
1926
, when the
Frankford Yellow Jackets
won the league championship on standings,
[10]
(the
Championship Game
was introduced in
1933
).
Game summary
[
edit
]
The game (also known as the
Philly Blizzard
) was played in Philadelphia during a significant snowstorm.
Bert Bell
, the NFL commissioner (and former Eagles owner), had considered postponing the game, but the players for both teams wanted to play the game. The snow began at daybreak and by kickoff the accumulation was 4 inches (10 cm) at a temperature of 27 °F (?3 °C). The paid attendance for the game was 36,309, but the actual turnout at Shibe Park was 28,864.
[8]
[11]
It was a scoreless game until early in the fourth quarter when, after Chicago had fumbled in their own end of the field, the Eagles recovered the fumble that set up
Steve Van Buren
's five yard touchdown at 1:05 into the fourth quarter.
[4]
[11]
The game ended with the Eagles deep in Chicago territory. Eagles head coach
Greasy Neale
gave a majority of the credit for the win to veteran quarterback
Tommy Thompson
.
[2]
[12]
With only five pass completions on 23 attempts for both teams, the game was completed in two hours and two minutes.
[4]
Scoring summary
[
edit
]
Sunday, December 19, 1948
Kickoff: 2 p.m.
EST
[8]
- First quarter
- Second quarter
- Third quarter
- Fourth quarter
Statistics
[
edit
]
Source:
[13]
Statistics
|
Philadelphia
|
Chicago
|
First downs
|
16
|
5
|
Rushing yards
|
225
|
100
|
Passing yards
|
7
|
38
|
Passing (C?A?I)
|
2?12?2
|
3?11?1
|
Punts?yards
|
5-183
|
8-298
|
Fumbles?lost
|
1-1
|
3-2
|
Penalties?yards
|
3-17
|
4-33
|
Officials
[
edit
]
The NFL added the fifth
official
, the back judge, in
1947
; the line judge arrived in
1965
, and the side judge in
1978
.
Players' shares
[
edit
]
The gross receipts for the game, including radio and television rights, were just under $224,000 ($2.84 million in 2023). Each player on the winning Eagles team received $1,540 ($19,529 in 2023), while each Cardinals player made $879 ($11,147 in 2023).
[14]
[15]
Aftermath
[
edit
]
Eagles' owner
Lex Thompson
was in the hospital for
appendicitis
during the game.
[16]
He sold the team a few weeks after this game to the
Happy Hundred
syndicate for $250,000,
[17]
[18]
and died six years later of a heart attack at the age of 43.
[19]
The Eagles repeated as champions in
1949
, winning in mud and heavy rain in
Los Angeles
. This 1948 game was the only time Shibe Park hosted an NFL Championship Game, as
Franklin Field
was the site for the Eagles' third Championship win in
1960
, and they won their fourth NFL title in
Super Bowl LII
at
Minneapolis
in February
2018
.
This game was the Cardinals' last appearance in any NFL Championship Game until
Super Bowl XLIII
in February 2009: the
Cardinals
had to beat the
Eagles
in the
2008
NFC Championship Game
to reach the Super Bowl.
This game was the lowest scoring of any NFL Championship Game, the only one with only one score, and the only one to be won with a single-digit score. It remains the second-lowest scoring postseason game in NFL history, eclipsed only by the
Dallas Cowboys
' 5?0 win over the
Detroit Lions
in
1970
.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
"Cards given slight edge over Eagles"
.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
. Associated Press. December 18, 1948. p. 12.
- ^
a
b
c
"Cards favored over Eagles for grid crown"
.
Reading Eagle
. Pennsylvania. INS. December 19, 1948. p. 41.
- ^
a
b
Smith, Wilfrid (December 19, 1948).
"Cards seek their second from Eagles"
.
Chicago Sunday Tribune
. p. 1, part 2.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Smith, Wilfrid (December 20, 1948).
"Browns win, 49-7; Eagles jar cards, 7-0"
.
Chicago Daily Tribune
. p. 43.
- ^
Kuechle, Oliver E. (December 20, 1948).
"Eagles beat Cardinals for title in snowstorm"
.
Milwaukee Journal
. p. 6, part 2.
- ^
"Eagles plow over Cardinals, 7-0, for National loop title"
.
Milwaukee Sentinel
. Associated Press. December 20, 1948. p. 3, part 2.
- ^
"1948 NFL Championship Game"
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Biederman, Lester J. (December 20, 1948).
"Eagles up, Cards down; score 7-0"
.
Pittsburgh Press
. p. 22.
- ^
NFL Top 10 ? bad weather games. Broadcast NFL Network 27/10/08
- ^
"Thompson hailed as hero of new NFL champs"
.
Reading Eagle
. Pennsylvania. Associated Press. December 20, 1948. p. 18.
- ^
a
b
Sell, Jack (December 20, 1948).
"Eagles beat Cardinals for title 7-0"
.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
. p. 18.
- ^
Fraley, Oscar (December 20, 1948).
"Gridders are numbed in snow-driven game"
.
Spokane Daily Chronicle
. Washington. United Press. p. 19.
- ^
"1948 NFL Championship"
(PDF)
.
Pro Football
.
- ^
"Each Eagle gets $1,540.84"
.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
. Associated Press. December 20, 1948. p. 18.
- ^
"The swag"
.
Milwaukee Journal
. Associated Press. December 20, 1948. p. 6, part 2.
- ^
"Bedridden owner of Eagles cheered by club's victory"
.
Milwaukee Journal
. Associated Press. December 20, 1948. p. 6, part 2.
- ^
"Syndicate buys Eagles for $250,000"
.
Chicago Sunday Tribune
. Associated Press. January 16, 1949. p. 1, part 2.
- ^
"Eagles sold to syndicate led by Clark"
.
Tuscaloosa News
. Associated Press. January 16, 1949. p. 6.
- ^
"Thompson, 43, ex-owner of Eagles, dies"
.
Chicago Daily Tribune
. December 21, 1954. p. 4, part 3.
39°59′46″N
75°09′54″W
/
39.996°N 75.165°W
/
39.996; -75.165
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NFL Championship
(1933?1969)
[1]
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AFL Championship
(1960?1969)
[1]
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|
AFL?NFL World
Championship Game
(1966?1969)
[1][2]
|
- 1966 (
I
)
- 1967 (
II
)
- 1968 (
III
)
- 1969 (
IV
)
|
---|
Super Bowl
(1970?present)
[1][3]
| |
---|
|
- 1 – Dates in the list denote the season, not necessarily the calendar year in which the championship game was played. For instance, Super Bowl LIV was played in 2020, but was the championship for the 2019 season.
- 2 – From 1966 to 1969, the first four Super Bowls were "World Championship" games played between two independent professional football leagues, AFL and NFL, and when the league
merged
in 1970 the Super Bowl became the NFL Championship Game.
- 3 –
Italics
indicate future games.
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