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| 1932 NFL Championship (On Top) Super Bowl 37 (On Bottom) |
The 1932 NFL Championship Game was an extra game held to break a tie in the 1932 season's final standings in the National Football League. It matched the host Chicago Bears and the Portsmouth Spartans, the first NFL playoff game. With the snowfall and anticipated extremely cold temperatures that weekend in Chicago, Illinois, the game was moved indoors.
Since the NFL's first season in 1920, every league title had been awarded to the team with the best regular season record, based on winning percentage, with ties omitted. Four of the first six championships were disputed, but only once (1921) did two teams ever finish tied atop the standings. In that year, the two teams disputing the title had played each other, splitting a two-game series, but league officials used a tiebreaker to controversially give the Bears (then known as the Staleys) the title over the Buffalo All-Americans.
The game was set to be played at Wrigley Field, the Bears' home stadium. Because of severe blizzards followed by extremely cold temperatures and wind chill, the game was moved indoors to Chicago Stadium. With the limited dimensions of the indoor arena, special rules were adopted for the game. The tanbark-covered field itself was only 80 yards long (60 yards between the goal lines) and 45 yards wide, 10 yards narrower than the regulation width at the time. The sidelines were butted up against the stands. The goal posts were moved from the endlines to the goal lines. The ball was automatically moved back 20 yards every time one team crossed the 10-yard line. For the first time, all plays started with the ball on or between the hash marks, which were ten yards from the sidelines. Additionally, drop kicks and field goals were banned. Interesting enough about the game is the story about the programs for the big game. Down below is a link about the story in a Pawn Stars episode on the History channel. The episode contains the story and also the Pawn Stars potentially buying the game program. I also will have another video talking about the rare game program.
Well the Bears proceeded to shutout the Spartans 9-0. Portsmouth was playing without their star player Earl “Dutch” Clark (now in the NFL HOF) who had already left the club and resumed his offseason job as the basketball coach at Colorado College.The only touchdown of the game was a disputed pass play from Bronko Nagurski to Red Grange (Both NFL HOFers. Rules at the time stipulated that a forward pass had to be thrown from at least five yards behind the line of scrimmage (the rule was changed after the 1932 season). The Spartans contested that Nagurski did not drop back five yards before firing the jump pass to Grange. The play stood and the Bears later added a safety to put the final touches on their victory. The game, witnessed by 11,198 fans, included a number of modifications to the playing rules to accommodate the cramped playing surface. As a result, the game became an earmark for a new era in pro football. Also interesting was the game was played indoors where a circus was the week before so it smelled dreadful during the game.
Since the NFL's first season in 1920, every league title had been awarded to the team with the best regular season record, based on winning percentage, with ties omitted. Four of the first six championships were disputed, but only once (1921) did two teams ever finish tied atop the standings. In that year, the two teams disputing the title had played each other, splitting a two-game series, but league officials used a tiebreaker to controversially give the Bears (then known as the Staleys) the title over the Buffalo All-Americans.
In 1932, the Spartans (now the Detroit Lions) and the Bears tied for first place (6–1); under the rules at the time, standings were based on winning percentage, with ties excluded from the calculation. Therefore, the Spartans and Bears each finished the regular season with identical .857 winning percentages, ahead of the defending champion Green Bay Packers' .769 (10 wins, 3 losses) winning percentage. Had pure win-loss differential or the post-1972 method of calculating winning percentage (counting ties as half-a-win, half-a-loss) been used at that time, the Packers' record 10–3–1 would have won them a fourth consecutive championship, ahead of the Spartans' 6–1–4 and Bears' 6–1–6.The Packers controlled their own destiny at the end of the 1932 season, but lost their final two games, to the Spartans and Bears.
Further complicating the matters, the Spartans and Bears had tied each other twice during the regular season, rendering the league's only tiebreaker useless. So, for the first time, the league arranged for what amounted to a replay game to determine the NFL champion. Because the game counted in the final standings, the loser would drop to 6–2 (.750) and finish third, behind runner-up Green Bay; further, the league had to make a rule change to allow the game, since they had banned the practice in 1924.
The game was set to be played at Wrigley Field, the Bears' home stadium. Because of severe blizzards followed by extremely cold temperatures and wind chill, the game was moved indoors to Chicago Stadium. With the limited dimensions of the indoor arena, special rules were adopted for the game. The tanbark-covered field itself was only 80 yards long (60 yards between the goal lines) and 45 yards wide, 10 yards narrower than the regulation width at the time. The sidelines were butted up against the stands. The goal posts were moved from the endlines to the goal lines. The ball was automatically moved back 20 yards every time one team crossed the 10-yard line. For the first time, all plays started with the ball on or between the hash marks, which were ten yards from the sidelines. Additionally, drop kicks and field goals were banned. Interesting enough about the game is the story about the programs for the big game. Down below is a link about the story in a Pawn Stars episode on the History channel. The episode contains the story and also the Pawn Stars potentially buying the game program. I also will have another video talking about the rare game program.Well the Bears proceeded to shutout the Spartans 9-0. Portsmouth was playing without their star player Earl “Dutch” Clark (now in the NFL HOF) who had already left the club and resumed his offseason job as the basketball coach at Colorado College.The only touchdown of the game was a disputed pass play from Bronko Nagurski to Red Grange (Both NFL HOFers. Rules at the time stipulated that a forward pass had to be thrown from at least five yards behind the line of scrimmage (the rule was changed after the 1932 season). The Spartans contested that Nagurski did not drop back five yards before firing the jump pass to Grange. The play stood and the Bears later added a safety to put the final touches on their victory. The game, witnessed by 11,198 fans, included a number of modifications to the playing rules to accommodate the cramped playing surface. As a result, the game became an earmark for a new era in pro football. Also interesting was the game was played indoors where a circus was the week before so it smelled dreadful during the game.
Several rule changes were instituted the following season, most likely to make the game more exciting. In 1933, the rule regarding the use of inbound lines or hashmarks was re-written to require that the ball be spotted on the hashmarks on every play. Another rule change that season was the movement of the goal posts from the end line to the goal line. On Feb. 25, 1933, the NFL discontinued the use of the Collegiate Rules Book and began to develop its own rules. The most significant change was that the forward pass became legal anywhere behind the scrimmage line. On July 8, 1933, the NFL was divided into two divisions for the first time and the winners of each division were to play a championship game to determine the league champion. It was and still is a historic game in NFL History.
Other links related to the 1932 NFL Championship:
NFL Films' video on the 1932 Championship
The Pawn Stars prepare to buy an original program from the very first NFL championship when it rushes into the shop. A 1932 game between the Chicago Bears and the Portsmouth Spartans.
Video contains information about the rare championship game program.
I believe my grandfather is on the program. Cool piece.
ReplyDeleteSorry for not responding. I did these blogs for college and have some interest coming back and doing some more. You were my only comment and I guess I was wondering if I could know your grandfather name to look him up. Was he a player because I would like to look on profootballreference to see his stats, position, and other information? If you do not want to share that is fine I would I understand just think that is pretty cool that your grandfather had some part in the game.
Delete*grandfather's name
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