World War 2 impacted the world in so many ways. It also had a huge impact on the NFL. Due to the war, many players left America and football to fight in the war. This caused many player shortages for teams. For example the Cleveland Rams (Now the Los Angeles Rams) suspended operations in 1943. Also interesting is the Eagles and Steelers merged teams because of player shortages. They were dubbed the Steagles and after 1943 those respective teams returned operations to Pittsburgh and Philadelphia. The Steagles in the record books were officially called Phil-Pitt Combine. Surprisingly this is the first winning season for the Philadelphia Eagles if you want to count it because it technically wasn't just the Eagles players and staff. The next year in 1944 Pittsburgh still had a shortage of players so they decided to merge with the Chicago Cardinals, otherwise known as Card-Pitt. This merger didn't end up as well as the 5-4-1 Steagles, Card-Pitt went 0-10. By 1945 the war ended and all NFL teams resumed normal operations.
These teams will always be remembered in football lure, during a time of pain and suffering. In 2003, the Steagles were recognized by the Steelers for the 60th Anniversary of the team. Also interesting is in Week 2 of 1943, the Steagles fumbled the ball 10 times and defeated the Giants and NFL Record which has been matched three times. In all, it was an interesting time in the NFL that might never happen again.
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