1943 NFL Championship Game

1943 NFL Championship Game

Washington Redskins Chicago Bears 21 41
1 2 3 4 Total Washington Redskins 0 7 7 7 21 Chicago Bears 0 14 13 14 41
Date	December 26, 1943
Stadium	Wrigley Field, Chicago, Illinois
Referee	Ronald Gibbs
Attendance	34,320
Radio in the United States
Network	Mutual
Announcers	Harry Wismer

Wrigley Field

Location in the United States

The 1943 NFL Championship Game was the 11th annual title game of the National Football League (NFL), held at Wrigley Field in Chicago on December 26 with an attendance of 34,320.

In a rematch of the previous year's game, the Western Division champion Chicago Bears (8–1–1) met the Eastern Division champion Washington Redskins (6–3–1). The previous week, the Redskins had defeated the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds in a playoff game by a score of 28–0 to determine the champs of the east, after the teams ended the regular season with identical records. The Redskins had dropped their final three regular season games, including two to the Giants. Even though the Giants had swept the season series with Washington, the rules of the time called for a tiebreaker game.

The divisional playoff game pushed the championship game back to its latest ever date, and the late-December Chicago weather caused the game to be dubbed the "Ice Bowl." The Bears were favored by a touchdown.

The crowd was smaller than the previous year's and well off the championship game record of 48,120 set in 1938, but the gross gate receipts of $120,500 set a record. In addition to the gate, radio broadcast rights to the game were sold for $5,000.

The Bears were led by quarterback Sid Luckman while Sammy Baugh was the quarterback for the Redskins. The Redskins were coached by Dutch Bergman.

The Chicago win marked the franchise's third championship in four seasons, their fourth since the institution of the championship game in 1933 and their sixth since the NFL was formed in 1921.

Rosters

Starters

Starting lineups

Bears	Position	Redskins
Jim Benton	Left end	Bob Masterson
Dom Sigillo	Left tackle	Lou Rymkus
Dan Fortmann	Left guard	Clyde Shugart
Bulldog Turner	Center	George Smith
George Musso	Right guard	Steve Slivinski
Al Hoptowit	Right tackle	Joe Pasqua
George Wilson	Right end	Joe Aguirre
Sid Luckman	Quarterback	Ray Hare
Harry Clarke	Left halfback	George Cafego
Dante Magnani	Right halfback	Frank Seno
Bob Masters	Fullback	Andy Farkas

Substitutions

Bears substitutions: Pool, Berry, Steinkemper, Babartsky, Mundee, Ippolito, Logan, Matuza, McLean, Luckman, Famighetti, Nagurski, McEnulty, Nolting and Vodicka.

Redskins substitutions: Piasecky, Lapka, Wilkin, Zeno, Fiorentino, Leon, Hayden, Baugh, Seymour, Moore, Gibson, Akins and Stasica.

Scoring summary

Sunday, December 26, 1943
Kickoff: 2 p.m. CWT (CDT)

• First quarter
  • no scoring
• Second quarter
  • WAS – Farkas 1 yard run (Masterson kick), 7–0 WAS
  • CHI   – Clarke 31 yard pass from Luckman (Snyder kick), 7–7 tie
  • CHI   – Nagurski 3 yard run (Snyder kick), 14–7 CHI
• Third quarter
  • CHI   – Magnani 36 yard pass from Luckman (Snyder kick), 21–7 CHI
  • CHI   – Magnani 66 yard pass from Luckman (kick failed), 27–7 CHI
  • WAS – Farkas 17 yard pass from Baugh (Masterson kick), 27–14 CHI
• Fourth quarter
  • CHI   – Benton 26 yard pass from Luckman (Snyder kick), 34–14 CHI
  • CHI   – Clarke 10 yard pass from Luckman (Snyder kick), 41–14 CHI
  • WAS – Aguirre 25 yard pass from Baugh (Aguirre kick), 41–21 CHI

Game statistics

Bears	Game Statistics	Redskins
12	First downs	11
44–168	Rushes–yards	27–45
276	Passing yards	182
14–27–0	Passes	10–22–4
66	Punt return yards	37
5–32	Punts	5–48.4
21	Kickoff return yards	167
0–0	Fumbles–lost	1–0
9–81	Penalties–yards	2–20

Players' shares

Each player on the Bears took home $1,135 while each member of the Redskins got $754.