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Championship games
1925 - 1949 | 1950 - present
Led by Steve Owen, the Giants finished with an 11-1-1 record, then stunned Red Grange, John Driscoll and the Bears 13-7 at the Polo Grounds. “It was the toughest, roughest football game I ever played in,” Owen was later to say. With the score tied 7-7, the Bears drove to the Giants’ one-yard line, but Owen and Cal Hubbard spearheaded a goal line defense which held the Windy City crew. Hinkey Haines then faked a punt from his own end zone and completed a pass to Charlie Corgan for a 58-yard gain which set up the winning score and elation for Tim Mara.
*Victory clinched the NFL Championship; there was no Championship game played at that time. |
| Jack Manders opened the scoring for the Bears at Wrigley Field, before 26,000 with a 16-yard field goal in the first period to touch off 60 minutes of fireworks which kept fans standing on their chairs through most of the game. Manders kicked a 28-yard FG for a 6-0 lead in the second period before Harry Newman hit Red Badgro for a touchdown pass and a 7-6 Giant lead at the half. Manders’ third FG regained the lead for the Bears, but Max Krause’s TD and the conversion by Ken Strong put NY back in front 14-9. A pass from Bronko Nagurski to Bill Karr made it 16-14, Chicago, before Strong lateraled to Newman who then threw a TD pass back to Strong for a 21-16 Giant lead late in the game. The Bears bounced back to win, however, when Nagurski’s jump pass to Bill Hewitt was lateraled to Karr for the game-winning touchdown. |
| With the temperature at nine degrees and the Polo Grounds covered with a sheet of ice, this one became famous as the "sneakers" game when Steve Owen provided his squad with basketball shoes to open the second half with his club trailing 10-3. The Giants responded with four touchdowns which had a crowd of 35,059 roaring approval. The Bears had a string of 33 games without a defeat going into this one, but fell behind 3-0 on a 38-yard FG by Ken Strong. A TD by Nagurski and a field goal by Manders got the Bears in front 10-3 at the half, when Owen sent for the sneakers to take advantage of the slippery footing. Ahead 13-3 on another Manders' FG, the Bears were swamped in a fourth-period Giant uprising which saw Ed Danowski throw a 28-yard TD pass to Ike Frankian and Ken Strong race 42 yards for another TD just moments later for a 17-13 lead. Danowski and Strong raced for subsequent touchdowns against the stunned Bears to turn the game into a rout. |
| With a crowd of about 15,000 looking on, the Lions took a 13-0 lead in the first period when Leroy "Ace" Gutowsky plunged over from the 2-yard line and Earl "Dutch" Clark shook loose on a 40-yard touchdown romp. The Giants closed the gap at 13-7 in the third period when Danowski connected with Strong for a 42-yard touchdown pass, but the Lions' defense accounted for two more scores in the final period on a blocked punt and intercepted pass. Ernie Caddel scored the first on a 4-yard slant and Buddy Parker the second on a 9-yard run. |
| A slam-bang, bruising thriller was staged for the largest crowd (48,120 at the Polo Grounds) to see a championship game up to that time. With the victory, the Giants became the first team to win the championship twice since the divisional splitup. The Giants blocked two punts early in the game, and capitalized on both with Ward Cuff kicking a 13-yard FG and Tuffy Leemans blasting over on a 6-yard plunge. Arnie Herber’s 50-yard TD pass to Carl Mulleneaux got the Packers on the scoreboard, but Danowski hit Hap Barnard for a 20-yard TD pass and a 16-7 lead. The Packers closed to 16-14 at halftime on Clark Hinkle’s 6-yard TD, then took the lead 17-16 on Engebretsen’s third-period FG. New York then stormed back to the Packer 23 from where Danowski passed to Hank Soar for the game-winning TD. |
| The Packers came up with sweet revenge in a grudge match played before 32,279 at Milwaukee’s State Fair Grounds. Cold weather and a 35-MPH wind made aerial sorties a bit dubious, but Green Bay scored quickly on a 7-yard pitch from Herber to Milt Gantenbein. Engebretsen kicked a 29-yard FG in the third period for a 10-0 lead, and the Packers wrapped it up with touchdowns by Joe Laws on a 20-yard pass from Cecil Isbell, a one-yard plunge by Jankowski and Ernie Smith’s 42-yard field goal. |
| Attendance was only 13,341 at Wrigley Field, just two weeks after Pearl Harbor Day. The Giants led 6-3 in the first period on a Tuffy Leemans to George Franck touchdown pass of 31 yards, but the Bears scored on a pair of field goals, then broke the game wide open in the second half on touchdowns by Norm Standlee (2), George McAfee and Ken Kavanaugh. |
| The Packers took a 14-0 lead at halftime before 46,016 at the Polo Grounds on touchdowns by Ted Fritsch – the first on a 2-yard plunge and the second on a 26-yard pass from lrv Comp with Don Hutson adding the conversions. Ward Cuff scored on a 1-yard plunge on the first play of the final period for the Giants, but the Packers hung on for the triumph. |
| Sid Luckman was the big man for the Bears in this win before 58,346 at the Polo Grounds. He passed for a 21-yard TD to Ken Kavanaugh to open the scoring, then ran 19 yards for a score later in the game. Dante Magnani’s 19-yard pass interception accounted for the third Bear score, while the Giants hit the scoring column on touchdown passes from Frank Filchock to Frank Liebel and Steve Filipowicz. |
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"They are playing extremely well on defense obviously and offensively they are finding ways to score points. You look at the games that they have won down the stretch, with the exception probably being the Washington game, but what they did to Dallas and then the Minnesota game, I think that we all felt that there was a good chance that we were going to be playing them and that is the way it turned out.”- C Shaun O'Hara on playing the Eagles
Quote of the Week
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