1932 NFL Playoff Game
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Date | December 18, 1932 | ||||||||||||||||||
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Stadium | William R. Lyman, Bronko Nagurski, George Trafton |
The 1932 NFL Playoff Game was an extra game held to break a tie in the 1932 season's final standings in the National Football League (NFL); it matched the host Chicago Bears and the Portsmouth Spartans. Because of snowfall and anticipated extremely cold temperatures in Chicago, Illinois, it was moved indoors and played at the three-year-old Chicago Stadium on December 18 on a reduced-size field on Sunday night.
Standings controversy
Since the NFL's
While four of the first six championships were disputed, only once (in
In 1932, the Spartans and the Bears tied for first place with 6–1 records.[2]
Under the rules at the time, standings were based on winning percentage with ties excluded from the calculation: thus, 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.[1]
Had pure win–loss differential or the current (post-1972) system of counting ties as half a win, half a loss been in place in 1932, the Packers' record of 10–3–1 (.750, +7) would have won them a fourth consecutive championship, ahead of the Spartans' 6–1–4 (.727, +5) and the Bears' 6–1–6 (.692, +5).[3] The Packers controlled their own destiny at the end of the 1932 season, but lost their last two games to the Spartans and the Bears.[4][5]
Further complicating matters, though the Spartans and Bears had played each other twice during the regular season and the league's head-to-head tiebreaker accounted for a split two-game series, this tiebreaker only applied if each team won one game: the winner of the second game would be awarded the tiebreaker and the championship. As the two Bears-Spartans games ended in 13–13 and 7–7 ties, this tiebreaker was of no effect.
The league was thus required to make a rule change, as championship-deciding postseason matches were banned in 1924,[6] and for the first time, arranged for a single game (essentially a replay) to determine the NFL champion.
Despite the winner of the game being declared champions, it was ruled the game would be counted in the final standings, meaning the loser would drop to 6–2 (.750) and finish third behind runner-up Green Bay.[1]
Indoor field
The game was set to be played at Wrigley Field, the Bears' home stadium, but due to severe blizzards followed by extremely cold temperatures and wind chill, the game was moved indoors to Chicago Stadium.[7][8][9][10][11][12]
Two years earlier, the Bears and
A week before the game, the concrete surface had
Because of 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)[19][20] and 45 yards wide, ten yards narrower than the regulation width at the time.[11]
- The goal posts were moved from the endlines to the goal lines (the NFL moved the goalposts to the goal line in 1933, then back to the endline in 1974).[21]
- Every time a team crossed the 10-yard line, the ball was moved back 20 yards to allow for the shortened field.[9]
- For the first time, all plays started with the ball on or between the hash marks, which were ten yards from the sidelines.[21]
It was also decided that due to the smaller field and indoor stadium,
Game summary
Period | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
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Spartans | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Bears | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 9 |
at
- Date: December 18
- Game time: 8:15 p.m. CST
- Game weather: Indoors
- Game attendance: 11,198
- Referee: Bobby Cahn
- Boxscore
Game information |
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The high temperature for that Sunday in Chicago was 20 °F (−7 °C),[23] warmer than anticipated earlier in the week.
With terrible footing on the mulch and limited room for the offenses to work, the defenses dominated the game's first three quarters, with the game remaining scoreless. Bears quarterback John Doehling's first pass flew into the stands,
On one drive, the Spartans were in position to score when Glenn Presnell tripped on the field before he could reach the end zone.[26] For the Bears, they employed a heavy run game with fullback Bronko Nagurski, though possessions ended after just three downs as Ralph Jones frequently elected to pooch kick.[27] In the fourth quarter, the Bears scored on a controversial touchdown: Carl Brumbaugh handed the ball off to Nagurski, who pulled up and threw to Red Grange in the end zone for the score.[28] Rules at the time mandated that a forward pass had to be thrown from at least five yards behind the line of scrimmage. The Spartans argued Nagurski did not drop back five yards before passing to Grange, but the touchdown stood. The Bears later scored a safety after the Spartans fumbled the ball out of their end zone.[28][22]
Officials
- Referee: Bobby Cahn
- Umpire: G.A. Brown
- Head Linesman: Meyer Morris[24]
Legacy
Because it proved so popular, the 1932 NFL Playoff Game started a new era for the National Football League and for American football in general. Through 1932, the league had used the same rules as
NFL Commissioner Joseph Carr described the rule changes as providing better scoring opportunities, which he believed "would improve the game for both players and spectators." Carr had attended the Playoff Game, and kept a ticket stub from the game in his personal scrapbook.[32]
In
This game was the first time in which the NFL used an 80-yard field: the next occasion was 87 years later, when in
References
Citations
- ^ a b c Campbell, Rich (December 9, 2019). "The 1932 NFL championship. Indoors at Chicago Stadium. How one of the strangest — and most influential — games in Bears history changed the league". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
- ^ "Pro standings". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. December 12, 1932. p. 11.
- ^ Kuechle, Oliver E. (December 13, 1932). "Pro football league will change system of rating teams in 1933". Milwaukee Journal. p. 6, part 2.
- ^ McGlynn, Stoney (December 12, 1932). "Bears whip Packers, 9–0, tie for pro title". Milwaukee Sentinel. p. 11.
- ^ Kuechle, Oliver E. (December 12, 1932). "Packers lose to Chicago Bears on snow-covered field, 9–0". Milwaukee Journal. p. 4, part 2.
- ^ Horrigan, Joe (1980). "CLEVELAND'S 1ST TITLE" (PDF). The Coffin Corner. Professional Football Researchers Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 27, 2010. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
- ^ Smith, Wilfrid (December 16, 1932). "Bears battle with Spartans moved indoors". Chicago Tribune. p. 25.
- ^ "Bears, Spartans to play indoors". Milwaukee Journal. Associated Press. December 16, 1932. p. 7, part 2.
- ^ a b c "Bears vs. Spartans". Milwaukee Journal. United Press. December 18, 1932. p. 1B.
- ^ "Pro gridders meet tonight in Windy City". St. Petersburg Times. Associated Press. December 18, 1932. p. 2, section 2.
- ^ a b Dunkley, Charles W. (December 19, 1932). "Bears beat Spartans, 9–0; win pro title". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. p. 13.
- ^ Williams, Marty (January 12, 1978). "Today's game not first indoors". Daily News. Bowling Green, Ohio. (Dayton Daily News). p. 12.
- ^ "Pro teams play indoor grid game". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. December 15, 1930. p. 2, Final.
- ^ Smith, Wilfrid (December 18, 1932). "Bears battle Spartans for title tonight". Chicago Tribune. p. 1, part 2.
- ^ "Cards Lose to Chicago Bears". St. Cloud Times. Saint Cloud, Minnesota. December 16, 1930. p. 17.
- ^ "1917 Chicago Racine Cardinals".
- ^ Willis 2010, p. 294.
- History.com. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
- ^ Kuechele, Oliver E. (December 19, 1932). "The Bears won, 9–0, but what was it all about?". Milwaukee Journal. p. 6, part 2.
- ^ "Bears battle for pro title". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. December 18, 1932. p. 2B.
- ^ a b "A CENTURY OF 'FIRSTS' IN PRO FOOTBALL, 1892-1992" (PDF). The Coffin Corner. 14 (5). 1992. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
- ^ a b Mayer, Larry (March 1, 2014). "Bears played NFL's first indoor game". Chicago Bears. Archived from the original on November 13, 2017. Retrieved March 1, 2014.
- ^ "The Weather". Chicago Tribune. December 19, 1932. p. 1.
- ^ a b Smith, Wilfrid (December 19, 1932). "Bears win, 9–0; pro football champions". Chicago Tribune. p. 19.
- ^ Willis 2010, p. 296.
- ^ Willis 2010, p. 295.
- ISBN 031230868X.
- ^ a b "Chicago Bears pro champions". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. (Chicago Tribune). December 19, 1932. p. 14.
- ^ a b "FIRST PLAYOFF GAME". Pro Football Hall of Fame. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
- ^ "The 1933 Rule Book". Sports Illustrated. May 20, 2014. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
- ^ "The First Playoff Game". Pro Football Hall of Fame. Retrieved December 17, 2020.
- ^ Willis 2010, p. 296–297.
- ^ "Raiders beat Packers in Winnipeg on reconfigured 80-yard field". Sportsnet. Canadian Press. August 23, 2019. Retrieved August 23, 2019.
Sources
- Willis, Chris (August 19, 2010). The Man Who Built the National Football League: Joe F. Carr. ISBN 978-0810876705.