1948 NFL Championship Game
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| Date | December 19, 1948 | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Stadium | Shibe Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | ||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Ronald Gibbs | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 36,309 (paid), 28,864 (actual) | ||||||||||||||||||
| TV in the United States | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ABC | ||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Harry Wismer, Red Grange | ||||||||||||||||||
Park
The 1948 National Football League Championship game was the 16th NFL title game, played at Shibe Park in Philadelphia on December 19.
The game was a rematch of the previous year's title game between the defending champion Chicago Cardinals, champions of the Western Division and the Philadelphia Eagles, champions of the Eastern Division. The Cardinals were slight favorites, at 3½ points.[1]
It was the first NFL championship game to be televised and due to heavy snowfall, the grounds crew needed the help of players from both teams to remove the tarp from the field.[2][3] The opening kickoff was delayed a half hour until 2 p.m., and three extra officials were called into service to assist with out-of-bounds calls.[2] The stadium lights were on for the entire game.
Game summary
The game (also known as the Philly Blizzard) was played in Philadelphia during a significant snowstorm. Bert Bell, the NFL commissioner, had considered postponing the game, but the players for both teams wanted to play the game. The snow began at daybreak and by kickoff the accumulation was 4 inches (10 cm) at a temperature of 27 °F (−3 °C). The paid attendance for the game was 36,309, but the actual turnout at Shibe Park was 28,864.[2][4]
It was a scoreless game until early in the fourth quarter when, after Chicago had fumbled in their own end of the field, the Eagles recovered the fumble that set up Steve Van Buren's five yard touchdown at 1:05 into the fourth quarter.[4]
The Eagles repeated as champions in 1949, winning in the mud and rain in Los Angeles. This was the only time Shibe Park hosted an NFL title game; Franklin Field was the site for the Eagles' third title win in 1960, the franchise's most recent NFL championship.
This game was the Cardinals' last appearance in any NFL Championship game for over sixty years, until Super Bowl XLIII in February 2009. Ironically, the Cardinals had to beat the Eagles in the 2008 NFC Championship Game to get to the Super Bowl.
Scoring summary
Sunday, December 19, 1948
Kickoff: 2 p.m. EST[2]
- First Quarter
- no scoring
- Second Quarter
- no scoring
- Third Quarter
- no scoring
- Fourth Quarter
The gross receipts for the game, including radio and television rights, were just under $224,000. Each player on the winning Eagles team received $1,540, while Cardinals players made $879 each.[5]
References
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- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ NFL Top 10 – bad weather games. Broadcast NFL Network 27/10/08
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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