The First NFL Championship Game: Birth of a Tradition

On December seventeenth, nineteen thirty three, at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois, in front five thousand fans, the very first NFL Championship was held where the New York Giants took on the home team, Chicago Bears, and the very first NFL Championship ever held, where the Chicago Bears would win and set the stage for what would become the biggest sporting event in the world. Today, we're going to dive into the history of this game and what all happened today on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Rees, your guide as you daily learn more about sports history, increasing your sports knowledge. Now, nineteen thirty three was not when the NFL actually started. It actually started in nineteen twenty, which recovered on a previous episode talking about the American Professional Football Conference, which originally had fourteen teams, which included the Chicago Cardinals who are now the Arizona Cardinals and Stanley's who later became the Chicago Bears. Over the years, the league would change their name to the National Football League in nineteen and will continue to lose and gain different teams, but eventually would shape into the teams that we know today, such as the New York Giants and the Chicago Bears. Now every year from nineteen twenty to thirty one, the winner of the league would be whoever had the best record at the end of the season, which is similar to how college football used to do it as well until they started the BCS, and this was due to challenges to hold games late in winter and the travel expenses as many of these players held other jobs as well, so it's difficult to travel across the country or mainly the Eastern coast and Midwest, as cars and planes were new and the main method of travel was trained. But in nineteen the NFL held a tiebreaker game where the Chicago Bears took on Portsmouth's importins so they could break the tie, and this led to the idea of holding a championship game as it seemed to garner a lot of interest and it proved that a game like this could be held, and it helped that the Boston owner, George Preston Marshall suggested to the other NFL owners that they make this a regular thing and increase the excitement throughout the season that there would be a championship similar to what Major League Baseball would do as the winner of the American League would just based off against the winner of the National League for the World Series. And at the time, Major League Baseball was the biggest show in town. And although a lot of the owners were hesitant at first, mainly due to the country coming out of the Great Depression and sure if this would really be successful, but Marshall kept pushing and the owners eventually implemented it and would start it in nineteen thirty three, and they would separate the league into two divisions, an Eastern Division in a Western Division, and in the nineteen thirty three season, the Bears played at Wrigley Field, of all places, yes, the historic baseball field is where they played the football games, and to this day they still play a few college games at Wrigley Field, although it's still very small for a football stadium. And they were led by new head coach George Hallis, who transformed them into a powerhouse showcasing the versatility of offense, discipline, defense, and willingness to adapt to new strategies, and they went in into this season, winning first place in the Western Division behind key players like Bronchon Negertzky, who played fullback and linebacker in Red Grange, who was a half back in defensive back. Their offense was a mix of power running and taking advantage of passing situations as rules changes had expanded the forward pass that season, and their defense was stifling, frequently shutting down teams throughout the season and creating multiple turnovers. And this year they beat their division rival, the Green Bay Packers two times, showcasing their dominance as they were one of the best teams in the league, and they even faced off against the New York Giants that year seventeen to seven. But they did lose twice, once to the Boston Redskins and once to the Detroit Lions. But after these losses, they always came back and they and winning the Western Division meant they got to play in the NFL Championship Game, the first one ever held, and they would face off against the New York Giants, who went eleven to three this year, winning first place in Eastern Division, led by head coach Steve Owen and led by their quarterback Harry Newman, who was a standout passer and really adapted the short passing game, which was instrumental for the New York Giants, and they had also got a new fullback and running back in Ken Strong, who was a versatile dual threat runner and kicker. This season, the Giants really embraced the forward pass as a core element of their offense, leveraging and out maneuvering the traditional run heavy opponents. This really showed itself in a forty two to zero victory over the Brooklyn Dodgers that year, showing their offensive firepower against a heated rival. Although they did lose games two Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers, it didn't stop them from dominating throughout and led their way into the NFL Championship Game, which was held at Wrigley Field on December seventeenth, nineteen thirty three. And though there was kind of a playoff game played the last year, it was not officially a championship game. So this was the first official NFL Championship game, which would go on to be played every single year. So the game starts out pretty slow, where the Bears actually in the first quarter take the lead with a sixteen yard field goal. Then they come back in the second quarter hit another field goal to take a six zero lead, but the Giants fired back in the second quarter with the twenty nine yard pass from Harry Newman to Red to Red Badgrow and made the field goal, giving them the lead seven to six and coming out a halftime. The Bears would come out and kick another field goal, giving them the lead nine to seven, but the Giants would work their way back, scoring a one yard touchdown with Max Carus making the field goal give them a fourteen to nine lead, and the Bears would finally score their first touchdown in the third quarter with an eight yard pass to Bill Carr from Bronco Nekertzky, and they would make their field goal, giving them the lead sixteen to fourteen. As they headed into the fourth quarter with the championship on the line, and the Giants would come back and have an eight yard to Kin Strong from Harry Newman to take the lead twenty one to sixteen. Sometimes having the ball last gives you the best chance, as the Bears took the ball down and scored a nineteen yard touchdown pass to Bill Carr from Bronco Negerzky, each scoring their second touchdown and giving them the final score of twenty three to twenty one. Now the game stats were very close as each team as the Giants had thirteen first downs and the shot the Bears had twelve. But the Bears defense is what stood out, as they held the Giants rushing offense under one hundred yards and the Bears themselves rushed for one hundred and six yards. But and it was the Giants passing game that kept them in the game, as Harry and went thirteen for nineteen for two hundred and nine yards, which at the time was a very good amount, and the Bears were only able to muster up one hundred yards on seven completions. Now, the Bears didn't run a traditional offense. Now I mentioned Bronco Negertzky through touchdown passes those were his only two passes of the game, and four other players through passes during the game as they were coming from a different era and the passing game was not their strong suit, but they needed it to keep up with the Giants passing game in the game. And despite the fact that the Bears had eight penalties compared to the Giants three, it didn't stop them from taking the victory and becoming the champions of the football world. Now, the press after this called it probably the most spectacular game of the year. It was a brilliant display of offense and when you look back, as it was one of the bettest games played in the era and really set the tone for the championship game to continue year after year. At the time, and the game was not televised, so you had to be there or listen on the radio. And at the time, they were able to make twenty one thousand dollars from ticket sales of the game. In today's money, that would be just over half a million dollars, and each player on the Bears took them an extra two hundred and ten dollars, which today would be just over five thousand dollars, and the Giants took them one hundred and forty dollars, which is just over three thousand dollars a day. So it was a great incentive for these players as they still weren't making a ton of money at this time as football was still dominated by the college game, but it gave them an opportunity and showed the possibilities of pro football in sports in America and eventually would work its way to when the NFL merged with the AFL becoming the Super Bowl and becoming one of the most watched sporting events each and every year, and essentially becoming its own holiday. I want to thank you for listening today's Daily Sports History, and if you want more Bears content, check out the Unbearable Sports podcasts, where they focus on giving you level headed, deep analytical content about your favorite Windy City team. Though there may be highs and lows, you're going to get an expert analysis and then laid back way. We'll put a link in the description for you to check them out, and if you enjoy today's episode, please share it on social media wherever you're at. 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