Worst NFL Blowout

On December eighth, nineteen forty, was the site of the NFL Championship played at Griffin's Stadium in Washington, DC, where the Bears were taking on the Redskins in an historic moment. As the stadium was packed, every fan was ready to see who was gonna win. Little did they know they were about to see the most lopsided game in NFL history. Join us today as we dive into the nineteen forty NFL Championship game, also known as the most lopsided NFL game in history, today on Daily Sports History. Welcome to Daily Sports History. I'm Ethan Reese, your guide because every game every sport I played is a lopsided loss. So in nineteen forty, the NFL was starting to get a little track set. It was the twenty first year of the NFL's existence, and at this point they had ten teams. And just to give you an idea how long ago this was, the Pittsburgh Pirates were actually in the league the year before and they had just changed their name to the Pittsburgh Steelers. So in the East Division there was the Washington Redskins, the Brooklyn Dodgers, the New York Giants, the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Philadelphia Eagles. And in the West Division, which is in very west, is the Chicago Bears, the Green Bay Packers, the Detroit Lions, the Cleveland Rams, and the Chicago Carters. So by this point, most of these teams would stay in the NFL as we know it today, except for the Brooklyn Dodgers, who would end up folding in nineteen forty five, and the leaders for each statistical category were Byron Weiser White, who led the league in rushing with five hundred and fourteen yards, averaging less than four yards to carry. The leading receiver was Don Looney of the Philadelphia Eagles, who had seven hundred and seven yards. The leading passer was Sammy Ball of the Washington Redskins, who would pass for a league leading one thousand, three hundred and sixty seven yards, throwing a total of twelve touchdowns. So, as you can see by those numbers, compared to today's standards, this time period was very different than the football we have today. So the Chicago Bears had a great season under legendary coach George Hollis as they went eight and three, winning the Western Division by two games, earning the right to play in the NFL Championship Game and the Washington Redskins. They were coached by Ray Flardi, who actually broke out this year, turning the team around, who led them to a league leading nine to two record, as they would go on to win the Eastern Division. And both these teams were led by some legendary quarterbacks. The Bears had Sid Luckman who was a young Jewish quarterback from Brooklyn who was the of the new offense that they were running called the Tee formation. It was becoming one of the best quarterbacks in the league. And then there was Sammy Ball known as Sling and Sammy who was a star known for his arm strength, as field vision and as we said earlier, led the league in passing yards and passed from four hundred more yards than Sid did during the season, as Sid only threw four touchdowns during the season and had a completion rate of forty five percent. Again, football was very different back then, and this was a pivotal moment as the nation was very worried at the time about everything. World War two had already started. Now America was not in the war yet. That wouldn't happen until a couple of years later after Pearl Harbor, but it was still had a lot of racial and social dynamics really kind of made it hard for the NFL to integrate as there were a few black players at the time. Now coming into the game, the Bears were actually the favorite, even though the Washingtons had more wins. The Bears had been around longer and been more of a powerhouse for more years, and their t formation offense really had set them apart. So the fans gather around each team starts to take the field on December eighth, nineteen forty and this was a unique experience as it was the first time that an NFL title game was broadcast nation wide on the radio. That meant everyone on the West Coast, who barely knew what football was because they didn't have any teams over there because I guess we can only have teams on the East, could hear what was going on in this game. Listening to games back then was more normal listening to the radio, and it was broadcast by the Mutual Broadcast Company over one hundred and twenty different radio stations across the country, and they estimated twenty five million households were listening. Now they go buy households back then, because you would just gather everyone around. So you multiply by that by roughly four people per household, you got one hundred million people listening to the game, just listening on top of the thirty six thousand that were there in person, and they were all expecting to see a great game. But no one told that to the Redskins. So the Bears come out and they really start fast. On the second play from scrimmage, running back Bill O'shamski ran for sixty eight yards for touchdown, and then Washington gets the ball back and they marched to the twenty six yard line, and they got so close that the receiver Charlie Malone dropped a shirt touchdown pass in the end zone that would have tie the game up. Instead, they had to settle for a field goal attempt that they actually missed, so the game stayed seven to zero when sid Luckman marched them down and scored a one yard touchdown run, increasing the lead to fourteen to zero. Still, the game's not out of hand yet, but Washington was not able to do anything on offense, So the Bears get the ball back and Joe Mshanski ran for four forty two yards for another Bears touchdown. So at the end of the first quarter it was twenty one to zero. Now we've all seen the Patriots and the Falcons game. The game isn't over yet, and there there's three more quarters. But say it through another touchdown passing King Kavanaugh in the second quarter to give them the lead twenty eight to zero. As Washington could do nothing on offense. They had a good first drive and their offense just continuously stalled out. So coming out in the second half, the Washington Redskins are gonna try to pass their way out of it, try to catch up as fast as they can, except they throw an interception to hamp Pool who runs it back for a touchdown, giving the Bears an even bigger lead, thirty five to zero. Then the Bears get the ball back after Washington fails again and Ray nod Ling runs for thirty two yards for another touchdown, forty one to zero. And so as the Washington tries to come back, they throw another interception where George McAfee runs it back for a touchdown, and Washington gets the ball back and they throw another interception, this time to Bulldog Turner who runs it back for a touchdown. That's three interceptions in the third quarter, ran back for touchdowns. The third quarter ends, the score is fifty four to zero at this point, Why are you even listening to the game on the radio? I mean this big deal to make the it broadcast across the nation, and who wants to listen to this game? It sounds terrible. So the fourth quarter comes along and the Bears are trying to run out the clock because it's a clear blowout, and then Harry Clark breaks out for a forty four yard run in a touchdown. The score is now sixty to zero. And then the Bears continue to try to run out the clocks again and end up scoring another rushing touchdown. And they do it one more time, trying to run out the clock. So that doesn't look so bad for the Washington Redskins, but there's only one hundred yards and you can only run the clock out so much until you scored, and they scored again. Harry Clark scored again, giving them the score of seventy three to zero. Luckily for the Redskins, time was on their hands as time expired, so the game was over. They didn't have to endure this anymore. The final score seventy three to zero, ended up being the most lopsided game in NFL history. The next closest one happened in nineteen thirty four, which they broke that record of sixty four to zero, where the Philadelphia Eagles decided to play the Cincinnati Reds and the Reds forgot what sport they were playing and they got destroyed. The next closest championship game blowout happened back in nineteen ninety five when the San Francisco forty nine Ers beat the San Diego Chargers fifty five to ten. So to give you some breakdowns of what all happened in this game, how crazy it was. The Bears ended up with five hundred and one yards for the game, which is a pretty good stack, especially for back then. Redskins had two hundred and forty five. The Bears ended up with a total of eight interceptions in this game, and we were able to recover a fumble. That's nine turnovers compared to their one fumble loss. This was the main reason why the Redskins lost. When you turn their ball over like that, there's no way of winning, let alone competing, and they just gave the game away through this. Now, the Bears may have had some extra into this game. They actually played the Redskins earlier in the season where the Redskins actually won, and George Preston Marshall, the owner of the Redskins, called the Bears crybabies and quitters after the game, giving them extra motivation heading into the championship. And after this game, the T formation became a staple in the NFL as everyone wanted to run it, showing how much success the Bears had running this in the championship game, and this game was so much of a blowout that the officials actually asked the Bears to not kick any more conversions instead just go for the two point conversion in the fourth quarter because they were scoring so much. Now, this would become a pivotal moment in NFL history, as the next couple of years would kind of mess things up, as the next NFL championship would happen two weeks after Pearl Harbor in nineteen forty one, and the Bears and the Redskins were a staple in the nineteen forties for championships. As the following year, nineteen forty one, the Bears would end up beating the New York Giants to win another title. Then the nineteen forty two they have a rematch where Washington would get revenge on the Bears, winning fourteen to six. The nine nineteen forty three they would face off again where the Bears got the best of Washington again, winning forty one to twenty one. Then Washington would lose another championship in nineteen forty five and the Bears would win another one in nineteen forty six, showing that they were two of the best teams in the nineteen forties. In each team has actually won a Super Bowl as well, and they had a lot of success, but they will always be part of this big moment where Washington got destroyed by the Bears. Sad to say that might be the worst thing they could have ever experienced. My question is to you, do you like to see these big blowout games or do you like to see defensive struggles? Let me know. 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