The 1942 NFL Championship Game was the tenth title game of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL), played at

Griffith Stadium Griffith Stadium stood in Washington, D.C., from 1911 to 1965, between Georgia Avenue and 5th Street (left field), and between W Street and Florida Avenue NW. The site was once home to a wooden baseball park. Built in 1891, it was called Bounda ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

on December 13, with a sellout capacity attendance of 36,006. It matched the undefeated Western Division champion

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

(11–0) and the Eastern Division champion

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

(10–1). The Bears were co-coached by

Hunk Anderson Heartley William "Hunk" Anderson (September 22, 1898 – April 24, 1978) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at the Saint Louis University (1928–1929), University of Notre Dame (1931–1933), and Nort ...

and

Luke Johnsos Luke Andrew Johnsos Sr. (December 9, 1905 – December 10, 1984) was an American football player, assistant coach, and head coach for the National Football League's Chicago Bears franchise. He started with the Bears in 1929 at the age of 23 as a ...

(after

George Halas George Stanley Halas Sr. (; February 2, 1895October 31, 1983), nicknamed "Papa Bear" and "Mr. Everything", was an American professional football player, coach, and team owner. He was the founder and owner of the National Football League's Chic ...

had entered the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

) and led on the field by quarterback

Sid Luckman Sidney Luckman (November 21, 1916 – July 5, 1998) was an American professional American football, football player who was a quarterback for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) from 1939 Chicago Bears season, 1939 through 19 ...

. The Redskins were led by head coach

Ray Flaherty Raymond Paul Flaherty (September 1, 1903 – July 19, 1994) was an American football player and coach in the National Football League, and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was part of three List of NFL champions (1920–69), NFL Champ ...

and quarterback

Sammy Baugh Samuel Adrian Baugh (March 17, 1914 – December 17, 2008) was an American professional football player and coach. During his college and professional careers, he most notably played quarterback, but also played as a safety and punter. He ...

. Chicago had won easily in the summer exhibition game with Washington, but the teams had not met during the

1942 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Declaration by United Nations is signed by China, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Soviet Union, and 22 other nations, in wh ...

regular season. The Bears were aiming for their third consecutive league title and were favored by three touchdowns, but were upset 14–6 by the home underdog Redskins. Tickets were sold out three weeks in advance, and some were being resold for up to fifty dollars. This was the second and final NFL title game played at Griffith Stadium and in the city of Washington. The two teams met on the same site two years earlier with a very different result, as the visiting Bears won in a 73–0 rout.

Scoring summary

''Sunday, December 13, 1942''
Kickoff: 2 p.m. EWT (EDT) * First quarter ** ''no scoring'' * Second quarter ** CHI – Lee Artoe, 52-yard fumble return (kick failed), 6–0 CHI ** WAS –

Wilbur Moore Wilbur John Moore (April 22, 1916 – August 9, 1965) was an American football running back in the National Football League (NFL) for the Washington Redskins. He played college football at the University of Minnesota and was drafted in the ...

, 39-yard pass from Baugh ( Bob Masterson kick), 7–6 WAS * Third quarter ** WAS – Andy Farkas, 1-yard run (Masterson kick), 14–6 WAS * Fourth quarter ** ''no scoring'' Source:

Officials

*Referee: Ronald Gibbs *Umpire: Carl Brubaker *Head Linesman:

Charlie Berry Charles Francis Berry (October 18, 1902 – September 6, 1972) was an American athlete and sports official who enjoyed careers as a catcher and umpire in Major League Baseball and as an end and official in the National Football League. His fath ...

*Field Judge:

Chuck Sweeney Charles A. "Chuck" Sweeney (May 5, 1914 – August 4, 1999) was an American football end at the University of Notre Dame. He was a consensus All-American in 1937. In later life, he became a National Football League game official. Playing career ...

The NFL had only four game officials in ; the back judge was added in , the line judge in , and the side judge in .

Players' shares

The gate receipts from the sellout were over $113,000, a record, and each Redskin player received about $976 while each Bear saw about $639.

Next year

At the time, an owners' winter meeting and the annual draft of college players was held around the title game. A year into

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

for the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and with much of the talent in or entering the military, the meeting focused on whether or not to operate the league in

1943 Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 – WWII: The Soviet Union announces that 22 German divisions have been encircled at Stalingrad, with 175,000 killed and 137,650 captured. * January 4 – ...

; the decision was to continue, with the 1943 NFL draft postponed until April.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nfl Championship Game, 1942 Champ 1942 NFL Championship Game Chicago Bears postseason Washington Redskins postseason

NFL Championship Game Throughout its history, the National Football League (NFL) and other rival American football leagues have used several different formats to determine their league champions, including a period of inter-league matchups to determine a true national c ...

December 1942 sports events