1948 NFL Championship Game

A blizzard at Shibe Park, one touchdown, and a 7-0 loss in the Cardinals' last title game before Super Bowl XLIII.

The 1948 NFL Championship Game was the National Football League's 16th title game, played at Shibe Park in Philadelphia on December 19, 1948. A rematch of the previous year's final, it matched the defending champion Chicago Cardinals (11-1), winners of the Western Division, against the Eastern Division champion Philadelphia Eagles (9-2-1). The Eagles won 7-0 for their first NFL championship.

Quick Facts

Visitor: Chicago Cardinals
Home: Philadelphia Eagles
Visitor coach: Jimmy Conzelman
Home coach: Greasy Neale
Visitor record: 11–1
Home record: 9–2–1
Visitor total: 0
Home total: 7

Facts from the source article.

Background

The Cardinals were slight favorites at 3 1/2 points even though quarterback Paul Christman was out with a fractured wrist. Heavy snow forced players from both teams to help the grounds crew pull the tarp off the field, the kickoff was delayed half an hour to 2 p.m., three extra officials were brought in to help with out-of-bounds calls and the stadium lights stayed on for the whole game, the first NFL championship game to be televised. The temperature was 27 F; 36,309 tickets were sold but only 28,864 people came.

The game was scoreless until early in the fourth quarter, when the Eagles recovered a Cardinals fumble deep in Chicago territory and Steve Van Buren scored on a five-yard run 1:05 into the period. The two teams completed only five passes in 23 attempts between them. It was the lowest-scoring NFL championship game ever played, and the Cardinals' last appearance in a league championship game until Super Bowl XLIII in February 2009, which they reached by beating these same Eagles in the NFC Championship Game.