1949 NFL Championship Game
Eagles blank Rams 14–0 in mud-soaked 1949 NFL Championship
The 1949 NFL Championship Game was the 17th title game for the National Football League (NFL), played on December 18 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California. It featured the Eastern Division champion Philadelphia Eagles (11–1), the defending NFL champions, against the Los Angeles Rams (8–2–2), winners of the Western Division. The Eagles won 14–0 for their second consecutive shutout in the title game.
Quick Facts
- Visitor
- Philadelphia Eagles
- Home
- Los Angeles Rams
- Visitor coach
- Greasy Neale
- Home coach
- Clark Shaughnessy
- Visitor record
- 11–1
- Home record
- 8–2–2
- Visitor total
- 14
- Date
- December 18, 1949
Facts from the source article.
Background
The game is remembered for the driving rain that caused the field to become a mud pit. Its paid attendance was 27,980, with only 22,245 in the stadium, which was a low in attendance not reached until 2020. This was the first NFL title game played in the western United States. Philadelphia head coach Earle 'Greasy' Neale did not like to fly, so the Eagles traveled to the West Coast by train, stopping in Illinois for a workout at Stagg Field at the University of Chicago on Wednesday morning.
Did You Know?
- The Eagles were favored by a touchdown.
- The Rams had last appeared in a title game in 1945, a victory and the franchise's final game in Cleveland.
- Anticipating 70,000 or more in attendance, the players and owners wanted to postpone the game for a week, but were overridden by Commissioner Bert Bell.
- The NFL added the fifth official, the back judge, in an unspecified year.
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