1942 NFL Championship Game

Lore & Background

This was the last major professional sports championship won by a Washington, D.C.-based team until the then-Washington Bullets won the NBA championship in 1978, and the last championship won by the Redskins until Super Bowl XVII in 1983.

Reader's Guide

The Bears were co-coached by Hunk Anderson and Luke Johnsos (after George Halas had entered the U.S. Navy) and led on the field by quarterback Sid Luckman. The Redskins were led by head coach Ray Flaherty and quarterback Sammy Baugh. Chicago had won easily in the summer exhibition game with Washington, but the teams had not met during the 1942 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.

Did You Know?

• 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.
• The NFL had only four game officials in 1942; the back judge was added later, the line judge later, and the side judge later.
• At the time, an owners' winter meeting and the annual draft of college players was held around the title game.