Chicago Bears Win NFL Championship on December 8, 1940

On December 8, 1940, the most lopsided score in NFL history had taken place. It was on this day that the Chicago Bears traveled to Washington D.C. to take on the Redskins for the NFL Championship at Griffith Stadium. This day would forever go down as a moment in Chicago Bears folklore.

Three weeks before the game took place, the Washington Redskins had defeated the Bears 7-3. After the game, it was said that Redskins owner George Preston Marshall referred to the Bears as "crybabies" and "quitters" when things got tough. This served as great motivation to Chicago Bears owner and coach George Halas and his team for what was to come.

The Bears finished the regular season with a 8-3 record to win the NFL Western Division. They had won the last two regular season games after the loss to the Redskins. The Bears had future Hall of Famer Sid Luckman as their quarterback in his second season with the team.

The Redskins had finished the regular season with league's best record at 9-2 as they won the Eastern Division. They led the league in scoring offense with 245 points led by future Hall of Fame quarterback Sammy Baugh.

The T-formation had been used on offense by teams especially after the forward pass allowed quarterbacks to throw the ball from anywhere behind the line of scrimmage since 1933. Halas had worked with Bears coach Ralph Jones and University of Chicago head coach Clark Shaughnessy to perfect the T-formation. Also, Halas recruited Solly Sherman, a quarterback under Shaughnessy at the University of Chicago, to teach Luckman the system.

The Bears had been able to put players in motion to cause confusion for the Redskins defense, and it worked. Most teams had run out of the single-wing formation, so most did not know how to defend motioned players or this variation of the T-Formation.

In the opening quarter of the game, the Bears got the ball first as Bill Osmanski scored on a 68-yard touchdown run on the second play of the game. The Redskins tried to answer on their drive as they got all the way down to the Bears 26-yard line, but missed a chance to tie the game when receiver Charlie Malone dropped a touchdown pass in the end zone. That would be as close as the Redskins would get in winning this game all day.

On the Bears second possession of the game, Luckman scored on a 1-yard touchdown run to give the Bears a 14-0 lead. Then the Bears scored another touchdown on their third offensive possession when Joe Maniaci scored on a 42-yard run as they took a commanding 21-0 lead going into the second quarter. Then, they added another touchdown as Luckman completed a 30-yard pass to Ken Kavanaugh to put Chicago up 28-0 at halftime.

The Redskins were looking to get on the scoreboard when they had the ball first in the second half, but their hopes of a comeback were slashed very quickly. Hampton Pool of the Bears intercepted a pass and returned it for a 15-yard touchdown. The Redskins next possession stalled, and the Bears added to their lead when Ray Nolting scored on a 23-yard run. The kick failed, but the Bears went up 41-0.

Halas had pulled all of his starters at this point in the game, but that did not stop them from putting up more points.

On the Redskins next possession, Bears rookie George McAfee returned an interception for a 35-yard touchdown, and they made the point after as they went up 48-0. The Bears ended up picking off another Redskins pass on their very next possession when Clyde "Bulldog" Turner returned an interception for a 20-yard touchdown. Once again, the kick failed as the Bears went up 54-0.

The Bears would get three more touchdown runs(two of them from Harry Clarke) in the fourth quarter as they completed their route of Washington by winning 73-0.

There were a shortage of footballs that were used for this game, and they had only one left which prompted the Bears to have to go for the two-point conversion on their last two scores. They converted one of them.

The missed extra points and one turnover were the only things that went wrong for the Bears on this day.

The Bears had 501 total yards of offense with 382 of them coming on the ground. They had eight interceptions in which three of them were returned for touchdowns in the game. The Bears defense forced nine turnovers and held the Redskins to 245 total yards of offense.

Luckman only threw for 88 yards, but he only had four pass attempts. Baugh was 10-for-17 with 102 passing yards and two interceptions. Frankie Filchock had thrown five interceptions in the game.

The 73-0 score is not only the most lopsided game in NFL Playoff history, but it still stands as the most lopsided game ever in NFL history, too.

The Bears franchise would go on to be the class of the league as Halas had built a powerhouse team. The Bears would win three more titles(1941, 1943, 1946) during the next six seasons. In 1943, Halas was serving his country in World War II, but was still team owner of his team.

The Redskins would gain a measure of revenge in 1942 by beating the Bears to win the NFL Championship - spoiling their chance at an undefeated season. But Washington would lose to the Bears in the NFL Championship Game the following year as Bronko Nagurski returned to the field to help the Bears back to prominence.

Variations of the T-formations would soon follow. The Wishbone offense in college soon became a staple for teams like Alabama, Texas, and Oklahoma. The I-formation with the fullback directly behind the quarterback followed by the running back was used in the 1960s by the Kansas City Chiefs in the NFL.

The most notable exception to the T-formation is the Shotgun formation that is widely used on both the college and pro levels now. The spread offense with multiple receivers has also been popularized in recent years, too.

The T-formation is so much associated with the 1940 Chicago Bears that their fight song Bear Down, Chicago Bears refers to that. "We'll never forget the way you thrilled the nation, with your T formation..."

The Monsters of the Midway arrived on this day, and it is still one of the greatest moments in the history of the Chicago Bears franchise.

Photo courtesy of Hubpages which shows players hoisting Halas after winning the 1940 NFL Championsip.

Posted in: Bears, Chicago, Chicago Bears, National Football League, NFL, NFL Championship, Washington, Washington Redskins

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