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| Date | December 18, 1932 | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Stadium | Chicago Stadium Chicago,Illinois | ||||||||||||||||||
The1932 NFL Playoff Game was an extra game held to break a tie in the1932 season's final standings in theNational Football League (NFL); it matched the hostChicago Bears and thePortsmouth Spartans. Because of snowfall and anticipated extremely cold temperatures inChicago, Illinois, it was moved indoors and played at the three-year-oldChicago Stadium on December 18 on a reduced-size field on Sunday night.
Since the NFL'sfirst season in 1920, the league title had been awarded to the team with the bestregular season record based onwinning percentage with ties excluded.
While four of the first six championships were disputed, only once (in1921) did two teams finish tied for first place in the standings: the Chicago Staleys, who became the Bears the following year, and theBuffalo All-Americans finished with identical 9-1 records, and had split a two-game series with each other, but league officials used atiebreaker tocontroversially give the Staleys the title over the All-Americans.[1]
In 1932, the Spartans and the Bears tied for first place with 6–1 records.[2]
Under the rules at the time, standings were based on winning percentage with ties excluded from the calculation: thus, the Spartans and Bears each finished the regular season with identical .857 winning percentages, ahead of the defending championGreen Bay Packers' .769 (10 wins, 3 losses) winning percentage.[1]
Had pure win–loss differential or the current (post-1972) system of counting ties as half a win, half a loss been in place in 1932, the Packers' record of 10–3–1 (.750, +7) would have won them a fourth consecutive championship, ahead of the Spartans' 6–1–4 (.727, +5) and the Bears' 6–1–6 (.692, +5).[3] The Packers controlled their own destiny at the end of the 1932 season, but lost their last two games to the Spartans and the Bears.[4][5]
Further complicating matters, though the Spartans and Bears had played each other twice during the regular season and the league's head-to-head tiebreaker accounted for a split two-game series, this tiebreaker only applied if each team won one game: the winner of the second game would be awarded the tiebreaker and the championship. As the two Bears-Spartans games ended in 13–13 and 7–7 ties, this tiebreaker was of no effect.
The league was thus required to make a rule change, as championship-deciding postseason matches were banned in1924,[6] and for the first time, arranged for a single game (essentially areplay) to determine the NFL champion.
Despite the winner of the game being declared champions, it was ruled the game would be counted in the final standings, meaning the loser would drop to 6–2 (.750) and finish third behind runner-up Green Bay.[1]
The game was set to be played atWrigley Field, the Bears' home stadium, but due to severeblizzards followed by extremely cold temperatures andwind chill, the game was moved indoors to Chicago Stadium.[7][8][9][10][11][12]
Two years earlier, the Bears andCardinals had played a charity exhibition game at the arena[9] after the1930 season.[13] The game was moved indoors due to extreme weather, allowing for reasonable attendance and gate revenue.[14] The Bears won 9–7.[15] It wasn't an uncommon practice in the city, as local teams played in theDexter Park Pavilion as early as 1917, when theRacine Cardinals and the Evanstons fromEvanston played to a scoreless tie.[16]
A week before the game, the concrete surface hadtanbark placed atop for aSalvation Army-sponsored circus; elephant manure from the circus produced an odor that caused a Bears player to vomit on the field.[17][18]
Because of the limited dimensions of the indoor arena, special rules were adopted for the game:
It was also decided that due to the smaller field and indoor stadium,drop kicks andfield goals would not be used in the game.[22]
| Quarter | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spartans | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bears | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 9 |
atChicago Stadium,Chicago, Illinois
| Game information |
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The high temperature for that Sunday in Chicago was 20 °F (−7 °C),[23] warmer than anticipated earlier in the week.
With terrible footing on the mulch and limited room for the offenses to work, the defenses dominated the game's first three quarters, with the game remaining scoreless. Bears quarterback John Doehling's first pass flew into the stands,[24] as did most punts and kickoffs: one collided with aChicago Black Hawks sign and another hit the organist as he played. By the end of the game, only one punt had been returned.[25]
On one drive, the Spartans were in position to score whenGlenn Presnell tripped on the field before he could reach the end zone.[26] For the Bears, they employed a heavy run game with fullbackBronko Nagurski, though possessions ended after just three downs as Ralph Jones frequently elected topooch kick.[27] In the fourth quarter, the Bears scored on a controversial touchdown:Carl Brumbaugh handed the ball off to Nagurski, who pulled up and threw toRed Grange in the end zone for the score.[28] Rules at the time mandated that a forward pass had to be thrown from at least five yards behind theline of scrimmage. The Spartans argued Nagurski did not drop back five yards before passing to Grange, but the touchdown stood. The Bears later scored asafety after the Spartans fumbled the ball out of their end zone.[28][22]
Because it proved so popular, the 1932 NFL Playoff Game started a new era for the National Football League and for American football in general. Through 1932, the league had used the same rules ascollege football. Beginning with the1933 season, the NFL introduced its own set of rules. The goal posts were moved from the end line back to the goal line (reversed in1974), all plays started with the ball on or between the hash marks,[29] and theforward pass became legal anywhere behind the line of scrimmage; ironically, the forward pass rule was supported by Spartans head coachGeorge Clark, who quipped, "Nagurski would do it anyway!"[30] Its biggest legacy, however, was the creation of theNFL Championship Game in 1933, the NFL's original championship game, a precursor to the Super Bowl.[31]
NFL CommissionerJoseph Carr described the rule changes as providing better scoring opportunities, which he believed "would improve the game for both players and spectators." Carr had attended the Playoff Game, and kept a ticket stub from the game in his personal scrapbook.[32]
In1933, the NFL expanded to ten teams and divided into two divisions. The division winners met in a scheduledchampionship game to determine theNFL champion.[29]
This game was the first time in which the NFL used an 80-yard field: the next occasion was 87 years later, when in2019, the Raiders and Packers met atIG Field inWinnipeg for a preseason game. IG Field, home to theWinnipeg Blue Bombers of theCanadian Football League, normally has goal posts 110 yards apart. After the posts were moved for the NFL preseason game, the resulting divots in the field caused a safety hazard: to allow the game to go on, the game was played on a hastily shortened 80-yard field, with kickoffs eliminated and each team starting play at its own 15-yard line.[33]
41°52′54″N87°40′22″W / 41.8817°N 87.6728°W /41.8817; -87.6728
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