Chicago had won easily in the summer exhibition game with Washington, but the teams had not met during the1942 regular season. The Bears were aiming for theirthird consecutive league title and were favored by three touchdowns,[6][7][8][9] but were upset 14–6 by the home underdog Redskins.[3][4][10][11]
Tickets were sold out three weeks in advance, and some were being resold for up to fifty dollars.[8]
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 sitetwo years earlier with a very different result, as the visiting Bears won in a 73–0 rout.
At the time, an owners' winter meeting and the annualdraft of college players was held around the title game. A year intoWorld War II for theUnited States and with much of the talent in or entering the military, the meeting focused on whether or not to operate the league in1943; the decision was to continue, with the1943 NFL draft postponed until April.[4][13][14]
1 – Dates in the list denote the season, not necessarily the calendar year in which the championship game was played. For instance, Super Bowl LIV was played in 2020, but was the championship for the 2019 season.
2 – From 1966 to 1969, the first four Super Bowls were "World Championship" games played between two independent professional football leagues, AFL and NFL, and when the leaguemerged in 1970 the Super Bowl became the NFL Championship Game.
