| Regular season | |
|---|---|
| Duration | September 27 – December 13, 1953 |
| East Champions | Cleveland Browns |
| West Champions | Detroit Lions |
| Championship Game | |
| Champions | Detroit Lions |
The1953 NFL season was the 34thregular season of theNational Football League. The names of the American and National divisions were changed back to the Eastern and Western divisions.
The season ended on December 27 with theNFL Championship Game in which theDetroit Lions defeated theCleveland Browns for the second year in a row.
The1953 NFL draft was held on January 22, 1953, atBellevue-Stratford Hotel inPhiladelphia. With the first pick, theSan Francisco 49ers selected defensive endHarry Babcock fromGeorgia.
The definition of illegal motion was clarified so that a player moving directly forward at the snap was to be considered illegally in motion.
ABaltimore, Maryland, group headed byCarroll Rosenbloom was granted an NFL expansion team and was given the roster & assets of the defunctDallas Texans organization. The new expansion team was named theBaltimore Colts, afterthe unrelated original Baltimore Colts team that folded after the1950 season. While the original Colts franchise used a green and silver color scheme, the new Colts franchise chose the blue and white color scheme used by the Texans.
The 12 teams of this NFL season continued for the rest of the decade of the 1950s. These would become known as "old-line" teams as they predated the1960 launch of theAmerican Football League (AFL).
For 1953, the former American and National Divisions of the previous three seasons were renamed back to the Eastern and Western Divisions, respectively. The Western race saw the Rams beat the Lions twice, in Detroit (October 18) and in L.A. (November 1), and at the midway point inWeek Six, the Rams were a full game ahead in the race. InWeek Seven (November 8), the 49ers beat the Rams 31–27, and the Lions won their game, to put all three teams at 5–2–0. InWeek Eight, the Lions beat Green Bay 14–7, while the Rams were tied 24–24 by the Cards, and the 49ers lost 23–21 to the Browns. As both teams won their remaining games, San Francisco was always a game behind Detroit.
In the Eastern, the Cleveland Browns won their first eleven games and led wire-to-wire, clinching a playoff spot by week 10. Their shot at a 12–0–0 regular season was spoiled by a 42–27 loss in the finale on December 13, and tarnished further by the championship game loss to the Lions two weeks later.
| Week | Western | Record | Eastern | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 teams | 1–0–0 | Tie (Cle, Was) | 1–0–0 |
| 2 | Tie (Det, SF) | 2–0–0 | Cleveland Browns | 2–0–0 |
| 3 | Detroit Lions | 3–0–0 | Cleveland Browns | 3–0–0 |
| 4 | 3 teams | 3–1–0 | Cleveland Browns | 4–0–0 |
| 5 | Tie (Det, LA) | 4–1–0 | Cleveland Browns | 5–0–0 |
| 6 | Los Angeles Rams | 5–1–0 | Cleveland Browns | 6–0–0 |
| 7 | 3 teams | 5–2–0 | Cleveland Browns | 7–0–0 |
| 8 | Detroit Lions | 6–2–0 | Cleveland Browns | 8–0–0 |
| 9 | Detroit Lions | 7–2–0 | Cleveland Browns | 9–0–0 |
| 10 | Detroit Lions | 8–2–0 | Cleveland Browns | 10–0–0 |
| 11 | Detroit Lions | 9–2–0 | Cleveland Browns | 11–0–0 |
| 12 | Detroit Lions | 10–2–0 | Cleveland Browns | 11–1–0 |
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Detroit 17, Cleveland 16 atBriggs Stadium inDetroit, on December 27, 1953
A total of 2,164,585 fans attended the 72 regular season league games held in the 1953 season.[1] Another 54,577 attended the league championship game, for a total attendance of 2,219,162, or 30,399 per game.[1]
Eleven of the 12 teams in the league reported profitable financial operations, with only theChicago Cardinals losing money — with this franchise said to have reduced its red ink "drastically" from its 1952 operations.[1]
| Statistic | Name | Team | Yards |
|---|---|---|---|
| Passing | Otto Graham | Cleveland | 2,722 |
| Rushing | Joe Perry | San Francisco | 1,018 |
| Receiving | Pete Pihos | Philadelphia | 1,049 |
