The game featured the Eastern Division championPhiladelphia Eagles (11–1), thedefending NFL champions, against theLos Angeles Rams (8–2–2), winners of the Western Division. This was the first NFL title game played in thewesternUnited States. The Rams had last appeared in a title game in1945, a victory and the franchise's final game inCleveland.
The Eagles were favored by a touchdown,[5][6][7] and won 14–0 for their second consecutive shutout in the title game. Running backSteve Van Buren rushed for 196 yards on 31 carries for the Eagles and their defense held the Rams to just 21 yards on the ground.[4][8]
The Eagles players earned$1,090 each and the Rams got $789, about one-third of what was expected with fair weather.[3][13] Anticipating 70,000 or more in attendance and a large payoff from the gate,[11][14] the players and owners wanted to postpone the game for a week, but were overridden byCommissionerBert Bell, reached at home in Philadelphia.[3][4]
Ticket prices were five dollars between the goal lines and $3.60 elsewhere.[1][12]
This was the first NFL game which was broadcast on television, although only on theWest Coast, under the auspices of Bell.[15] Thetraditional 60–40 player bonus for playing in a championship game was augmented by $14,000 (presently$, 185,015) from the NFL.[15] Although sources are unclear, a source writes the NFL received $20,000 (presently$, 264,308) from the broadcasting rights.[16]
Lyons, Robert S. (2010).On Any Given Sunday, A Life of Bert Bell. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. 978-1-59213-731-2
Coenen, Craig R. (2005).From Sandlots to the Super Bowl: The National Football League, 1920–1967. Knoxville, TN: The University of Tennessee Press.ISBN1-57233-447-9
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.
