Before the Ravens clash with the Steelers today for the AFC title, the Cardinals will host the Eagles for the NFC championship. This will be the 76th NFL/NFC championship game. This will be the first for the Cardinal franchise since 1948 when they were located in Chicago, the fifth for the Eagles since 2001. This is just the third title game appearance for the Cardinals, a charter NFL member since 1920, and in both of their previous championship game appearances they have faced the Eagles, in 1947 and 1948, both memorable, close games which not only featured a half dozen Hall of Famers, but these matches also changed the mind set of offensive coaches forever. As it always does, NFL history repeats itself.
Background- The Cardinals
The Cardinals are the oldest continuing NFL franchise. Before there was an NFL, a local Chicago neighborhood team was formed on the south side of Chicago and played other independent teams, there were known as the Morgan Athletic Club. They later changed their name to the Racine Cardinals, they wore faded maroon shirts which appeared to be cardinal red in color, so the nick name was born and they played their games in Normal Park which was on Racine Avenue in Chicago. When the NFL formed in 1920, they entered the NFL as the Racine Cardinals, they changed their name in 1921 to the Chicago Cardinals. In 1925 they won the NFL championship with an 11-2-1, record, there was no championship game then, best record won the championship. Chris O’Brien who began the Morgan Athletic Club, owned the team but sold them to Dr. David Jones in 1929. The team was starting to lose on the field and Comisky Park their new home field was empty when they played, so the team was going to fold by 1933 as Jones could not afford to keep the club.
Then at a cocktail party hosted by Chicago Bear’s owner George Halas, Chicago business man and part time Bears front office employee Charles Bidwell Sr. was talked into saving the Cardinals by Halas. Halas thought it was good business to have a cross town rival. Bidwell did what Halas asked, so a Bears employee now owned the Cardinals. The team kept losing though. From 1933 to 1945 the team was 32-102-8, which included not only back to back winless seasons but they were forced also because of World War II and the economy to combine with the Steelers for one season in 1944. The Cardinals along with the Steelers were the worst teams in the league.
After the war, Bidwell then hired the former captain and coach of the 1928 NFL champion Providence Steam Roller, Jimmy Conzelman, a future Hall of Famer, to be his head coach in 1946. Conzelman put in a wide open running offense that ran sweeps instead of always running off tackle as most teams did and they had productive college drafts in 1945 and 1946 which brought quarterback Paul Christman, fullback Pat Harder, and running backs Elmer Angsman, Marshall Goldberg, and another future Hall of Famer Charlie Trippi, who all had speed and fit Conzelman’s innovative offense. Bidwell named them his “Dream Backfield”, the Cardinals finally had a winning record of 6-5 in 1946.
1947
In 1947 Mr. Bidwell died in April, his business partner Ray Bennigsen along with Bidwell’s teenage adopted sons, Charles Jr. and William ran the day to day operations of the team, his wife Violet remained owner. 1947 finally saw the Cardinals have success, Harder, who also place kicked, led the league in scoring with one hundred and two points they went 9-3, edged out the Bears for the Western Conference title and moved on to the 1947 NFL Championship game.
The Eagles
The Eagles were born as an expansion team in 1933, Bert Bell and Lud Wray, former Penn football players paid the NFL $2,500.00 for the team, they entered the NFL as owners coincidentely the same year as Charles Bidwell. They were a little better than Bidwell’s teams on the field from 1933-1945 they were 42-90-7. They did have a couple of winning seasons, just missing the title game in 1944 by a half a game and in 1945 by one game. The Eagles had hired Yale assistant Earle“Greasy” Neale as their coach in 1941 and began slowly building a winner. He built his team around solid quarterback Tommy Thompson, and running back Bosh Pritchard. Neale though would gain induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame because of his invention of the seven man defensive line. The ends would drop into pass coverage on certain plays confusing offenses. Neale bolstered his line with key players such as Bucko Kilroy, Al Wistert, and another Hall of Famer Alex Wojciehowicz.
The biggest addition the Eagles made was in 1944 was the signing of running back Steve Van Buren, he was a native of Honduras. He changed the game. Before Van Buren teams used the committee approach to running the ball, using as much as five running backs sharing carries. Van Buren carried the load by himself. He got stronger as the game went along. The Eagles were also 6-5 in 1946 and were ready to compete for the championship in 1947.
1947
Van Buren set a NFL record with 1,008 yards rushing on 217 carries. Pete Pihos was added as a go to receiver for Thompson and caught 7 of Thompson’s 16 passing scores. The Eagles finished with a 8-4 record and tied the Steelers for the Eastern Conference title. The Eagles and Steelers would have to play a playoff game to decide the Eastern Conference Champion, this was the first post season appearance for each team. The Eagles won easily at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, 21-0 to win the East, Thompson threw for 2 touchdowns, one to Van Buren in the first quarter and the Steelers were never in the game. The Eagles now would meet the Cardinals in Chicago for the NFL championship.
December 28, 1947
Chicago’s Comisky Park was the setting for the 1947 title game between the Eagles and the Cardinals. The field was like concrete but Conzelman felt his fast backs could get wide against the tough Eagle defense. The Eagles spread their line out to protect against the sweeps and it created a weakness in their middle. He was right, but he never thought it would this easy. The Cardinals double teamed the Eagle’s nose guard Kilroy creating a huge hole in the first quarter. Trippi ran through it for a 44 yard score. Early in the second period, on the same play call Angsman ran for a 70 yard score, right up the middle. Thompson countered with a 53 yards scoring pass to Pat McHugh the last minute of the half. At the half the Cardinals led 14-7.
Neale had 2 problems, the Cardinals were easily running through his vaunted defensive line and Van Buren was held below 20 yards rushing. The Cardinals kept the big plays coming, Trippi fielded a Joe Muha punt and raced 75 yards for a score, he fell twice on the slippery field but was able to get up without being touched to score the touchdown, 21-7 Cardinals. The Eagles responded with a long drive and Van Buren scored on an one yard run. Back came the Cardinals, starting on their own thirty after the kick off, Angsman raced up the middle for another 70 yard score, making it 28-14 Cardinals. The Eagles would score late on a Russ Craft run, but the Cardinals won the championship 28-21. The biggest surprise was the ease in which the “Dream Backfield”, moved the ball, they rushed for more than 280 yards, in contrast Van Buren, the league rushing champion finished with just 26 yards on the ground.
1948
Both the Eagles and Cardinals would win their divisions in 1948. Both teams used the same strategy to get there. Van Buren won the league rushing crown but the Cardinals as a team rushed for more yards than every other team, including the Eagles. It would be back field by committee against work horse again for the championship, this year though the title game would be played at Philadelphia’s Shibe Park.
December 19, 1948
The snowstorm that began the Saturday night before the championship game would bring 16 inches of snow. The snow fell the entire game, still 29,000 fans crammed into Shibe Park to see the Eagles win their first championship. Field crews had little to work with in 1948, the field was snow covered the entire game. With passing thought to be hard to say the least Thompson passed to end Jack Ferrante for a 65 yard touchdown on the game’s first play. Eagle jubilation lasted for just a minute though, referee Ron Gibbs flagged the Egles for off sides on the play. The Eagles would punt, the Cardinals then moved to the Eagle 29. They used runs up the middle again by Angsman, Trippi, and Harder. The drive stalled and Harder missed a field goal. The Eagles Cliff Patton would also miss a short field goal in the second period. The half ended scoreless.
The snow kept falling. Most of the remainder of the game was played between the 20’s, with punting and failed 4th down conversions the theme of the second half. Van Buren though was moving the ball slowly but surely. The Eagles gave the ball up on downs late in third quarter at the Cardinal 17. Cardinal back up quarterback Ray Mallouf fumbled a hand off and the Eagles nose guard Bucko Kilroy recovered. From there Joe Muha, Bosh Pritchard, Thompson, and Van Buren smashed into the Cardinal line. Van Buren would score the game’s only touchdown on a 5 yard run. Patton kicked the point after, Eagles led 7-0. The Cardinals would never get close to scoring. The game ended with the Eagles driving at the Cardinal 5 yard line. The Eagles had won the championship, Van Buren gained revenge, he had 98 rushing yards on 26 carries. The Eagles gained 220 yards on the ground, the “Dream Backfield” was held to ninety six yards.
These teams played 2 classic championship games, both talented running teams, their styles were just different. The Hall of Famers who participated in these 2 games were both coaches, Conzelman and Neale, the Cardinal’s Charlie Trippi, for the Eagles, Alex Wociehowicz, Pete Pihos, and of course Van Buren. He retired in 1951, having won 4 rushing titles and leading the league once in kickoff returns and once in punt returns.
Van Buren changed the game for ever because until then, conventional NFL thought was that the only way to win was running by committee.
He was the first back to be the man so to speak.
