The 1955 NFL Championship Game was the 23rd

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

championship game, played on December 26 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. It was between the Eastern Conference champion

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...

(9–2–1), the defending league champions, and the Los Angeles Rams (8–3–1), champions of the Western Conference. The attendance of 87,695 broke the NFL championship game record by nearly 30,000. This was the first NFL championship game played on a Monday and the first televised by

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

. In their sixth consecutive NFL title game, the Browns were six-point favorites. The Browns successfully defended the title and won their third NFL championship of the 1950s in a second straight rout, 38–14. Their next (and most recent) league title was in

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarc ...

, . This was the Rams' fourth title game in seven seasons, with one victory in

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

. They did not reach the league's big game again until Super Bowl XIV in January 1980, and did not win until

Super Bowl XXXIV Super Bowl XXXIV was an American football game played at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta on January 30, 2000, to determine the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1999 season. The National Football Conference (NFC) champion St. Louis ...

in January 2000, as the

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arr ...

Game summary

First half

Browns veteran

Lou Groza Louis Roy Groza (January 25, 1924 – November 29, 2000), nicknamed "the Toe", was an American professional football player who was a placekicker and offensive tackle while playing his entire career for the Cleveland Browns in the All-America F ...

kicked off; Rams rookie halfback Ron Waller returned the kick, and Groza himself made the tackle. A subsequent Rams drive was stopped at the Cleveland 12 when Kenny Konz intercepted a

Norm Van Brocklin Norman Mack Van Brocklin (March 15, 1926 – May 2, 1983), nicknamed "The Dutchman", was an American football quarterback and coach who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 12 seasons. He spent his first nine seasons with the Los An ...

pass. Browns quarterback

Otto Graham Otto Everett Graham Jr. (December 6, 1921 – December 17, 2003) was an American professional football player who was a quarterback for the Cleveland Browns in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and National Football League (NFL). Graha ...

, who had announced his retirement at the end of the season, drove Cleveland to the L.A. 26 where Groza's FG gave the Browns a 3–0 first quarter lead. The Browns scored again when DB Don Paul intercepted Van Brocklin's pass on the Browns 35 and raced 65 yards for a touchdown, making the score 10–0. The Rams answered back when Van Brocklin connected with halfback Volney "Skeet" Quinlan for a 67-yard touchdown, pulling the Rams to within 3 points, 10–7, and giving the large crowd hopes of an upset. But late in the second period, Van Brocklin threw his third interception of the half; defensive back Tom James, who had been beaten on the Rams'

Tom Fears Thomas Jesse Fears (December 3, 1922 – January 4, 2000) was a Mexican-American professional football player who was a split end for the Los Angeles Rams in the National Football League (NFL), playing nine seasons from 1948 to 1956. He was lat ...

' title-winning touchdown on the same field four years earlier, grabbed the errant pass and took the ball back to midfield with time running out. The next play turned a close game into a rout; Otto Graham found

Dante Lavelli Dante Bert Joseph "Gluefingers" Lavelli (February 23, 1923 – January 20, 2009) was an American professional football player who was an end for the Cleveland Browns in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and National Football League ...

with a 50-yard touchdown pass along the sideline and the Rams, who moments earlier were driving to take the lead, went to the locker room down 17–7.

Second half

Graham earned his place as the star of the game. After moving the Browns from the L.A. 46, Graham kept the ball and ran around right end from the 19 and scored to put the Browns ahead 24–7. On Los Angeles's next possession,

Sam Palumbo Sam Palumbo (born June 7, 1932) is a former linebacker in the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the fourth round of the 1955 NFL Draft and played two seasons with the team. During the 1957 NFL season he pla ...

intercepted Van Brocklin at the Ram 36. Graham drove the Browns to the 4, then scored himself on a sneak. Groza's conversion increased Cleveland's lead to 31–7 with two minutes left in the third quarter. In the final period, Graham tossed a 35-yard touchdown pass to

Ray Renfro Austin Raymond Renfro (November 7, 1929 – August 4, 1997) was an American professional gridiron football player. Renfro attended the University of North Texas and played in 12 NFL seasons from 1952–1963 for the Cleveland Browns. He is the fa ...

and Groza's kick gave the Browns a 38–7 lead. Late in the game, Waller ran four yards for a touchdown and

Les Richter Leslie Alan Richter (October 6, 1930 – June 12, 2010) was an American football linebacker who played for the Los Angeles Rams of National Football League (NFL). He also served as the head of operations for NASCAR and president of the River ...

's conversion finished the scoring. In the final minutes coach Brown sent in reserve quarterback

George Ratterman George William Ratterman (November 12, 1926 – November 3, 2007) was an American football player in the All-America Football Conference and the National Football League. Early life He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he graduated from St. X ...

and allowed Graham to leave the field to an ovation from the Los Angeles crowd. Cleveland, with its third title of the decade, represented the American/Eastern Conference in the championship game every year since its admission to the NFL, celebrated Graham's farewell. The Rams' Van Brocklin, who threw six interceptions, often was quoted that it was the worst game of his hall of fame career.

Scoring summary

''Monday, December 26, 1955''
Kickoff: 1 p.m. PST *First quarter **CLE – FG,

26, 3–0 CLE *Second quarter **CLE – Don Paul 65 interception (Groza kick), 10–0 CLE **LA – Skeet Quinlan 67 pass from

(

kick), 10–7 CLE **CLE –

50 pass from

(Groza kick), 17–7 CLE *Third quarter **CLE – Graham 15 run (Groza kick), 24–7 CLE **CLE – Graham 1 run (Groza kick), 31–7 CLE *Fourth quarter **CLE –

35 pass from Graham (Groza kick), 38–7 CLE **LA – Ron Waller 4 run (Richter kick), 38–14 CLE

Officials

*Referee:

Ronald Gibbs Ronald James Gibbs (June 29, 1900 – March 12, 1985) was an American football player, coach, and referee. Coaching career Gibbs was a graduate of the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. He served as the school's head football coa ...

*Umpire: Sam Wilson *Linesman: Dan Tehan *Back Judge: Tay Brown *Field Judge: William McHugh *Alternate: Emil Heintz *Alternate: Cletus Gardner *Alternate: James Underhill The NFL added the fifth official, the back judge, in ; the line judge arrived in , and the side judge in .

Players' shares

The gross receipts for the game, including radio and television rights, were over $504,000, the highest to date. Each player on the winning Browns team received $3,508, while Rams players made $2,316 each.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1955 Nfl Championship Game Championship Game, 1955 National Football League Championship games Cleveland Browns postseason Los Angeles Rams postseason December 1955 sports events in the United States 1955 in sports in Ohio Sports competitions in Cleveland