The 1943 NFL Championship Game was the 11th annual title game of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL), held at

Wrigley Field Wrigley Field is a ballpark on the North Side, Chicago, North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charl ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

on December 26 with an attendance of 34,320. In a rematch of the previous year's game, the Western Division champion

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

(8–1–1) met the Eastern Division champion

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East ...

(6–3–1). The previous week, the Redskins had defeated the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

at the

Polo Grounds The Polo Grounds was the name of three stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City, used mainly for professional baseball and American football from 1880 to 1963. The original Polo Grounds, opened in 1876 and demolished in 1889, was built for the ...

in a playoff game by a score of 28–0 to determine the champs of the east, after the teams ended the regular season with identical records. The Redskins had dropped their final three regular season games, including two to the Giants. Even though the Giants had swept the season series with Washington, the rules of the time called for a tiebreaker game (division tiebreaker games were eliminated in

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

with the development of divisional tiebreaking rules). Wrigley Field in line with sign

The divisional playoff game pushed the championship game back to its latest ever date, and the late-December Chicago weather caused the game to be dubbed the "Ice Bowl." The Bears were favored by a touchdown, and won by twenty points, 41–21. The crowd was smaller than the previous year's and well off the championship game record of 48,120 set in

1938 Events January * January 1 – state-owned enterprise, State-owned railway networks are created by merger, in France (SNCF) and the Netherlands (Nederlandse Spoorwegen – NS). * January 20 – King Farouk of Egypt marries Saf ...

, but the gross gate receipts of $120,500 set a record. In addition to the gate, radio broadcast rights to the game were sold for $5,000. The Bears were led by quarterback Sid Luckman while

Sammy Baugh Samuel Adrian Baugh (March 17, 1914 – December 17, 2008) was an American professional football quarterback who played 16 seasons with the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the TCU Horne ...

was the quarterback for the Redskins. The Redskins were coached by Dutch Bergman. The Chicago win marked the franchise's third championship in four seasons, their fourth since the institution of the NFL Championship Game in , and their sixth championship overall.

Rosters

Starters

Substitutions

''Bears substitutions'':

Pool Pool may refer to: Bodies of water * Swimming pool, usually an artificial structure containing a large body of water intended for swimming * Reflecting pool, a shallow pool designed to reflect a structure and its surroundings * Tide pool, a roc ...

Berry A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples of berries in the cul ...

, Steinkemper, Babartsky, Mundee, Ippolito, Logan, Matuza, McLean, Luckman, Famighetti, Nagurski, McEnulty, Nolting and Vodicka. ''Redskins substitutions'': Piasecky, Lapka, Wilkin,

Zeno Zeno may refer to: People * Zeno (name), including a list of people and characters with the given name * Zeno (surname) Philosophers * Zeno of Elea (), philosopher, follower of Parmenides, known for his paradoxes * Zeno of Citium (333 – 264 B ...

, Fiorentino, Leon, Hayden, Baugh, Seymour, Moore, Gibson, Akins and Stasica.

Officials

*Referee: Ronald Gibbs *Umpire: John Kelly *Head linesman: Charlie Berry *Field judge: Eddie Tryon The NFL had only four game

officials An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless of whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority (either their own or that of the ...

in ; the back judge was added in , the line judge in , and the side judge in .

Scoring summary

''Sunday, December 26, 1943''
Kickoff: 2 p.m. CWT (CDT) *First quarter **''no scoring'' *Second quarter **WAS – Andy Farkas 1 yard run ( Bob Masterson kick), 7–0 WAS **CHI –

Harry Clarke Henry Patrick Clarke (17 March 1889 – 6 January 1931) was an Irish stained-glass artist and book illustrator. Born in Dublin, he was a leading figure in the Irish Arts and Crafts Movement. His work was influenced by both the Art Nouveau ...

31 yard pass from Sid Luckman ( Bob Snyder kick), 7–7 tie **CHI – Bronko Nagurski 3 yard run (Snyder kick), 14–7 CHI *Third quarter **CHI – Dante Magnani 36 yard pass from Luckman (Snyder kick), 21–7 CHI **CHI – Magnani 66 yard pass from Luckman (kick failed), 27–7 CHI **WAS – Farkas 17 yard pass from

(Masterson kick), 27–14 CHI *Fourth quarter **CHI – Jim Benton 26 yard pass from Luckman (Snyder kick), 34–14 CHI **CHI – Clarke 10 yard pass from Luckman (Snyder kick), 41–14 CHI **WAS – Joe Aguirre 25 yard pass from Baugh (Aguirre kick), 41–21 CHI

Game statistics

Players' shares

Each player on the Bears took home $1,135 while each member of the Redskins got $754.

References

{{NFL pre-sb Champ 1943 NFL Championship Game Chicago Bears postseason Washington Redskins postseason

NFL Championship Throughout its history, the National Football league (NFL) and other rival American football leagues have used several different formats to determine their league champions, including a period of inter-league matchups to determine a true national ...

December 1943 sports events in the United States 1940s in Chicago American football competitions in Chicago American football in Chicago Events at Wrigley Field