George McAfee’s death this month at 90 virtually completes time’s inevitable devastation of the team that wrought the most resounding rout in pro football history.
The date was Dec. 8, 1940, just 364 days before a much more serious bombardment at Pearl Harbor. The place was old Griffith Stadium in Northwest. The event was the eighth annual NFL championship game.
The score was Chicago Bears 73, Washington Redskins 0. Subsequent Redskins media guides described the occasion with a nice touch of irony: “73-to-Ohhh! Redskins get more first downs [18-17] than Bears in title game.”
Now only two reserves remain from those aptly nicknamed Monsters of the Midway, according to the Pro Football Hall of Fame: quarterback Sollie Sherman and end John Siegal. Both are in their 90s, and we may assume that any mention of that game brings a grin to their grizzled mugs.
Two-way halfback McAfee, whose eight-year NFL career landed him in the Hall of Fame along with five teammates and owner/coach George Halas, was one of the key players on a Bears team that dominated the league in the early 1940s with its newfangled T-formation offense.
Oddly, though, his only touchdown that day came on a 34-yard interception return of a pass by fellow Hall of Famer Sammy Baugh. The TD was not exactly crucial. It came in the third quarter and increased the Bears’ lead to 48-0. For the afternoon, the 6-foot, 178-pounder carried seven times for 32 yards, threw one incomplete pass and had no receptions.
After McAfee gained 7 yards on the Bears’ first offensive play, Bill Osmanski raced 68 yards to score and ignite the 11-touchdown barrage. Then Baugh took the Redskins swiftly downfield only to see end Charley Malone drop a pass in the end zone.
In the Redskins’ desolate locker room afterward, a man asked Sam, “Would the result have been different if Charley had held that pass?”
Replied Baugh, delivering the most memorable quote of what would be a 16-year career in burgundy and gold: “Sure - it would have been 73-7.”
Fascinating sidelights dotted the day. The Redskins had beaten the Bears 7-3 just three weeks earlier; for the rematch, Chicago simply rearranged the digits. And although the Redskins came into the championship game with a 9-2 record to the Bears’ 8-3 and were playing at home, Chicago was favored by most bookmakers.
“That’s ridiculous,” said George Preston Marshall, the Redskins’ owner. “We already beat them, and we only lost two games all year.”
Said Halas, his archenemy: “Sure we’ve got power, but I don’t know if we can stop the Redskins.”
Yeah, right.
Actually, the Bears had an unlikely secret weapon in blabbermouth Marshall, who insisted after the earlier meeting, “They’re front-runners, quitters. They’re just a bunch of crybabies. They fold up when the going gets tough.”
When the Bears trooped into Griffith Stadium’s tiny visitors locker room, they found Halas had been there before them to post newspaper clippings of Marshall’s remarks all over the place. Considering the outcome, this might be why every coach in every sport now describes every opponent as frighteningly fearsome.
In case anybody missed the point, Halas made a little speech to his troops: “Gentlemen, this is what George Preston Marshall thinks of you. I think you’re the greatest football team ever assembled. Go out there and prove it.”
Mission accomplished - and then some. The Bears rolled to a 28-0 halftime lead, and the second half was even worse for the Redskins even though Sid Luckman, Chicago’s star quarterback, sat out. For the game, eight Washington passes were intercepted and three were returned for touchdowns. Meanwhile, Chicago’s offense contributed touchdown runs of 42 yards by Joe Maniaci, 23 by Ray Nolting and 44 by Harry Clarke.
Near game’s end, a ludicrous announcement droned over the P.A. system: “Redskins season tickets for 1941 will go on sale…”
The announcer’s final words disappeared in a hail of boos.
Following that noncontest, the Bears went 29-2-1 in the next three seasons and won two more titles. Surprisingly, the Redskins rebounded to beat them 14-6 in the 1942 championship game - the franchise’s last league title for 43 seasons.
Nearly seven decades later, however, 73-0 still boggles the mind. The Bears were truly invincible that day - as much so as any team ever.
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