1936 NFL season

[74_75_78_79_]

Of course this was the first NFL season ever in which no franchise folded nor a new one debuted and, also, ALL teams playing the same amount of games, at 12 each. So much for "back in the old days they'd never cancel a game no matter the weather". The year before, the Boston at Philly game was cancelled due to bad weather. Otherwise, 1935 would be the first such season of that very destiction opening sentence.

The Western division was so much stronger than the Eastern as was the case as of late, especially the previous year. No, it wasn't all four teams finishing above-500. The Cards took a dive starting off at 0-7 (though they'd go 3-1-1 from there), but the defending-Champ Lions, who'd end up in third at 8-4, were much better than anyone in the Eastern. But after starting at 3-0, they'd lose close ones at GB and then at the Bears, then lose yet again the following week at NYG, thus the division basically becoming a two-team race.

Having already split against each other - winning at each other's field - both the Bears & Packers were tied at 9-1 with two games to go. But after posting that 9th win four days prior, the Bears lose at Detroit on Thanksgiving Day and would also lose again, to their crosstown-rivals, three days later as Green Bay would go 1-0-1 from there to make it a 10-1-1 finish and a LCG-berth.

What was WITH that whole a team not getting a break after playing on Thanksgiving at the time??

And then there was the Eastern which, again, was the far weaker division. And was it ever! The three teams that 'competed' for the division - Boston, Pittsburgh, and NYG - collectively got clobbered in their games vs GB/Bears/Det! Okay, Boston lost to GB by just a 7-3 score, and the Giants didn't do too bad in their 26-14 loss to them, but it was indeed the Giants who were the only ones of that Eastern trio to beat any of those three Western beasts - the aforementioned win over the Lions, but only to then get hammered two weeks later in the rematch at Detroit, 38-0!

So much for '47 and '63 being the "almost" NFLCG-berths for the 'Burgh pre-Chuck Noll. 1936, actually, was the first true "almost" for the Steelers (I mean, Pirates) in that regard. They started out 3-0! But they didn't even make a dent in any of their games vs GB/Bears/Det! They lost both of their games, two weeks apart, against the Bears by a combined 53-16, lost at GB, 38-10, and at Detroit, 28-3. A combined 119-29 - ouch!!

Yet, the 'Burgh were at 6-5 going into the first of two...'play-in' games to decide the Eastern title. It would be against the very team they'd beat at home in the opener, the Redskins who were 5-5 with this game, of course, being at Fenway. Boston destroys them, 30-0! Next up (with the Pirates season now over and OUT at 6-6)? The 5-5-1 G-men at the Polo Grounds to decide things! Boston wins that one as well, avenging their earlier loss to them, and scoring another shutout, 14-0! The Giants gave up almost 50 more points than they scored for the entire season! And Pittsburgh gave up almost TWICE as much points than they scored! The Eastern 'champs' were the only team in the division that'd finish with a positive PD at +39. The thing is, however, it took those closing back-to-back 30-0 and 14-0 results to make it positive!

Of course that very team that'd move to DC the following year would lose convincingly to the Pack on an actual neutral site - the Polo Grounds! Not neutral, of course, had the Giants won a week prior. Held at this venue instead due to low ticket sales up at Fenway (again, off to DC in '37). The halftime score was only 7-6 (Boston missed the XP) in favor of GB. But the Pack pulled away in the 2nd half, making it a 21-6 final. Not too bad an effort by Boston considering Frank Bausch getting ejected in the 3rd Q due to fighting. His replacement botched snaps from there, especially on punts. Losing Cliff Battles early in the 1st another thing to consider. Yet, it was "just" 21-6. And, again, they only lost by a 7-3 score to GB during the season. That said, as many call the 2008 Cardinals the weakest-ever SB-runner-up, I can only imagine unfortunately that everyone here agrees that this very 7-5 team is the weakest NFLCG-loser ever in the pre-SB-era.

[Bob Gill]

I'd have to agree about the 1936 Redskins being the weakest team to play in a championship game. They got better in '37, of course -- but so did the Giants. In the Redskins' case, it's easy to see how Sammy Baugh made them better, but I'm not sure what caused the Giants' improvement. Or maybe the question is why they fell off so much in 1936, which I think was their only losing season in the decade.

[John Maxymuk]

The '36 Giants lost two of their best players to the AFL, Harry Newman and Ken Strong, although Ed Danowski was an able replacement for Newman and rookie Tuffy Leemans stepped in for Strong. Overall, the team's talent base had declined. However, in 1937 the Giants had an amazing rookie haul that would restore the franchise:
Ends: Jim Lee Howell, Jim Poole, Will Walls
Tackles: Ox Parry and Ed Widseth
Guards: Tarzan White, Kayo Lunday, Orville Tuttle
Backs: Hank Soar and Ward Cuff
They won the title in '38 and won the East again in '39.

[Bob Gill]

The '36 Giants lost two of their best players to the AFL, Harry Newman and Ken Strong, although Ed Danowski was an able replacement for Newman and rookie Tuffy Leemans stepped in for Strong. Overall, the team's talent base had declined. However, in 1937 the Giants had an amazing rookie haul that would restore the franchise:
Ends: Jim Lee Howell, Jim Poole, Will Walls
Tackles: Ox Parry and Ed Widseth
Guards: Tarzan White, Kayo Lunday, Orville Tuttle
Backs: Hank Soar and Ward Cuff
They won the title in '38 and won the East again in '39.

Ah, I guess that explains it. It's easier to remember that the Redskins got Baugh, one extremely famous player, than that the Giants got all those useful parts.

It explains 1937, anyway -- but I'm not sure the loss of Newman and Strong can explain the 1936 slump. Neither one of them had played a whole lot in 1935, and they weren't really that effective either. They both did well in the AFL in '36, though. In Newman's case, particularly, he had broken a disc or something in his back toward the end of the 1934 season, and maybe it took him all of '35 to get back in playing shape. Still, they probably wouldn't have played him and Danowski at the same time, so I'm not sure how much he would've helped.

[74_75_78_79_]

Great responses as always!

I guess you can say that the '36 Redskins are like the '68 Vikings. Mediocre but get eliminated by a juggernaut (Colts in Minny's case) by not as bad a margin as you'd think. And then the following year they're championship-caliber, Washington winning-it-all in their case. 1936 should be seen as the first step of modernity in the NFL given the very first sentence of this thread. Perhaps consider Sammy Baugh's arrival in '37 - the first modern QB - as the 'second' step ('36/'37 a one-two punch).

Pirates had a bye in their final week thus for what its possibly worth had an opportunity to not only host the NFL Championship Game, but have a nice two weeks to prepare. Not that it would have made a difference; just saying.


Question - going back to 1935, just how exactly bad was the weather that cancelled the Boston @ Philly game? It must have been something real Historic, something to be brought up on the Weather Channel, I'd imagine. Thanks in-advance for any knowledge!