A Masterful Performance in the Mud
The 1949 NFL Championship Wasn’t Just About Mud.
It Was About Football Mastery.
When the Eagles take the field tomorrow evening in Los Angeles, the 2024 matchup will not be the first time that the Eagles and Rams will meet on the West Coast in a season laced with the potential promise of yet another Philadelphia Championship.
One year after the Eagles captured their first-ever NFL Championship in a nor’easter — their second in consecutive seasons would see another weather condition. When the driving rains surrounded the Los Angeles Coliseum — which would host the Summer Olympics in 1928, 1932, and 1984 and will host in 2028, no one could have envisioned the sea of mud that would engulf the field.
Thanks mainly to Earl “Greasy” Neale’s aversion to air travel — the Eagles took a train across the country, stopping at the University of Chicago for a workout in December of 1949.
PHOTO: WikiCommons
If the Los Angeles Rams (8–2–2) were slowed by the growing mud on the field and the driving west coast rains — the Eagles were not. In front of an attendance-low 22,245 fans — a mark that would not be reached again in the NFL until a Covid-restricted 2020 — the Eagles (11–1) shined on both offense and defense. The result would be the first time an NFL Championship was won on the West Coast.
The Rams—who had already lost to the Eagles 38–14 in Philadelphia earlier in the season—could not get their offense on track behind the passing of two quarterbacks. The Eagles’ defense blanked the first quarterback (Bob Waterfield) and the Rams’ offense, while Steve Van Buren and the Eagles’ rushing attack racked up 196 yards on 31 carries.
The last time the Eagles won three consecutive road games by at least twenty points was in 1949. This season, the Eagles have won against the Giants 28–3, the Bengals 37–17, and the depleted Cowboys 34–6.
In 2024 — Saquon Barkley isn’t just an elite. He’s a record smasher. His 1,071 all-purpose yards, 925 rushing yards, and eight touchdowns have only been done three times in NFL history — in 2007 by Adrian Peterson and twice by Jim Brown (in 1958 and one in 1963.)
This, coupled with his 443 yards in the last three games — is a feat that hasn’t been accomplished in Eagles history since Steve Van Buren did so in 1948 against the Giants, Washington, and the Boston Yanks. And Barkley is an ever greater physical specimen than Van Buren was.
Oh, and that second quarterback who entered the 1949 NFL Championship Game for the Rams?
It was Norm Van Brocklin — who would win a championship in Philadelphia for the Eagles eleven years later.
PHOTO: WikiCommons
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