All-America Football Conference
Championship Game
1949
12-11-1949
On
December 9, 1949, the National Football League and All-American Football
Conference announced a merger to be in effect for the 1950 season. The
agreement effectively ended the AAFC and the player war that had boiled
for four years. With the agreement, the new National-American Football
League would be formed. Three teams from the AAFC would merge into the
NFL. They were the Baltimore Colts, Cleveland Browns and San Francisco
49ers. The Browns and 49ers would meet two days later for the final AAFC
championship game. The game was played at Municipal Stadium in
Cleveland. A low turnout of 22,550 was blamed on the fact that the news
of the merger had leaked out four days prior to the game. In the AAFC
playoffs (instituted in that final season) first place Cleveland had
defeated fourth-place Buffalo, 31-21 and second-place San Francisco beat
the third-place New York Yankees, 17-7. The coaches for the contest were
Paul Brown of Cleveland and Buck Shaw of the 49ers.
The field in Cleveland was very muddy and the Browns’ white uniforms
were turned to brown in the slush. Early in the first period,
Cleveland’s Otto Graham threw a 38 yard pass to Mac Speedie, who made a
diving catch at the 49ers’ 19 yard line. Marion Motley carried ten yards
down to the 9 and, four plays later, Edgar Jones carried the ball into
the end zone from the two. That was all the
scoring
in the first period. As the second period started, San Francisco was at
their own 27 yard line. They marched to the Browns’ 24 in nine plays
behind quarterback Frankie Albert, but Joe Vetrano missed a 41 yard
field goal. The score was 7-0 at the half.
Cleveland kicked off to start the second half. Three San Francisco
running plays netted four yards and Albert punted . The Browns drove to
the 49er five yard line behind Graham passes to Dante Lavelli and Dub
Jones. But, the 49ers held from there and took over on downs. It looked
like the game was actually going to be a contest. The 49ers had
historically given the Browns tough competition, defeating them twice in
their four year history. However, San Francisco was only able to advance
the ball to their own 35 before Albert again punted. With the ball at
their own 37, Marion Motley burst into the open on a trap play and raced
63 yards for the score. It was 14-0. But the 49ers didn’t give up and
Albert promptly drove them to the Browns’ 24 as the third period ended.
On fourth down from the 23, he connected with Paul Salata for a
touchdown. Vetrano kicked his record 107th consecutive PAT and the score
was 14-7. The Browns returned the kickoff to the 34. Graham led the
Browns on a 66 yard, 11 play drive with Dub Jones twisting the ball over
from four yards. Lou Groza kicked his third extra point of the day and
the final score was 21-7.
The
Cleveland Browns won their fourth consecutive AAFC crown. They were the
only champions in the four year history of the league. Their final
overall record in the AAFC 56-4-3. San Francisco coach, Buck Shaw,
attempted to analyze his team’s loss. “They had a weight advantage on
the line and in the backfield, which was a heavy asset for a muddy
field. We weren’t covering close enough on Graham’s sneaks either.” Then
he paused and said, “Aw, hell, what’s the use of analyzing? We just
weren’t good enough . You can’t afford to make any mistakes against
them. They’re a great team.” Coach Brown of Cleveland said, “I’d like
nothing better than to play the National League champ as soon as
possible.”
Brown would get his chance in a few short months as the Browns would
meet the Philadelphia Eagles on September 16, 1950 (Click HERE to read
about this game). But, before that, they would have one more game. The
last game in the history of the AAFC. The only AAFC All-Star game
between a team of league all-stars and the Browns in Houston, TX in the
Shamrock Bowl on Dec. 17, 1949.
