|
|
Chicago Bears 34 Montreal Alouettes 16
|
 |
||||||||||||||||||
|
Aug. 5, 1961 |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
Bears Rip Alouettes
Neither side lost personnel through injury. But the hitting was sharp and produced a couple of fist fights.
Five players were tossed out of the game by the officials. Four went after a second-quarter flare-up, when both benches poured on the field.
Tossed out for the brawl were Montreal defensive ends Don Paquette and Billy Ray Locklin and Chicago tackle Stan Fanning and halfback Bobby Bethune. Montreal's Jack Simpson later was thumbed for rough play.
Chicago led 13-9 at halftime.
The Bears, from the National Football League, passed for four of their five touchdowns. Chicago's total offence was 516 yards, despite Montreal's five deep backs.
The Bears yielded a total of 206 yards to Montreal.
The Als used Tom Dimitroff and Wes Gideon at quarterback, resting first stringer Nellie Yarbrough. Gideon and Dimitroff completed five of 17 passes.
Quarters Ed Brown and Billy Wade of Chicago threw two touchdown passes each, with the catches made by ends John Farrington, Harlon Hill and Angelo Coia and fullback Rick Casares.
Casares banged over tackle from three yards out for a second touchdown. Four converts were kicked by Roger Leclerc.
Linebacker George Ediderich converted a Montreal interception into a 53-yard touchdown run in the final quarter. The pass was by Chicago's Dick Norman, who completed the five others he threw.
A 46-yard passing hookup between Dimitroff and halfback Don Clark provided Montreal's other touchdown. Bill Bewley converted
Attendance was 16,293.
Bears Beat Canadian Pros, 34-16 Chicago Tribune
MONTREAL, Aug. 8 [Special]- The Chicago Bears, held to a 13 to 9 first half lead by the Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League, scored three touchdowns in the second half tonight to win, 34 to 16.
The contest was the first of six exhibitions for the Bears, the final one coming on Sept 8 in the annual armed forces' benefit game against the Pittsburgh Steelers in Soldiers' field.
The first half was played under Canadian roles, and the second by National Football league regulations, which might explain the Bears' problems during the first 90 minutes. Canadian rules require a team to make a first down in three plays instead of four. Also, there are bans on downfield blocking and the making of a fair catch of a punt
Despite their slow start, the Bears picked up 516 yards, including 401 by passing and 115 on the ground. They used three quarterbacks- Ed Brown, Bill Wade, and Dick Norman- and the trio combined for 29 completions in 41 attempts before 16,293.
On the ground, Fullback Rick Cesares and halfbacks Willie Galimore and Johnny Morris led the attack. Morris picked up 41 yards in five carries; Cesares, 27 in six, and Galimore, 29 in six.
Brown was the leading passer for the Bears, completing 11 out of 14 for 202 yards. Wade completed 13 out of 21 for 131 yards and Rookie Norman hit five of six for 80 yards.
The Alouettes opened the scoring at 4:40 of the first quarter when Bill Bewley kicked a 32 yard field goal. The Bears bounced back to take a 7 to 3 lead at the end of the first quarter when Brown pitched a 30 yard touchdown pass to John Farrington. Roger LeClerc added the extra point.
Montreal took a 9 to 7 lead at 4:56 of the second quarter on a 64 yard pass from Tom Dimitroff to Don Clark. Bewley missed the extra point kick.
The Bears went ahead to stay at 13:50 of the second quarter when Wade threw a 14 yard pass to Cesares in the end zone. LeClerc missed on the extra point attempt to leave the Bears ahead at the half, 13 to 9.
The Bears completely dominated play in the second half under National Football league rules with Brown throwing 47 yards to Angelo Coia at 2:35 of the third quarter; Wade tossing to 19 yards to Harlon Hill at 4:50 of the fourth quarter, and Cesares climaxing a 50 yard drive with a three yard plunge at 8.10 of the final period. LeClerc added all three extra points to make it 34 to 9 before the Canadians added a final touchdown on George Deiderich's 47 yard runback on an interception of a Norman pass. Bewley added the extra point.
Scoring Summary
First Quarter MTL- FG Bewley 39 CHI- Farrington 30 yard pass from Brown (Leclerc kick)
Second Quarter MTL- Clark 64 yard pass-run from Dimitroff (kick failed) CHI- Cesares 14 yard pass from Wade (kick failed)
Third Quarter CHI- Coia 47 pass from Brown (Leclerc kick)
Fourth Quarter CHI- Hill 10 yard pass from Wade (Leclerc kick) CHI- Cesares 3 run (Leclerc kick) MTL- Diderich 53 yard pass interception (Bewley kick)
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||
The Bears and the Alouettes
met at Molson Stadium in Montreal on August 5, 1961. The Quebec populous
were intrigued by the prospect of a contest
between the two leagues in the days before the game. Of course, the
American teams were expected to be much stronger. Perry Moss, former
Packer star and the youngest college
head football coach in the US at Florida
State, was the newly acquired head coach of the Alouettes in 1961.
Montreal had offered Moss 5% of the team and a substantial raise to head
north. He would go on to coach in the NFL, WFL, USFL and Arena League.
Moss told the press before the game, "We perhaps will lose 50-0 or 80-0,
maybe it will be closer. I do not believe that it is important. What is
important is to prove with the majority our players, who have never
faced the talent of the NFL, that they also are human beings; that they
also make errors." George Halas, founder of the NFL, was the
legendary coach of the Chicago Bears. The contest featured a bench
clearing brawl. The Canadian Press mentioned this, the Chicago Tribune
did not.
MONTREAL (Canadian Press)- Chicago Bears,
their attack stalled under Canadian rules, rolled for the payoff in the
second half under the United States code and downed the Eastern
Conference Montreal Alouettes 34-16 Saturday night in exhibition
football.