In the Pro Football Hall of Fame's terrific 50th anniversary book, they put together the 11 most significant events in the history of the NFL. I don't think that they ranked them. They only picked them. Here they are:
1. 1958 NFL Championship game
2. The challenge from the AFL
3. Pete Rozelle's appointment as commissioner
4. League formation in 1920
5. The signing of Red Grange
6. NFL Draft
7. Reintegration
8. Monday Night Football
9. Super Bowl
10. Ice Bowl
11. AFL-NFL merger
It's difficult to criticize any of these choices. I tend to think that the AFL-NFL merger and the Super Bowl are connected. The latter was a direct result of the former. At first glance I didn't see that the Ice Bowl was significant enough to warrant inclusion. After reading the selectors opinions on the game I can better understand the inclusion. Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers were one of the most significant teams in league history. That game was not only a fantastic game it also put the exclamation point on Lombardi's coaching career and the Packers dynasty.
The event not on this that should be on any list of the most significant in league history is the 1932 tie-breaker game between the Chicago Bears and the Portsmouth Spartans. For their first thirteen years the NFL crowned the team with the best regular season record as the champion. There was no championship game. The professional league followed college football on pretty much all matters of importance. Including the naming of a champion without the benefit of a championship game. At least there was no BCS back then. That and so many other things would change following this Bears-Spartans game. When the 1932 regular season ended with the Bears and Spartans tied at the top of the standings the NFL entered into a postseason for the first time. Because of severe weather in Chicago the game was moved indoors. Due to a smaller playing area the rules for this game had to be adjusted. When the play went out of bounds or was downed near the sideline the ball was moved away from the sidelines for the next snap. This brought about the introduction of the hash marks the next year. Forward passing rules were modified due to the play on the field of this game. This was one of the final steps toward the passing game that we know today. With these rules modifications the NFL for the first time stepped away from the college game. This was a huge step for the still young professional league. Most importantly the excitement generated by this "championship" game was like a light bulb going off for the league. Starting in 1933 the NFL would stage a Championship Game. That alone makes the Bears-Spartan one of the most significant games ever played. When you consider that it also led the NFL to leave the path paved by college football you have one of the most important events in NFL history.
By the way, the Bears won the game, 9-0.
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