1945 NFL Championship-Philadelphia Eagles-37, Cleveland Rams-7

December 23, 1945

Weather-18 degrees, 17 mph SW, light snow

Philadelphia used a punishing ground attack and a stifling defense to smother the Rams, winning their second consecutive NFL championship, 37-7. Ernie Steele took the first handoff of the game, swept the left side, and took it 70 yards to the house for a 7-0 Eagles lead. Philadelphia would finish with 217 yards rushing as a team, led by 99 yards from Steve Van Buren.

Van Buren would run for 2 scores in the third quarter, taking a tight 13-7 game at halftime and turning it into a 27-7 rout. Eagles QB Roy Zimmerman battled the elements to finish 10 of 16 for 149 yards and a TD. Philadelphia limited Cleveland to just 182 yards for the game.

Philadelphia Eagles.(9-3)-7-6-14-10-37
Cleveland Rams........(10-2)-0-7-0-0-7

Phi-Steele 70 run (Zimmerman Kick)
Phi-Lindskog 49 interception return (Kick Missed)
Cle-Benton 41 pass from Waterfield (Waterfield Kick)
Phi-Van Buren 5 run (Zimmerman Kick)
Phi-Van Buren 8 run (Zimmerman Kick)
Phi-McDonald 9 pass from Zimmerman (Zimmerman Kick)
Phi-Zimmerman 22 FG

Rushing (season totals in parentheses)
Phi-Van Buren-19-99-2 (182-1,034-19), Steele-6-94-1 (32-323-3), Karnofsky-8-27-0 (58-167-2), Zimmerman-5-(-1)-0 (35-(-10)-1), Bleeker-9-(-2)-0 (69-189-2)
Cle-Greenwood-12-46-0 (130-477-6), Gehrke-9-24-0 (96-587-7), Gillette-7-16-0 (81-444-1), Colella-1-1-0 (55-257-3)

Passing
Phi-Zimmerman-16-10-149-1-0 (160-85-1,210-12-8)
Cle-Waterfield-24-6-112-1-1 (207-103-1,855-16-21)

Receiving
Phi-Ferrante-3-56-0 (26-539-8), Karnofsky-2-50-0 (8-164-1), Cabrelli-1-16-0 (17-167-0), Bleeker-1-14-0 (4-46-0), McDonald-1-9-1 (9-84-2), Humbert-1-5-0 (8-61-0), Meyer-1-(-1)-0 (14-158-1)
Cle-Benton-4-82-1 (53-1,203-10), Hamilton-1-17-0 (6-82-0), Pritko-1-13-0 (23-333-4)