# 1945 Pittsburgh Steelers season

The 1945 Pittsburgh Steelers season was the franchise's 13th season in the National Football League (NFL). The team finished the season with a record of 2–8. This season marked the first and only season played with Jim Leonard as head coach.

## Regular season
### Schedule

| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record |
| 1 | September 26 | at Boston Yanks | L 7–28 | 0–1 |
| 2 | October 7 | New York Giants | L 6–34 | 0–2 |
| 3 | October 14 | Washington Redskins | L 0–14 | 0–3 |
| 4 | October 21 | at New York Giants | W 21–7 | 1–3 |
| 5 | October 28 | Boston Yanks | L 6–10 | 1–4 |
| 6 | November 4 | Philadelphia Eagles | L 3–45 | 1–5 |
| 7 | November 11 | Chicago Cardinals | W 23–0 | 2–5 |
| 8 | November 18 | at Philadelphia Eagles | L 6–30 | 2–6 |
| 9 | November 25 | at Chicago Bears | L 7–28 | 2–7 |
| 10 | December 2 | at Washington Redskins | L 0–24 | 2–8 |

### Game summaries
#### Week 1 (Tuesday September 25, 1945): Boston Yanks

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Steelers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 7 |
| Yanks | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 28 |
at Fenway Park, Boston, Massachusetts
* Game time:
* Game weather:
* Game attendance: 27,502
* Referee:
Scoring Drives:
* Boston – J. Martin 5 run (Lio kick)
* Boston – F. Martin 53 pass from Cafego (Lio kick)
* Boston – Manders 1 run (Lio kick)
* Pittsburgh – Lucente 60 lateral from Bova after 10 pass from Jarvi (Naioti kick)
* Boston – Manders 2 run (Lio kick)

#### Week 2 (Sunday, October 7, 1945): New York Giants

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Giants | 6 | 28 | 0 | 0 | 34 |
| Steelers | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
* Game time:
* Game weather:
* Game attendance: 20,097
* Referee:
Scoring Drives:
* New York – FG Strong 21
* New York – FG Strong 42
* Pittsburgh – Duhart 3 run (kick failed)
* New York – Filpowicz – 10 pass from Herber (Strong kick)
* New York – Leibel 38 pass from Herber (Strong kick)
* New York – Piccolo 7 fumble run (Strong kick)

#### Week 3 (Sunday October 14, 1945): Washington Redskins

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Redskins | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 14 |
| Steelers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
* Game time:
* Game weather:
* Game attendance: 14,050
* Referee:
Scoring Drives:
* Washington – Dye 13 pass from Baugh (Aguirre kick)
* Washington – Rosato 3 run (Aguirre kick)

#### Week 4 (Sunday October 21, 1945): New York Giants

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Steelers | 7 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 21 |
| Giants | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7 |
at Polo Grounds, New York, New York
* Game time:
* Game weather:
* Game attendance: 43,070
* Referee:
Scoring Drives:
* Pittsburgh – Lucente 3 run (Naioti kick)
* Pittsburgh – Warren 1 run (Naioti kick)
* Pittsburgh – Doyle 50 interception (Naioti kick)
* New York – Livingston 15 pass from Herber (Strong kick)

#### Week 5 (Sunday October 28, 1945): Boston Yanks

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Yanks | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Steelers | 0 | 3 | 0 | 14 | 17 |
at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
* Game time:
* Game weather:
* Game attendance: 25,447
* Referee:
Scoring Drives:
* Boston – FG Lio 19
* Pittsburgh – FG Agajanian 19
* Pittsburgh – FG Agajanian 25
* Boston Martin 25 lateral from Currivan after 27 pass from Gudmundson (Lio kick)

#### Week 6 (Sunday November 4, 1945): Philadelphia Eagles

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Eagles | 6 | 7 | 13 | 19 | 45 |
| Steelers | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
* Game time:
* Game weather:
* Game attendance: 23,018
* Referee:
Scoring Drives:
* Pittsburgh – FG Agajanian 31
* Philadelphia – Ferrante 26 pass from Zimmerman (kick failed)
* Philadelphia – Ferrante 65 pass from Zimmerman (Zimmerman kick)
* Philadelphia – Van Buren 20 run (kick failed)
* Philadelphia – Meyer 27 pass from Zimmerman (Zimmerman kick)
* Philadelphia – Banta 22 run (kick failed)
* Philadelphia – Bleeker 14 run (Zimmerman kick)
* Philadelphia – Karnofsky 19 run (kick failed)

#### Week 7 (Sunday November 11, 1945): Chicago Cardinals

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Cardinals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Steelers | 0 | 3 | 0 | 20 | 23 |
at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
* Game time:
* Game weather:
* Game attendance: 13,153
* Referee:
Scoring Drives:
* Pittsburgh – FG Agajanian 15
* Pittsburgh – Dudley 1 run (Dudley kick)
* Pittsburgh – Dudley 1 run (kick failed)
* Pittsburgh – Warren 75 run (Dudley kick)

#### Week 8 (Sunday November 18, 1945): Philadelphia Eagles

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Steelers | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Eagles | 7 | 6 | 10 | 7 | 30 |
at Shibe Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
* Game time:
* Game weather:
* Game attendance: 23,838
* Referee:
Scoring Drives:
* Philadelphia – Karnofsky 12 run (Zimmerman kick)
* Pittsburgh – Kiick 1 run (kick failed)
* Philadelphia – Van Buren 3 run (kick failed)
* Philadelphia – FG Zimmerman 30
* Philadelphia – Van Buren 6 run (Zimmerman kick)
* Philadelphia – Steele 4 run (Rogalla kick)

#### Week 9 (Sunday November 25, 1945): Chicago Bears

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Steelers | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Bears | 14 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 28 |
at Wrigley Field, Chicago, Illinois
* Game time:
* Game weather:
* Game attendance: 20,689
* Referee:
Scoring Drives:
* Chicago Bears – McAffee 33 run (Gudauskas kick)
* Pittsburgh – Dudley 4 run (Agajanian kick)
* Chicago Bears – McAfee 65 pass from Luckman (Gudauskas kick)
* Chicago Bears – Grygo 33 pass from Luckman (Gudauskas kick)
* Chicago Bears – McAfee 2 run (Gudauskas kick)

#### Week 10 (Sunday December 2, 1945): Washington Redskins

| | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| Steelers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Redskins | 7 | 7 | 0 | 10 | 24 |
at Griffith Stadium, Washington, DC
* Game time:
* Game weather:
* Game attendance: 34,788
* Referee:
Scoring Drives:
* Washington – Bagarus 70 pass from Baugh (Aguirre kick)
* Washington – Turley 10 pass from Baugh (Aguirre kick)
* Washington – FG Aguirre 26
* Washington – Bagarus 29 pass from Baugh (Aguirre kick)

## Standings

NFL Eastern Division :
| viewtalkedit | W | L | T | PCT | DIV | PF | PA | STK |
| Washington Redskins | 8 | 2 | 0 | .800 | 6–2 | 209 | 121 | W2 |
| Philadelphia Eagles | 7 | 3 | 0 | .700 | 5–2 | 272 | 133 | W1 |
| Yanks | 3 | 6 | 1 | .333 | 3–2–1 | 123 | 211 | L5 |
| New York Giants | 3 | 6 | 1 | .333 | 2–4–1 | 179 | 198 | L1 |
| Pittsburgh Steelers | 2 | 8 | 0 | .200 | 1–7 | 79 | 220 | L3 |
       Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.