Evening star., 1942-12-13
F|aherty Avoids
Prediction But
Foe Sees Win
Tribe Mentor Ayers
Squad Is Physically
And Mentally Fit
By LEWIS F. ATCHISON.

The 1943 pro football champion
ship will be decided this afternoon
at Griffith Stadium where the ram
paging Chicago Bears knuckle down
with the Redskins, starting at 2
o'clock. Around the village the
talk is of another Bear victory.
The unbeaten Bears are prohibi-
tive favorites. Latest odds quoted
were ST. against the Skins with few
takers. but most of the wagering
was on point basis with Bear sup
porters giving as high as Is points
and even money.
Coach Ray Flaherty wasn't bub-
bling over with confidence as he
tucked the Tribe into its tepee last
night, but the noise from the Bears
headquarters at downtown hotel
sounded like pre-victory brawl at
its height.
I'm making no predictions" Fla
herty said. The Redskins are at
their best, physically and mentally.
We're as ready as we can be for
this game and all we want is a
good day and a dry field"
The weather man promised both
with cool breezes tossed in for good
measure. The atmosphere envel-
oping the Skins camp was thick
with gloom and discouraging to
loyal supporters. A thin, under
nourished ray Of hope penetrated
the blackness of despair, a hope
borne on the slender pitching wing
Of Sammy Baugh. 1t is no secret
that Washington is pinning every
thing on Baugh this afternoon.
Bears Out for Big Score.
Luke Johnsos, member of Chi
cago's board of strategy which was
without Chairman George Halas
for the first championship game
since the Bears have been playing
them, was exhuberant but cautious,
confident but cagey.
Sure we expect to win" he
laughed, but this is a game the
breaks may decide and I hope we
get them. We don't care what kind
of field it is-the faster the better.
Sure, Baugh goes better on a dry
field and so do we. He pitches
and we run the ball, so it's even.
This sort Of weather is exactly to
our liking. We've been snowbound
two weeks out West and we feel like
bunch of colts in the spring.
But we're not kidding ourselves
about the Redskins-they're tough
and we expect bruising game.
They're not fooling us with all this
talk about how good we are and
how bad they are We think we're
good-better than the Redskins, but
we know we've got to play our best
to win and we want to win by a
decisive margin"
For team going into the play-off
after hanging up the best record in
its history, 10 victories against a
single, undeserved defeat, the Red
skins probably are the most lightly
regarded contenders ever to seek the
crown. But the Braves can find
some consolation, and a new hope,
in the 1884 campaign involving a
feud between the Giants and Bears.
Record Is Against Tribe.
Chicago beat Steve Owens outfit
twice during the regular campaign,
but the Giants won the Eastern
title and came back to whip the
Bears for the championship. 3O-13.
That Bear team. too, went through
the season united and unbeaten,
rolling up 13 victories.
Washington has lost its last three
engagements with the Windy City
eleven, going back to the 1910
debacle in the 1910 play-of and ex-
tending through regular league
game and an exhibition earlier this
year. In all, the Bears have beaten
the Tribe eight times, lost three
games and tied one. Playing under
Washington's banner. the Skins
have won only two games, the 1921
championship battle at Chicago in
1887, their first year here, and a
7-3 verdict in 1910.
Both teams are at full strength
for the fray, discounting recent
losses to the armed forces. The
Skins lost Bob Titchenal, utility
lineman, just before their final
league game with Detroit and the
Bears are without Adolph (Butch)
Kissel, pretty good back.
But Chicago has regained Bullet
Bill Osmanski for this game and the
former Holy Cross star Is poison to
the Tribe. He broke away for a
touchdown run on the second play
OF the 1910 championship game and
duplicated the stunt here in the
lSee REDSKINS page C-3l