Evening star., 1950-12-18
By the Associated Press

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 18.-Foot-
ball may be a young mans game
and Quarterback Bob Waterfield,
at 80, is old by footballs standards.
But 1t took Waterheld's wizard
ry in the air to sink Chicago's
bruising Bears In playoff for the
National Conference pro football
title and put the Los Angeles
Rams in next Sundays league
title playoff with the Cleveland
Browns for a prize they haven't
won in five years. The Rams
home town was Cleveland at that
time.
A crowd of S3,501 sweltered
through yesterdays doings in
Memorial Coliseum and Water
field really gave them a show.
The final score was 24-14 and
he had hand in each Ram point.
He booted a 43-yard field goal
TO break a flrst-auarter deadlock.
Then he hit Tom Fears, the
leagues top pass catcher, with
touchdown strikes good for 68, 27
and % yards. Finally, he kicked
each conversion.
Previous Score Reversed.
1t was too much for the Bears,
who beat the Rams twice earlier
this year. The score reversed
the Bears margin of victory over
the Rams at Chicago three weeks
ago. The weather reversed, too.
That day the temperature was 33.
Yesterday at game time it was
90 on the playing field.
But the heat didn't seem to
bother George Halas' well-condi-
toned visitors. They racked up
% first downs to II for the Rams,
plus 229 yards rushing to "a for
the locals. Only in the air did
Los Angeles have an edge, and
the edge was Waterfield.
i The Bears Johnny Lujack
passed 90 times and connected
with IS for 1913 yards. Water
field tried 81 and made IA good
for 280 yards and three scores.
The Rams sophomore quarter
back, Norm Van Brocklin, won
the starting post over the veteran
Waterf1eld, but hit his receivers
only twice in 10 tries for II yards.
He went to the sidelines after
the first quarter. So frequently
was the Oregonian overshooting
his receivers, in fact, that the
crowd started to boo him.
Lujack Thrown for Losses.
Lujacks passing record was SO
per cent, but it. didn't reflect the
six times that Ram forwards
swarmed him for losses totaling
Sc yards. Otherwise, he engineered
one scoring drive of IS yards in
eight plays. AL Campana romping
the final %, and another of 76
yards in IL. with Fullback Fred
Morrison piling across from the 4.
But the game was lost when
two Bear drives were stopped, one
on the Ram 18, the other on the
2 when Lujack passed incomplete
over the goal line.
George Gulyanics was the big
Bear offensive flash. He carried
the ball Is times for Sc yards,
a healthy 6.26 average. Morrison
and Julie Rykovich gave him con-
siderable help.
Two Players Square Off.
/ Things wound up in something
of hassle. Tempers had been
getting shorter in the waning
minutes. And finally George
Blanda of the Bears and Dan
fowler of the Rams squared off.
Most of the two squads milled
onto the field and it took officials
several minutes to quiet things
sufficiently to run off the final
play. But nobody got hurt and
the teams trotted off as If moth
ing had happened.
Biggest disappointment to the
big crowd was a penalty which
nullified a 63-yard f1rst-quarter
scoring run. by Glen Davis, Army.
| And the greatest thrill probably
came to Joe Stydahar, the Rams
coach. A freshman in coaching
ranks. it gave him a title over his
old mentor, the Bears George
Halas, for whom Stydahar played
| before he came to the Rams.