You’re here in a great place before kickoff, as we are going to discuss YA Tittle and Johnny Unitas, a guy named Pug, Skip, and Simms, and go over one of the greatest defensive games in history in this post.
Today, we are going to go over the events of football history from September 18. We’ve got a lot of information to cover today, so buckle up and let’s get started.
When it rains, It Pours.
Let’s start with a football historic event where weather played a significant factor—September 18, 1938, and maybe one of the most defensively dominated games in history.
The Chicago Bears defeated the Green Bay Packers by a mere safety, being the only score in the entire contest. Bears 2 Packers nothing according to reports, the Green Bay squad seemed to outplay the Bears for most of the game in a torrential downpour.
Green Bay moved the ball decently but missed three field goals due in part to the sloppy conditions.
The score occurred on the second play of the fourth stanza when Bears guard Tommy Jones intercepted an errant backwards pass by Packers Arnie Herbert for the two-pointer.
Green Bay had its chance with just a few ticks remaining on the clock, but a 37-yard field goal attempt by Green Bay kicker Clark Hinkle went left of the post, and the Bears ran out the remaining time for the W.
Golden Arm Sets Record
Flip the calendar forward a few pages, and we go to 1966.
On September 18, Johnny Unitas passed YA Tittle as the NFL’s career passing touchdown leader. Johnny U. tossed four scoring strikes in a Baltimore Colts win over the Minnesota Vikings by the score of 3823. Tittle’s record was 212 touchdown passes. Unitas went on to throw many more as he finished his remarkable career with 290 total scoring passes.
No wonder he was called the man with the Golden Arm.
New Orleans First Overtime “W”
Seventeen years to the day after that, on September 18, 1983, the New Orleans Saints posted the franchise’s first overtime win in history, overcoming the Chicago Bears by a field goal in the extra period by the score of 34-31.
Vols Suffer Penalty
Eight years have passed since 1991. On September 18, the NCAA penalized the University of Tennessee with two years of probation due to a confirmed football recruiting violation.
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September 18 Birthdays of Football Hall of Famers
It’s time to celebrate the Hall of Fame birthdays. On Tap today, we have the following legends:
