September 28, 1951: The Los Angeles Rams beat the football team named the New York Yanks, 54-14 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Rams quarterback Norm Van Brocklin passed for 554 yards. To this day, it is an NFL record.
A 25-year-old native of Walnut Creek, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area, he excelled at the University of Oregon. From 1949 to 1952, he alternated with Bob Waterfield as the Rams' starting quarterback. But, despite having led the Rams, then in Cleveland, to the 1945 NFL Championship, and becoming one of the NFL's earliest "golden boy" players, Waterfield never had a day like this.
Van Brocklin, nicknamed "Van" and "the Dutch Master," through 41 passes, completing 27 of them. He threw 2 interceptions, but also 5 touchdowns. Four of them, ranging from 1 to 47 yards, were to Elroy Hirsch, the receiver known as "Crazy Legs" for his speed. The other was to Verda Thomas Smith, known as V.T. or "Vitamin" Smith. Van Brocklin also ran 1 yard for a touchdown.
Although end Tom Fears, who with Waterfield was one of the NFL's earliest great passing combinations, did not catch any touchdown passes in the game, he caught 7 passes for a game-leading 162 yards, and his longest, 54 yards, was longer than any of Hirsch's. He also kicked 6 extra points.
The Rams had lost the NFL Championship Game to the Philadelphia Eagles in 1949, and lost it to the Cleveland Browns in 1950. In 1951, they went on to beat the Browns in the Championship Game. Van Brocklin, Waterfield, Hirsch and Fears would all be elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. So would defensive end Andy Robustelli, although that was mainly for his later play for the New York Giants. So would head coach Joe Stydahar, although that was for his performance as a two-way tackle for the 1940s Chicago Bears.
Not in the Hall of Fame, but should be, were the Rams' top 2 rushers, both among the NFL's earliest black stars: Paul "Tank" Younger and "Deacon" Dan Towler. Another running back on the '51 Rams, in the College Football Hall but not the Pro Football Hall, since his Army service meant that he only played 2 NFL seasons, was 1946 Heisman Trophy winner Glenn Davis.
Van Brocklin would become the Rams' sole starter in 1953, after Waterfield's retirement. In 1958, he was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles. In 1960, in his last game before retiring, he led them to victory in the NFL Championship Game. Until Super Bowl 50 in 2016, Van Brocklin was the only quarterback ever to coach 2 different franchises to the NFL Championship. Peyton Manning and Tom Brady * have since joined him in that distinction.
In 1961, Van Brocklin was named the 1st head coach of the expansion Minnesota Vikings. In 1968, he became the 2nd head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. Like many great players, he was not nearly as good as a coach. He died in 1983, after years of battling brain cancer. At one point, he addressed surgery he'd had: "It was a brain transplant. They gave me a sportswriter's brain, to make sure I got one that hadn't been used."
The previous record for passing yards in a game was 468 yards, by Johnny Lujack of the Chicago Bears, against the crosstown Chicago Cardinals on December 11, 1949. The fact that these marks of 468 and 554 yards were set in the early days of the NFL, when the only superstar quarterbacks yet seen were Sammy Baugh of the Washington Redskins and Sid Luckman, Lujack's predecessor with the Bears, is less surprising than the fact that, 71 years later, Van Brocklin's 554 still stands.
Through September 28, 2022, there have been 25 occurrences of a quarterback passing for 500 or more yards in a regular-season NFL game. The 2nd time didn't happen until October 28, 1962, when Y.A. Tittle passed for 505 yards for the Giants against the Washington Redskins. It's been done by 22 different players, including 3 times by Ben Roethlisberger and twice by Drew Brees.
The 2nd-best performance has been 527 yards, and it's been done twice: By Warren Moon, for the Houston Oilers against the Kansas City Chiefs, on December 16, 1990; and by Matt Schaub, for the Houston Texans against the Jacksonville Jaguars, on November 18, 2012.
But nobody else has done 554, or even 528. Not Tittle, Otto Graham, Bobby Layne, Johnny Unitas, or Van Brocklin himself, or any other star quarterback of the 1950s. Not Unitas, Bart Starr, Sonny Jurgensen, Joe Namath or any of the other "mad bombers" in the freewheeling, pass-happy American Football League, or any other quarterback in the 1960s. Not Fran Tarkenton, Roger Staubach, Bob Griese, Terry Bradshaw, Ken Stabler, or any other 1970s quarterback.
Not Joe Montana, Joe Theismann, Dan Marino, John Elway, Phil Simms, or any other 1980s passer. Not Elway, Troy Aikman, Brett Favre, or any other 1990s quarterback. Not any 21st Century quarterback, whether they used Spygates, deflated footballs, the name Manning, or anything else.
Van Brocklin's 554 passing yards in one game isn't like old-time baseball records, such as Cy Young's 511 career wins or Walter Johnson's 113 career shutouts, where changes in rules and styles have made it harder to pursue the record. If anything, the rules and styles should have made it easier to break this record.
After all, Van Brocklin finished with 23,611 career passing yards. At the time, that was a record. As of this writing, the record is 85,193, held by Brady. That's 3.6 times the record that Van Brocklin set. Until Namath in 1967, no pro quarterback had passed for 4,000 yards in a season. That record is now 5,477, by Peyton Manning in 2013.
But most passing yards in a game? Logic would dictate that a record set in the Truman Administration, a time when pro football trailed not only baseball and college football, but boxing and horse racing as America's most popular sport, would have been far surpassed by now. And yet, no one has come within 23 yards of it.
*
September 28, 1951 was a Friday. This was the only NFL game played on the day. But these Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees swept a doubleheader from the Boston Red Sox at Yankee Stadium. In the opener, Allie Reynolds pitched a no-hitter, as the Yankees won, 8-0. It was his 2nd no-hitter of the season. This is an achievement worthy of its own entry, and I've made one.
The nightcap was not as spectacular, but no less effective: A Pennant-clinching 11-3 win. Vic Raschi was the winning pitcher, backed by a home run by Joe DiMaggio, the 361st of his career -- and, as it turned out, his last in regular-season play. He would hit 1 more in the upcoming World Series, and then retire.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Brooklyn Dodgers, 4-3 at Shibe Park in Philadelphia. With the New York Giants not scheduled, this drops the Dodgers, who had been 13 1/2 games ahead of the Giants on August 11, into a tie for 1st place in the National League. The season will end with them tied, forcing a Playoff. And if you don't know how that turned out, you're too young to know baseball history, and/or you're too ignorant to be reading this blog.
* The Cincinnati Reds beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-3 at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.
* And the Chicago White Sox swept a doubleheader from the St. Louis Browns at Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. The Pale Hose won the opener, 6-2; and the nightcap, 4-3 in 10 innings.
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