By Darin 
The 1934 NFL Championship Game features one of pro football’s most interesting twists of fate. How did the New York Giants overcome the undefeated, dominant Chicago Bears to win the title? The shocking answer lies not in a brilliant play call, but in a simple wardrobe change: the Giants famously swapped their cleats for common basketball sneakers on an icy field, unlocking a game-winning comeback that remains one of the most remarkable championship upsets in league history.
The 1934 season was the second year of the official NFL Championship Game, pitting the best of the East against the best of the West. The contest at the Polo Grounds in New York was a rematch of the previous year’s championship, with the defending champion Chicago Bears entering the game as heavy favorites, boasting a flawless 13-0 regular season record and an 18-game winning streak. The New York Giants, by contrast, had finished 8-5. The conditions at the Polo Grounds were brutal: a freezing rain the night before had turned the turf into a treacherous sheet of ice, making cleated footing almost impossible. The Bears, led by star fullback Bronco Nagurski (who rushed for 586 yards and 7 TDs in the 1934 regular season and scored the Bears’ first touchdown in the title game), were physically pounding the Giants, taking a 10-3 lead into halftime.
With the Bears’ lead stretching to 13-3 in the third quarter after a Jack Manders field goal, the Giants’ desperate situation called for a radical solution. Giants end Ray Flaherty suggested that basketball shoes—sneakers—would provide better traction on the slippery ice. Head Coach Steve Owen agreed and famously sent a clubhouse assistant, Abe Cohen, to nearby Manhattan College to borrow the basketball team’s footwear. When the Giants returned to the field in their soft-soled shoes, the momentum dramatically shifted.
In the fourth quarter, the newly-sure-footed Giants exploded, scoring an unbelievable 27 unanswered points to win 30-13. The Bears’ defense, previously impenetrable, found themselves slipping and sliding, unable to contain the Giants’ bursts of speed. Giants multi-threat star Ken Strong was the primary beneficiary, tallying a spectacular 17 points in the game on a field goal, two fourth-quarter rushing touchdowns (42 and 11 yards), and two extra points—a championship game record at the time. Quarterback Ed Danowski also broke through with a 9-yard rushing touchdown to seal the victory. The incredible comeback delivered the Giants their second NFL title and became an enduring legend, forever known as “The Sneakers Game.”
Football Accolades and Accomplishments:
- 1934 New York Giants: Won the NFL Championship (their second overall title and first in a Championship Game).
- 1934 Chicago Bears: Completed the regular season undefeated (13-0), a record not broken until 1942.
- Ken Strong: Scored 17 points in the 1934 NFL Championship Game (2 TDs, 1 FG, 2 XPs), setting an NFL Championship Game record that stood for nearly three decades. Strong was a 4x First-team All-Pro (1930–1931, 1933–1934) and a member of the NFL 1930s All-Decade Team.
- Giants Fourth Quarter: Their 27 points scored in the fourth quarter of the 1934 NFL Championship Game set an NFL Championship Game record that still stands.