In 1945, the Brooklyn Tigers and the Boston Yanks merged for this one season. The combined team, known simply as The Yanks, played four games at Boston's Fenway Park and one game at New York's Yankee Stadium. After Brooklyn Tigers owner Dan Topping announced his intentions to join the new All-America Football Conference, his NFL team was immediately revoked after the season and all of its players were assigned to the Boston Yanks. Both of the divisions had tight races for most of the season. In Week Ten, the 7–1 Rams and the 6–2 Lions met in Detroit's Thanksgiving Day game. For the Lions it was a must-win game, but they lost 28–21 and at 8–1–0, the Rams clinched the division.  Days later, the 5–2 Eagles hosted the 6–1 Redskins, and the Eagles' 16–0 win tied the teams at 6–2–0 in the Eastern race. The next week, however, the Eagles lost to the Giants 28–21, while the Redskins beat the Steelers 24–0. Washington's 17–0 win over the Giants the next week clinched its division. In the 1945 NFL Championship Game, the Cleveland Rams defeated the Washington Redskins, 15–14, at Cleveland Municipal Stadium in Cleveland, Ohio on December 16, 1945. This was the last game before the Rams moved to Los Angeles. The game was a very tight affair, as both teams played tough.  In the third quarter, the Rams increased their lead to 15-7 when Jim Gillette scored on a 44-yard touchdown reception, but the extra point was missed. The Redskins then came back to cut their deficit to 15–14 with Seymour's
8-yard touchdown catch from Filchock. In the fourth quarter, Washington kicker Joe Aguirre missed two field goals attempts, of 46 and 31 yards, that could have won the game. But it was the safety that proved to be the margin of victory. Redskins owner George Preston Marshall was so mad at the outcome that he became a major force in passing the following major rule change after the season: A forward pass that strikes the goal posts is automatically ruled incomplete. This later became known as the "Baugh/Marshall Rule". In the first quarter, the Redskins had the ball at their own 5-yard line. Dropping back into the end zone, quarterback Sammy Baugh threw, but the ball hit the goal post (which at the time were on the goal line instead of at the back of the end zone) and bounced back to the ground in the end zone. Under the rules at the time, this was ruled as a safety and thus gave the Rams a 2–0 lead.