Before the 1946 season, Elmer Layden resigned as NFL Commissioner and Bert Bell, co-founder of the Philadelphia Eagles, replaced him. Meanwhile, the All-America Football Conference was formed to rival the NFL, and the Rams became the first NFL team based on the West Coast, after they relocated from Cleveland, Ohio to Los Angeles. 1946 was one of the most competitive seasons in NFL history, as there were only two teams with losing records.  Those teams were the Boston Yanks at 2-8-1, and the Detroit Lions at 1-10-0.  All of the other teams had at least a .500 record.  In the Eastern Division, the Giants, Eagles, and Steelers battled it out for most of the season, and the final week of the season had the 6–3–1 Giants hosting the 5–4–1 Redskins, and a Washington win would have given them both 6–4–1
records and forced a playoff. That became a moot point with New York's 31–0 win. A crowd of 60,337 turned out at the Polo Grounds, more than the 58,346 that came there for the championship a week later. The 1946 National Football League Championship Game was played at the Polo Grounds in New York City on December 15, 1946. The final score was Chicago Bears 24, New York Giants 14. It was the 14th annual NFL championship game.