In 1948, AAFC Commissioner Ingram attempted to create competitive balance by getting the strongest teams to distribute some players to the weakest. He was modestly successful: the Browns sent rookie quarterback Y. A. Tittle to the Colts, who enjoyed their first good season, and the Yankees were generous enough to fall into mediocrity. For the first time, the division races were close. One featured excellence, the other mediocrity. In the West, San Francisco and Cleveland both remained undefeated far into the season. On November 14, nearly 83,000 in Cleveland Municipal Stadium watched the 9-0 Browns win a 14-7 defensive struggle over the 10-0 49ers. They met again two weeks later in San Francisco, with the Browns now 12-0 and the 49ers 11-1. The Browns again won narrowly, this time 31-28, clinching first place. The 49ers finished a heartbreaking second (and out of the postseason) at 12-2. The quarterbacks of the two outstanding teams, Clevelands Otto Graham and San Franciscos Frankie Albert, shared the MVP. In the East, Buffalo and Baltimore tied at a mediocre 7-7, just ahead of 6-8 New York. Brooklyn was last at 2-12. Buffalo won a playoff and the dubious privilege of meeting Cleveland for the title. Cleveland won the title in a predictable rout, 49-7, securing pro football's second perfect season at 14-0. The other team was the 1937 Los Angeles Bulldogs of the second American Football League, who finished a perfect 18-0. Also in 1948, the war between the AAFC and the NFL was getting increasingly costly thanks to rising salaries and dropping attendance. Nearly every team in both leagues lost
money - enough that in December, the NFL officially acknowledged the AAFC as peace talks almost succeeded in ending the war. However, the AAFC wanted the NFL to admit four of its teams, while the NFL was willing to admit only the Browns and 49ers. Although the survival of its Brooklyn and Chicago teams was now in doubt, the AAFC decided to continue the fight.