In December 1932, the Portsmouth Spartans (6-1-4) and the Chicago Bears (6-1-6) finished the regular season tied for the best record in the NFL. No playoff tournament existed at that time; the team with the best record was automatically crowned champion. And so, in the midst of the Great Depression and just over a month after the presidential election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the first “playoff” game – a one-game tiebreaker to determine league champion – was arranged. But there was a problem: the game was scheduled for Wrigley Field in Chicago, and – not surprisingly, since it was Chicago in wintertime – there was a blizzard and a wind chill below zero. The solution: the game was moved indoors to Chicago Stadium. That summer, the stadium had hosted the Democratic National Convention in which Roosevelt had been nominated; now, it accommodated a makeshift, 80-yard long football field. The game itself wasn’t a thriller: the Bears won 9-0, with Red Grange scoring the only touchdown. But from that point onward, the NFL was divided into two divisions whose winners played for a championship. In 1934, the Spartans of Portsmouth relocated to Detroit, and were renamed the Lions.