• The Cleveland Browns, who won all four championships of the upstart league, the San Francisco 49ers, and the Baltimore Colts became members of the older league.
• The players on the AAFC New York Yankees were divided up between the New York Giants and the New York Bulldogs, the latter team changing its name to the New York Yanks.
• The Los Angeles Dons of the AAFC merged with the Los Angeles Rams.
• A portion of the Buffalo Bills roster was absorbed by the Browns.
• A special draft was conducted by the NFL's 13 teams to allocate the remaining AAFC players.

The NFL divided itself into the American and National Conferences.

• The American Conference included the Giants, Eagles, Steelers, and Red­skins from the former Eastern Division as well as the Cardinals and Browns.
• The National Conference included four members of the former Western Confer­ence, the Rams, Bears, Lions, and Packers but added the Yanks (splitting up the New York teams), the 49ers, and the Colts, who were in reality the "swing" team that played each of the other teams once (except for the Bears).
• With an odd number of teams, one club enjoyed a bye on each playing date.

Only two rules changes of any significance were enacted.

• The free substitution rule, which had been reinstated for one year in '49, was made permanent. This opened the door to the specialization we take for granted today with separate offensive, defensive, and special teams units.
• The other change decreed that a backwards pass or fumble that went out of bounds before it was recovered remained in the hands of the team that last had possession of the ball.

The main question circulating through the ranks of pro football teams and fans was, "How will the Browns do in the NFL?"

• In a ploy that equals any by today's marketing-oriented NFL, the schedule mak­ers made sure the question could be answered quickly by sending the Browns to Philadelphia to play the NFL champion Eagles in the opening game for both teams. The fact that Cleveland won may not have shocked many, but the mar­gin of victory certainly did, 35-10 although Philly played without star RB Steve Van Buren. When the teams met in Cleveland December 3, the Browns won again 13-7. Irritated by the comment of Eagles coach Greasy Neale that "all they do is pass the ball," Paul Brown didn't call a single pass play.
• The only team that beat the Browns was the Giants, who won 6-0 in the Big Apple and 17-13 in Cleveland. However, Steve Owen's team lost to the Steel­ers and Cardinals to tie the Browns for first in the American Conference. When the teams met December 17 at the Polo Grounds to determine the con­ference title, neither team scored a touchdown, but Cleveland won 8-3.
• On the same day, the Rams and Bears faced off in Los Angeles for the Ameri­can title. The same scenario as in the American Conference prevailed in that Chicago upended LA in both meetings, 24-20 in Wrigley Field and 24-14 in the Coliseum in the only game all season in which LA failed to score at least three touchdowns. But, like the Browns, the Rams, aided by 90° heat, turned the tables on George Halas's club and also reversed the score of the previous game in the Coliseum, 24-14.
• The American championship gave pleasure to new Rams coach Joe Stydahar. Despite taking the Rams to the championship game in '49, Clark Shaughnes­sy was fired by owner Dan Reeves the following February because of "internal friction" with assistant coaches, players, and staff. One source said Shaughnes­sy's constant tinkering with the playbook had taken a toll on the players. How­ever, Clark singled out Stydahar for backstabbing him. When Joe was named to replace him, Shaughnessy said, "Stydahar coach the Rams? I could take a high school team and beat him."
• Even without T formation guru Shaughnessy leading them, LA set a record for points in a season with 466, scoring 43 or more points six times with 70 and 65 in back-to-back games.
  The Rams were the first franchise to televise all their home games. Bad idea. Attendance plummeted nearly 50% from 309,327 in '49 to 158,045. So owner Reeves decided not to televise the playoff game with the Bears. 83,501 packed the Coliseum. It would be many years before any NFL owner expressed a desire to televise home games.

Since the champion of the West Division (now the National Division) hosted the title game in '49, the American Conference winner got the honor in '50.

• The Browns were playing in their fifth straight league championship game.
• Paul Brown had changed a large percentage of his AAFC roster, adding rookies as well as former Buffalo Bills. But the core of the team remained the same.
• The Browns were the first offense to use the entire width of the field in the passing game. Their halfbacks flared out wide for passes while the ends ran out patterns as well as the traditional routes across the middle.
• QB Otto Graham continued to play at a high level, completing 54.2% of his passes for 1,943y, dividing the yardage evenly between his two favorite re­ceivers, Mac Speedie (42 catches/548y) and Dante Lavelli (37/565). Graham also liked to throw to Dub Jones out of the backfield (31/458). The rest of the team combined had only 29 receptions.
• FB Marion Motley's 810y led the NFL in rushing with Jones a distant second at 384.
• The Browns' defense led the league in fewest yards allowed and were second in points, just three behind Philadelphia.
• The ball-hawking secondary was tied with three other teams with 31 intercep­tions, one behind the 1-11 Colts who had 34 simply because opponents threw the ball so much against them. Tommy James had nine picks while Warren Lahr snagged eight.

Los Angeles boasted the most prolific offense in pro football history but were not as good as the Browns on defense.

• Styhadar continued Shaughnessy's policy of playing two quarterbacks, al­though Joe gave second-year-man Norm Van Brocklin half the starts with veteran Bob Waterfield. Despite playing part-time, Norm finished third in the NFL with 2,061y while Waterfield amassed 1,540.
• Tom Fears led the league in receptions by a mile, with a record 84 catches, 32 more than the second place finisher. HB Glenn Davis, former Heisman Trophy winner for Army, and E Elroy Hirsch each grabbed 42 tosses.
• The Rams spread out their rushing yardage among Davis (416y), FB Dick Hoerner (381), scatback Vitamin Smith (250), and Paul Barr (231). It's no wonder the 1950 Angelenos averaged 38.83 points per game, a record that still stands over 60 years later. Five Rams could run 100y in under ten seconds.
• The Rams offense averaged 436.7y and 38.8ppg, both of which were almost double the league average.
  Offensive coach Hampton Pool explained how the Rams employed a "back­wards offense."
  "We reversed the usual procedure. Instead of our running setting up the pass­ing, our passing set up the runs, such as draws and the statue of liberty. ... Our QB would fake a pass and hand off to one of our quick little halfbacks on a reverse."
  Years later, "Crazylegs" Hirsch said: "Our 1950 Ram team was man for man as fine a football team as I've ever seen."
• The Blue and Gold defense ranked 9th in points allowed and tenth in yardage.
• The Browns allowed only 12ppg. So the title game would be a classic irresis­tible force vs. immovable object contest.

• So scoping the game was a challenge. Oddsmakers installed the Browns as 3 1/2 point favorites.
• The forecast for the 1:30 kickoff called for cloudy and continued mild (mean­ing temperatures near 40°), with no rain or snow in sight. Groundskeeper Emil Bossard said the hard crust covering the field since early in the month might be softened enough to permit the use of football shoes.
• To the visitors from sunny California, that sounded like as good a prospectus as they could expect. After floundering in the slop on their home field in the '49 final against Philadelphia, they needed a firm, fast track for their vaunt­ed passing game.
• Only three members of the 1950 Rams had been members of the 1945 Cleve­land team that beat the Redskins for the NFL championship: Water­field, T Gil Bouley, and G Mike Lazetich.
• Many NFL old timers probably thought, "Wouldn't it be nice if the NFL team that abandoned Cleveland for the West Coast gave the current Cleveland team its comeuppance?"
• Cleveland Plain Dealer writer Harold Sauerbrei recalled Paul Brown's words to his troops when he assembled his first Browns team in 1946. "Gentlemen, our goal is to become in football what the New York Yankees are to base­ball, what Ben Hogan is to golf." Eleven players who heard those words were still with the club. (They are marked by asterisks in the roster above.)
• Two defensive starters would play with injuries: LE George Young and LB Tony Adamle. E Mac Speedie had a pulled hamstring but would try to play. He could run once he warmed up but tightened up when he had to stand on the cold side­lines.
• Some said that a loss to the Rams would invalidate the Browns' four AAFC crowns and their American Conference championships. Brown wanted to leave no doubt that his club was the best in football. Nevertheless, his final state­ment to the press was: "Regardless of what happens, there'll be no regrets. We're playing a really great team and win or lose we'll have a Merry Christ­mas Monday."
• The Rams reported no major injuries. However, they kept hidden the fact that Van Brocklin had suffered a broken rib in the playoff against Chicago the week before. Stydahar revealed that two of his players who were fulfilling their military obligations, George Sims and Paul Barry, were flying in from Fort Ord CA to participate in the clash. Joe released this statement: "We're as ready as we'll ever be. It'll be a great ball game."
• Commissioner Bert Bell announced that the radio and television receipts for the title clash would total $45,000, which was $15,000 more than any previ­ous year. However, the game would be blacked out within a 75-mile radius of Cleve­land. Also, the coaxial cable had not yet reached the West Coast. So Los Angeles would receive only the radio broadcast. Bell also stated that sudden-death overtime would be used if the game ended in a tie.

• Amid intermittent snow flurries, a 28 mph wind blew in from Lake Erie and the temperature barely reached 30. Mounds of snow were piled up outside the sidelines.
• The ground stayed frozen, forcing the Browns to wear rubber-soled sneakers. Coach Stydahar told his equipment manager to shave the players' cleats shorter and sharper. However, during warm-ups, the referee checked the shoes and ruled them illegal. So the visitors changed into regulation cleats. Four Rams wore sneakers.
• A disappointing but enthusiastic crowd of 29,751 witnessed a game that lived up to its hype. Never before had such a collection of receivers peopled a grid­iron. The teams produced one of the greatest games ever, with thrills literally from the first play to the last.