The Rams were the first to score with a 1-yard run by fullback Dick Hoerner in the second quarter. The Browns answered back with an NFL Championship record 52-yard field goal by Lou Groza. They later took the lead with a 17-yard touchdown pass from Otto Graham to Dub Jones. The Browns take the lead at halftime 10–7.
In the third quarter Larry Brink landed a hard tackle on Graham causing him to fumble the ball. Andy Robustelli picked up the ball on the Cleveland 24 and returned it to the Cleveland 2. On the third play of the drive, "Deacon" Dan Towler ran the ball in for a touchdown from the one yard line giving the Rams a 14–10 lead.
Early in the fourth quarter, the Rams increased their lead with a Bob Waterfield 17-yard field goal. The Browns answered back with an 8-play, 70-yard drive that ended with a 5-yard touchdown run by Ken Carpenter, tying the game at 17–17. Twenty-five seconds later late in the fourth quarter, Tom Fears beat defenders Cliff Lewis and Tommy James and received a Norm Van Brocklin pass at midfield. Fears raced to the endzone for a 73-yard touchdown, securing a Rams 24–17 win and the 1951 NFL title. This would be the last NFL Title for the Rams until Super Bowl XXXIV 48 years later.
Scoring summary[]
RAM - TD, Hoerner 1 run (Waterfield kick) 7-0 LA
CLE - FG, Groza 52 7-3 LA
CLE - TD, Jones 17 pass from Graham (Groza kick) 10-7 CLE
RAM - TD, Towler 1 run (Waterfield kick) 14-10 LA
RAM - FG, Waterfield 17 17-10 LA
CLE - TD, Carpenter 5 run (Groza kick) 17-17 TIE
RAM - TD, Fears 73 pass from Van Brocklin (Waterfield kick) 24-17 LA
Brown, Paul; with Clary, Jack (1979). PB, the Paul Brown Story. New York: Atheneum.
Hession, Joseph (1987). The Rams: Five Decades of Football. San Francisco: Foghorn Press.
MacCambridge, Michael (2005). America's Game. New York: Anchor Books ISBN 978-0-307-48143-6
Powers, Ron (1984). Supertube: The Rise of Television Sports. New York: Coward-McCann. ISBN 0-698-11253-9
Rader, Benjamin G. (1984). In its Own Image: How Television Has Transformed Sports. New York: The Free Press. ISBN 0-02-925700-X pp. 83–99.
Riffenburgh, Beau, (1997). "Championships & Playoffs." Eds Silverman, Matthew, et al. Total Football II: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League. New York: HarperCollins. 178-262. ISBN 0-06-270174-6
Rams moved from Cleveland to LA in 1946 • Relocated in 1994 (Now the St. Louis Rams) • Previously based in Los Angeles and Anaheim, California, California
1 – From 1966 to 1969, the first four Super Bowls were "World Championship" games played between two independent professional football leagues, AFL and NFL, and when the league merged in 1970 the Super Bowl became the NFL Championship Game. 2 – Dates in the list denote the season, not the calendar year in which the championship game was played. For instance, Super Bowl XLI was played in 2007, but was the championship for the 2006 season.
