1945 Pittsburgh Steelers season

The 1945 Pittsburgh Steelers season was the franchise's 13th season in the National Football League (NFL). The team finished the season with a record of 2–8. This season marked the first and only season played with Jim Leonard as head coach.

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record
1	September 26	at Boston Yanks	L 7–28	0–1
2	October 7	New York Giants	L 6–34	0–2
3	October 14	Washington Redskins	L 0–14	0–3
4	October 21	at New York Giants	W 21–7	1–3
5	October 28	Boston Yanks	L 6–10	1–4
6	November 4	Philadelphia Eagles	L 3–45	1–5
7	November 11	Chicago Cardinals	W 23–0	2–5
8	November 18	at Philadelphia Eagles	L 6–30	2–6
9	November 25	at Chicago Bears	L 7–28	2–7
10	December 2	at Washington Redskins	L 0–24	2–8

Game summaries

Week 1 (Tuesday September 25, 1945): Boston Yanks

	1	2	3	4	Total
Steelers	0	0	0	7	7
Yanks	7	7	7	7	28

at Fenway Park, Boston, Massachusetts

• Game time:
• Game weather:
• Game attendance: 27,502
• Referee:

Scoring Drives:

• Boston – J. Martin 5 run (Lio kick)
• Boston – F. Martin 53 pass from Cafego (Lio kick)
• Boston – Manders 1 run (Lio kick)
• Pittsburgh – Lucente 60 lateral from Bova after 10 pass from Jarvi (Naioti kick)
• Boston – Manders 2 run (Lio kick)

Week 2 (Sunday, October 7, 1945): New York Giants

	1	2	3	4	Total
Giants	6	28	0	0	34
Steelers	0	6	0	0	6

at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

• Game time:
• Game weather:
• Game attendance: 20,097
• Referee:

Scoring Drives:

• New York – FG Strong 21
• New York – FG Strong 42
• Pittsburgh – Duhart 3 run (kick failed)
• New York – Filpowicz – 10 pass from Herber (Strong kick)
• New York – Leibel 38 pass from Herber (Strong kick)
• New York – Piccolo 7 fumble run (Strong kick)

Week 3 (Sunday October 14, 1945): Washington Redskins

	1	2	3	4	Total
Redskins	0	7	0	7	14
Steelers	0	0	0	0	0

at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

• Game time:
• Game weather:
• Game attendance: 14,050
• Referee:

Scoring Drives:

• Washington – Dye 13 pass from Baugh (Aguirre kick)
• Washington – Rosato 3 run (Aguirre kick)

Week 4 (Sunday October 21, 1945): New York Giants

	1	2	3	4	Total
Steelers	7	14	0	0	21
Giants	0	0	7	0	7

at Polo Grounds, New York, New York

• Game time:
• Game weather:
• Game attendance: 43,070
• Referee:

Scoring Drives:

• Pittsburgh – Lucente 3 run (Naioti kick)
• Pittsburgh – Warren 1 run (Naioti kick)
• Pittsburgh – Doyle 50 interception (Naioti kick)
• New York – Livingston 15 pass from Herber (Strong kick)

Week 5 (Sunday October 28, 1945): Boston Yanks

	1	2	3	4	Total
Yanks	0	7	0	0	7
Steelers	0	3	0	14	17

at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

• Game time:
• Game weather:
• Game attendance: 25,447
• Referee:

Scoring Drives:

• Boston – FG Lio 19
• Pittsburgh – FG Agajanian 19
• Pittsburgh – FG Agajanian 25
• Boston Martin 25 lateral from Currivan after 27 pass from Gudmundson (Lio kick)

Week 6 (Sunday November 4, 1945): Philadelphia Eagles

	1	2	3	4	Total
Eagles	6	7	13	19	45
Steelers	3	0	0	0	3

at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

• Game time:
• Game weather:
• Game attendance: 23,018
• Referee:

Scoring Drives:

• Pittsburgh – FG Agajanian 31
• Philadelphia – Ferrante 26 pass from Zimmerman (kick failed)
• Philadelphia – Ferrante 65 pass from Zimmerman (Zimmerman kick)
• Philadelphia – Van Buren 20 run (kick failed)
• Philadelphia – Meyer 27 pass from Zimmerman (Zimmerman kick)
• Philadelphia – Banta 22 run (kick failed)
• Philadelphia – Bleeker 14 run (Zimmerman kick)
• Philadelphia – Karnofsky 19 run (kick failed)

Week 7 (Sunday November 11, 1945): Chicago Cardinals

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cardinals	0	0	0	0	0
Steelers	0	3	0	20	23

at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

• Game time:
• Game weather:
• Game attendance: 13,153
• Referee:

Scoring Drives:

• Pittsburgh – FG Agajanian 15
• Pittsburgh – Dudley 1 run (Dudley kick)
• Pittsburgh – Dudley 1 run (kick failed)
• Pittsburgh – Warren 75 run (Dudley kick)

Week 8 (Sunday November 18, 1945): Philadelphia Eagles

	1	2	3	4	Total
Steelers	6	0	0	0	6
Eagles	7	6	10	7	30

at Shibe Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

• Game time:
• Game weather:
• Game attendance: 23,838
• Referee:

Scoring Drives:

• Philadelphia – Karnofsky 12 run (Zimmerman kick)
• Pittsburgh – Kiick 1 run (kick failed)
• Philadelphia – Van Buren 3 run (kick failed)
• Philadelphia – FG Zimmerman 30
• Philadelphia – Van Buren 6 run (Zimmerman kick)
• Philadelphia – Steele 4 run (Rogalla kick)

Week 9 (Sunday November 25, 1945): Chicago Bears

	1	2	3	4	Total
Steelers	7	0	0	0	7
Bears	14	7	0	7	28

at Wrigley Field, Chicago, Illinois

• Game time:
• Game weather:
• Game attendance: 20,689
• Referee:

Scoring Drives:

• Chicago Bears – McAffee 33 run (Gudauskas kick)
• Pittsburgh – Dudley 4 run (Agajanian kick)
• Chicago Bears – McAfee 65 pass from Luckman (Gudauskas kick)
• Chicago Bears – Grygo 33 pass from Luckman (Gudauskas kick)
• Chicago Bears – McAfee 2 run (Gudauskas kick)

Week 10 (Sunday December 2, 1945): Washington Redskins

	1	2	3	4	Total
Steelers	0	0	0	0	0
Redskins	7	7	0	10	24

at Griffith Stadium, Washington, DC

• Game time:
• Game weather:
• Game attendance: 34,788
• Referee:

Scoring Drives:

• Washington – Bagarus 70 pass from Baugh (Aguirre kick)
• Washington – Turley 10 pass from Baugh (Aguirre kick)
• Washington – FG Aguirre 26
• Washington – Bagarus 29 pass from Baugh (Aguirre kick)

Standings

NFL Eastern Division
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	PF	PA	STK
Washington Redskins	8	2	0	.800	6–2	209	121	W2
Philadelphia Eagles	7	3	0	.700	5–2	272	133	W1
Yanks	3	6	1	.333	3–2–1	123	211	L5
New York Giants	3	6	1	.333	2–4–1	179	198	L1
Pittsburgh Steelers	2	8	0	.200	1–7	79	220	L3

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

References