TimesFour

1945: The Alabama Antelope ran wild in Milwaukee.

The Packers, defending their 1944 NFL championship, traveled to Milwaukee for a Week 2 matchup with the Lions. Green Bay had beaten Chicago the week before, 31-21, but was held to only five pass completions for 94 yards.

That anemic trend seemed destined to continue as the Lions, who had won six straight going back to the end of 1944, held the Packers scoreless in the first quarter. As the second quarter began, the Lions were near the end of a 71-yard drive that ended with QB Chuck Fenenbock’s 8-yard touchdown run.

The ensuing kickoff was returned by the Packers to their own 44, and then the floodgates opened. On first down, QB Don McKay hit WR Don Hutson for a 56-yard touchdown. Following a Lions punt, tailback Irv Comp hit Clyde Goodnight with a 41-yard scoring pass. The next Packers possession brought a 46-yard McKay-Hutson TD hookup.

Then, an interception by Ben Starret led immediately to a 17-yard scoring pass from Comp to Hutson; another interception, this one by Ted Fritsch, was returned 69 yards to the Lions end zone; and just before halftime, Comp and Hutson teamed up again, this time for a 6-yard scoring play.

The second-quarter total: 41 points for the Packers, which stands to this day as an NFL record for the most points scored by a team in one quarter. And, between four touchdowns and the five extra points he kicked, Hutson scored 29 of those 41 points, another single-quarter NFL record that still hasn’t been matched.

The rest of the game was anticlimactic, as the Packers tacked on a safety and another long TD pass in the third quarter, and the two teams traded touchdowns in the fourth. The Lions ended up looking deceptively good in the statistics, tallying 15 first downs to the Packers’ 7, and outgaining Green Bay both on the ground and through the air.

But the 23,500 stunned attendees (including young sportswriter Lee Remmel, covering his first Packer game) saw not only a blowout win for the Packers, but a concentrated display of individual and team scoring might that has never been matched.

October 7, 1945
County Stadium, Milwaukee

Lions		0	7	7	7	-	21
Packers		0	41	9	7	-	57

DT: Chuck Fenenbock 8 run (Bill Callihan kick)
GB: Don Hutson 56 pass from Roy McKay (Hutson kick)
GB: Clyde Goodnight 41 pass from Irv Comp (Hutson)
GB: Hutson 46 pass from McKay (Hutson)
GB: Hutson 17 pass from McKay (kick blocked)
GB: Ted Fritsch 69 interception return (Hutson)
GB: Hutson 6 pass from McKay (Hutson)
DT: Bob Westfall 7 run (Callihan)
GB: Safety (Goodnight tackled Dave Ryan in end zone)
GB: Comp 50 pass from Lou Brock (Hutson)
GB: Charley Brock 33 interception return (Hutson)
DT: John Greene 62 pass from Ryan (Callihan)

Trivia: Who was the first Packer to lead the NFL in punting average for a season? The answer will appear in the Comments section tomorrow.