NFL History: The Steagles and the Carpets

Steelers Shared Resources With 2 Teams During World War II

Excerpt:

So when Layden saw that the Steelers had only six players under contract and that the Eagles were down to about a dozen, he suggested a temporary merger between teams whose history was already intertwined. (Both joined the league the same year and, through much wrangling, were once traded by their respective owners.) Layden figured the arrangement would keep both franchises alive and solve his problem of trying to create a schedule for nine teams.

“Had to do it,” the Steelers co-owner Bert Bell said in an interview with The New York Times that summer. “Pittsburgh had no backs left and Philadelphia had no linemen.”

With a roster full of 4-Fs — men ineligible for the draft — Phil-Pitt was born. Newspaper columnists dubbed the team the Steagles, even though the plan was for them to be called the Eagles without a city in the name.

The players were pooled, and few football fans complained. “Both teams had been so bad that there was no worry of their becoming a superteam,” Algeo said.

But by the season’s end, the Steagles had become a decent one.

...

After the team dissolved, the Eagles were able to stand alone for the 1944 season. But with the Rams returning to the league, and the newly formed Boston Yanks joining, Layden had 11 teams. So the Steelers once again agreed to a merger, this time with the Chicago Cardinals.

That season, Card-Pitt, as the team was known, became rooted to the bottom of standings and set a benchmark for futility. The Detroit Lions might have posted the worst record in league history in 2008 by going 0-16, but they were only one team. It took two teams in 1944 to go a perfectly useless 0-10. Card-Pitt became better known as the Carpets, because opponents ran over them.

Comment: Fascinating. First I've heard of this! Check out the NYTimes graphic (from the NFL Hall of Fame)