Dec. 29, 1963 - In the Chicago dressing room today after the Bears’ victory over the Giants in the NFL championship game, linebacker Larry Morris, named the game’s most valuable player, told how he swiped a pass from Y.A. Tittle and romped 61 yards to set up the Bears’ first touchdown. “It was second down and long yardage,” Morris recounted. “It figured to be a pass. I went in and took it. Why did I zigzag so much? Because I’m no gazelle halfback. I wanted to score — and I almost made it.” Morris’s larceny was one of five by the Bears off Tittle. “We knew that one of the Giants’ best weapons was the screen pass,” said coach George Halas. “We were watching for it constantly. When Ed O’Bradovich intercepted the Tittle screener in the third quarter, it was just what we were looking for. It worked perfectly. We had a blitz on, and the red dogger was Joe Fortunato. Joe went in. O’Bradovich came over and protected Fortunato’s position, and he came up with the pass. It was a big one.” O’Bradovich said the Bears smelled a screen on the play. “We knew they liked to throw it. We were waiting for it — and we came up lucky.” Bob Kilcullen, Chicago defensive end, said the Bears won by preventing the Giants from playing the game they wanted to. “They wanted to hold us up with the draw play, so we’d go for the fakes,” said Kilcullen. “So what did we do? We just played it smart. We didn’t go for the fakes.” Two of the happiest victors were Fred Williams and Bill George, both of whom suffered through the 47-7 defeat at the hands of the Giants in the championship game of 1956. “This was a long time coming,” said Williams. “I didn’t figure I’d ever play on a championship team.” Coach Halas compared today’s victory with his Bears’ 73-0 triumph over Washington in the 1940 championship game. “We’ve been lucky,” said defensive end Doug Atkins. “We were lucky all season, and we were lucky today. A defense isn’t supposed to beat a team, just hold them. But we beat them, and nobody can argue about it.”
