The 1941 NFL season was the 22nd

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of S ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). The league's ten teams each played a regular season schedule of 11 games, for a total of 55 regular season contests. The total attendance for these games was 1,118,616 — an average of 20,338 fans per event. This represented an increase of 9% over the previous season's attendance. The defending league champion

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

and the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

finished the regular season tied in the Western Division, forcing the first divisional playoff game in league history. The Bears won this contest 33–14 at

Wrigley Field Wrigley Field is a ballpark on the North Side, Chicago, North Side of Chicago, Illinois. It is the home ballpark of Major League Baseball's Chicago Cubs, one of the city's two MLB franchises. It first opened in 1914 as Weeghman Park for Charl ...

on December 14, before swamping the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

37–9 in the

1941 NFL Championship Game The 1941 NFL Championship Game was the ninth annual championship game of the National Football League (NFL), held at Wrigley Field in Chicago on December 21. Played two weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the attendance was 13,341 ...

at Wrigley Field one week later. The Bears, who averaged 36 points per game over the course of the 1941 season, became the first team since the institution of the East–West play-off in to repeat as champion.

Preseason

Before the season,

Elmer Layden Elmer Francis Layden (May 4, 1903 – June 30, 1973) was an American football player, coach, college athletics administrator, and professional sports executive. He played college football for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football, Notre Dame Fi ...

was named the first

Commissioner of the NFL The commissioner of the National Football League is the chief executive officer of the National Football League (NFL). The position was created in 1941. The current commissioner is Roger Goodell, who assumed office on September 1, 2006. Until 1 ...

, while

Carl Storck :''This is about the American football executive, not to be confused with sculptors Carol Storck or Karl Storck Carl H. Storck (born November 14, 1892 – March 13, 1950) was a co-founder of the National Football League (NFL), as well as the fou ...

resigned as league president. Layden also took on the duties of president and signed a five-year contract at $20,000 annually.

Draft

The

1941 NFL draft The 1941 NFL draft was held on December 10, 1940, at the Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C. With the first overall pick of the draft, the Chicago Bears selected halfback Tom Harmon. The Bears selected 24 players, but forfeited their final fou ...

was held on December 10, 1940, at

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Willard Hotel The Willard InterContinental Washington, commonly known as the Willard Hotel, is a historic luxury Beaux-Arts hotel located at 1401 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Downtown Washington, D.C. It is currently a member of Historic Hotels of America, th ...

. With the first pick, the

selected halfback

Tom Harmon Thomas Dudley Harmon (September 28, 1919 – March 15, 1990), nicknamed "Old 98", was an American football player, military pilot, actor, and sports broadcaster. Harmon played college football as a halfback for the Michigan Wolverines from ...

from

The University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Michigan is one of th ...

Major changes for 1941

Rules changes

The league bylaws were changed to provide for playoffs in cases where division races are tied after the regular season, and rules for sudden-death overtimes in case a playoff game was tied after four quarters. * The penalty for illegal shift is 5 yards. * The penalty for illegal kick or bat is 15 yards. * Whenever a player is ejected from the game, his team is penalized 15 yards. * A personal foul committed by the opponent of the scoring team is enforced on the ensuing kickoff. In addition to these rule changes, this season marked the first time that the league commissioner became involved in enforcement of player conduct standards. Commissioner

in August assessed $25 fines on

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

Larry Craig Lawrence Edwin Craig (born July 20, 1945) is an American retired politician from the state of Idaho. A Republican, Craig represented Idaho in the United States Senate from 1991 to 2009 and represented Idaho's 1st District in the U.S. House of ...

and

halfback

Hank Soar Albert Henry Soar (August 17, 1914 – December 24, 2001) was an American football running back and defensive back in the National Football League (NFL) who went on to have a long career as an umpire in Major League Baseball (MLB). Soar played n ...

for fighting. Wilson became the official game ball of the NFL.

Coaching changes

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

: George Clark was replaced by Bill Edwards. *

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. Founded in 1933 P ...

Walt Kiesling Walter Andrew Kiesling (May 27, 1903 – March 2, 1962) was an American professional football guard and coach who spent 36 years in the National Football League (NFL). He was posthumously inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1966 and ...

was replaced by

Bert Bell De Benneville "Bert" Bell (February 25, 1895 – October 11, 1959) was an American professional football executive and coach. He was the fifth chief executive and second commissioner of the National Football League (NFL) from 1946 until his deat ...

, who had sold his ownership stake in the Eagles and then bought a share of the Steelers. Bell resigned as head coach after losing the first two games.

Aldo Donelli Aldo Teo "Buff" Donelli (July 22, 1907 – August 9, 1994) was an American football player and coach, soccer player, and college athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Duquesne University from 1939 to 1942, Boston Univ ...

did not fare any better, losing the next five before being fired. Kiesling then returned for the final four games. *

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...

, who left the Eagles to join the Steelers, was replaced by

Greasy Neale Alfred Earle "Greasy" Neale (November 5, 1891 – November 2, 1973) was an American football and baseball player and coach. Early life Neale was born on November 5, 1891, in Parkersburg, West Virginia. Although writers eventually assumed that ...

Stadium changes

* The

played full time at Briggs Stadium (Tiger Stadium), no longer holding home games at

University of Detroit Stadium University of Detroit Stadium, also known as U of D Stadium, Titan Stadium, or Dinan Field, was an outdoor athletic stadium in the north central United States, located on the campus of the University of Detroit in Detroit, Michigan. The stadium ...

* The

moved back from

Shibe Park Shibe Park ( , rhymes with "vibe"), known later as Connie Mack Stadium, was a ballpark located in Philadelphia. It was the home of the Philadelphia Athletics of the American League (AL) from 1909 to 1954 and the Philadelphia Phillies of the Natio ...

to the larger

Philadelphia Municipal Stadium John F. Kennedy Stadium, formerly Philadelphia Municipal Stadium and Sesquicentennial Stadium, was an open-air stadium in Philadelphia that stood from 1926 to 1992. The South Philadelphia stadium was on the east side of the far southern end ...

, where they previously played from 1936 to 1940

Division races

In the Eastern Division, the Redskins held a half-game after nine weeks of play: at 5–1–0, their only loss had been 17–10 to the 5–2-0 Giants, who had lost two games in a row. Washington, however, lost its next three games, while the Giants rebounded to win their next two games. On November 23, the 5–3 Redskins met the 7–2 Giants at the

Polo Grounds The Polo Grounds was the name of three stadiums in Upper Manhattan, New York City, used mainly for professional baseball and American football from 1880 to 1963. The original Polo Grounds, opened in 1876 and demolished in 1889, was built for the ...

, and the Giants' 20–13 win clinched the Division championship. The Western Division race was one between the Bears and Packers. By November 2, when the teams met at Wrigley Field, the Bears were 5–0 and the Packers 6–1, in part because of the Bears' earlier 25–17 win at Green Bay. Green Bay's 16–14 win put them in the lead, and they finished the regular season at 10–1 on November 30 with a 22–17 comeback win at Washington. On the afternoon of December 7, 1941, on the day Japanese planes bombed Pearl Harbor, the Bears were losing to the Cardinals, 0–14, and trailed 24–20 in the fourth quarter before rallying for a 34–24 win. With both the Bears & Packers finishing at 10–1, a playoff was set to determine who would go to, and host, the Championship Game. They met at

on December 14, with Chicago winning 33–14.

Final standings

Playoffs

Western Division Playoff Game *CHI. BEARS 33, Green Bay 14 NFL Championship Game *CHI. BEARS 37, N.Y. Giants 9 ''Home team in capitals''

Team statistics

The following statistics cover the 11 regular season games only, exclusive of playoff games. The Chicago Bears, unleashing a juggernaut around their novel T-formation with motion offense, smashed numerous league records for the year, including total yards gained (4,265), passing yards (2,002), single-game total yards (613) and passing yards (376), first downs (181), touchdowns (56), rushing touchdowns (37) — as well as continuing to be the most flagged team in football, setting a new record in penalty yards (officially 676.5).

Individual leaders

Rushing

Although it was the brother of a Chicago Bear — Pug Manders of the Brooklyn Dodgers — that led the league in rushing, three of the top ten ball-carriers in 1941 hailed from George S. Halas' team. No runner in the league cracked the 500 yard mark for the year.

Receiving

Packer end Don Hutson returned to his place of preeminence among NFL receivers, recording more than twice the yardage of the second most successful receiver in the league. He set a new NFL record for touchdowns (10) and tied the league mark for total receptions, with 58.

Passing

In this era still dominated by the

single-wing formation In American football, American and Canadian football, a single-wing formation was a precursor to the modern shotgun formation. The term usually connotes formations in which the snap (football), snap is tossed rather than handed. Formations with ...

, it was many times the left halfback ("tailback") that handled the bulk of passing duties, with the quarterback ("blocking back") primarily serving as an obstruction or a receiver. "Slingin' Sammy" Baugh was a single-wing halfback during the 1941 season and it was Green Bay halfback Cecil Isbell who lead the league in passing. Isbell, in fact, set new NFL single-season records for both passing yards (1,479) and touchdown passes (15).

Awards

Joe F. Carr Trophy

The Joe F. Carr Trophy was presented annually by the National League as its

Most Valuable Player award In team sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or ...

. *

Don Hutson Donald Montgomery Hutson (January 31, 1913 – June 26, 1997), nicknamed "the Alabama Antelope", was an American professional football player and coach in the National Football League (NFL). In the era of the one-platoon football, he played a ...

, End, Green Bay Packers

All-National League Team

Six members of the Chicago Bears and five members of the Green Bay Packers were named to the All-National League Team for 1941. There were dozens of other players included as "honorable mentions".Strickler (ed.), ''1942 NFL Record & Roster Manual,'' p. 114.