The 1941 NFL season was the 22nd regular season

Regular season (NFL)

The National Football League regular season begins the weekend after Labor Day. Each team plays 16 games during a 17-week period. Traditionally, the majority of each week's games are played on Sunday afternoon, with weekly games on Sunday night and Monday night, and occasional games on Thursday...

 of the National Football League

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

. Before the season, Elmer Layden

Elmer Layden

Elmer Francis Layden was an American football player, coach, college athletics administrator, and professional sports executive. He played college football at the University of Notre Dame where he starred at fullback as a member of the legendary "Four Horsemen" backfield...

 was named the first Commissioner of the NFL, while Carl Storck

Carl Storck

Carl Storck was a co-founder of the National Football League, as well as the founding owner of the Dayton Triangles. He was also the Triangles coach from 1922 until 1926. Storck served as the secretary-treasurer of the NFL from 1921 to 1939. Upon the death of Joe Carr, he served as president of...

 resigned as league president.

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 defending league champion Chicago Bears

1941 Chicago Bears season

The 1941 Chicago Bears season was their 22nd regular season and 6th postseason completed in the National Football League. The club posted a 10-1 record under head coach George Halas en route to their second straight NFL Championship and fifth overall league title.-Schedule:-Standings:-All-Star...

 and the Green Bay Packers

1941 Green Bay Packers season

The 1941 Green Bay Packers season was their 21st season in the National Football League. The club posted a 10-1 record under coach Curly Lambeau, earning a tie for first place in the Western Conference with the Chicago Bears. The Packers and Bears played a one-game playoff in Chicago to determine...

 finished the regular season tied in the Western Division, setting up the first divisional playoff game in league history. The Bears won 33–14, then defeated the New York Giants

New York Giants

The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...

 37–9 in the NFL Championship Game. The Bears became the first team since the institution of the East-West championship in to repeat as champion.

The total attendance for the league's 55 regular-season games was 1,118,616. This represented an increase of 9% over the previous season's

1940 NFL season

The 1940 NFL season was the 21st regular season of the National Football League. The season ended when the Chicago Bears defeated the Washington Redskins in the NFL Championship Game, 73–0. This game still stands as the most one-sided victory in NFL history...

 attendance.

Major rule changes

• 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 would become involved in enforcement of player conduct standards. Commissioner Elmer Layden

Elmer Layden

Elmer Francis Layden was an American football player, coach, college athletics administrator, and professional sports executive. He played college football at the University of Notre Dame where he starred at fullback as a member of the legendary "Four Horsemen" backfield...

 in August assessed $25 fines on Green Bay Packers

1941 Green Bay Packers season

The 1941 Green Bay Packers season was their 21st season in the National Football League. The club posted a 10-1 record under coach Curly Lambeau, earning a tie for first place in the Western Conference with the Chicago Bears. The Packers and Bears played a one-game playoff in Chicago to determine...

 quarterback

Quarterback

Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...

 Larry Craig and New York Giants

1941 New York Giants season

The 1941 New York Giants season was the seventeenth season for the club in the National Football League.-Season recap:The Giants managed to put together a quite respectable team that year. Ed Danowski was lured out of retirement, Tuffy Leemans' back healed, and Mel Hein was talked out of a...

 halfback

Halfback (American football)

A halfback, sometimes referred to as a tailback, is an offensive position in American football, which lines up in the backfield and generally is responsible for carrying the ball on run plays. Historically, from the 1870s through the 1950s, the halfback position was both an offensive and defensive...

 Hank Soar

Hank Soar

Albert Henry Soar was an American football running back and defensive back in the National Football League who went on to have a long career as an umpire in Major League Baseball...

 for fighting.

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 Giants. Washington lost its next three games, while the Giants won their next two. On November 23, the 5–2 Redskins met 6–2 New York, and the Giants' 20–13 win clinched the division.

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

Attack on Pearl Harbor

The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...

, the Bears were losing to the Cardinals, 14-0, and trailed 24–20 in the fourth quarter, before rallying for a 34–24 win. Both teams finished at 10–1 and a playoff was set to determine who would go to the title game. With the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 now embroiled in World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, the Bears and Packers met at Wrigley Field, with Chicago winning 33–14.

Final standings

W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PCT= Winning Percentage, PF= Points For, PA = Points Against

Note: The NFL did not officially count tie games in the standings until 1972

Playoffs

See: 1941 NFL playoffs

Home team in capitals

Western Division Playoff Game

• CHI. BEARS 33, Green Bay 14

NFL Championship Game

• CHI. BEARS 37, N.Y. Giants 9

Awards

Joe F. Carr Trophy (Most Valuable Player) NFL Most Valuable Player Award The National Football League Most Valuable Player Award is given by various entities, most notably the Associated Press , to the player who is considered most valuable in the league. When the award is referred to without mentioning the organization, it generally means the AP award. The AP NFL MVP...

Don Hutson Don Hutson Donald Montgomery Hutson was the first star wide receiver in National Football League history. He is considered by many to have been the first modern receiver.... , Wide receiver Wide receiver A wide receiver is an offensive position in American and Canadian football, and is the key player in most of the passing plays. Only players in the backfield or the ends on the line are eligible to catch a forward pass. The two players who begin play at the ends of the offensive line are eligible... , Green Bay