1941 NFL season

1941 National Football League season
Regular season
Duration
East Champions	New York Giants
West Champions	Chicago Bears
Championship Game
Champions	Chicago Bears
National Football League seasons  < 1940 1942 >

The 1941 NFL season was the 22nd regular season of the National Football League. Before the season, Elmer Layden was named the first Commissioner of the NFL, while Carl Storck 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 Chicago Bears and the Green Bay Packers 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 37–9 in the NFL Championship Game.

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.

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, 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 now embroiled in World War II, 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

Eastern Division
Team	W	L	T	PCT	PF	PA
New York Giants	8	3	0	.727	238	114
Brooklyn Dodgers	7	4	0	.636	158	127
Washington Redskins	6	5	0	.545	176	174
Philadelphia Eagles	2	8	1	.200	119	218
Pittsburgh Steelers	1	9	1	.100	103	276

Western Division
Team	W	L	T	PCT	PF	PA
Chicago Bears	10	1	0	.909	396	147
Green Bay Packers	10	1	0	.909	258	120
Detroit Lions	4	6	1	.400	121	195
Chicago Cardinals	3	7	1	.300	127	197
Cleveland Rams	2	9	0	.182	116	244

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)

Don Hutson, Wide receiver, Green Bay

References

• NFL Record and Fact Book (ISBN 1-932994-36-X)
• NFL History 1941-1950 (Last accessed December 4, 2005)
• 1941 season in details
• Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League (ISBN 0-06-270174-6)