1929 Chicago Bears season

1929 Chicago Bears season
Head coach George Halas
Home field Wrigley Field
Results
Record 4–9–2
League place 9th NFL

Season Overview

The 1929 Chicago Bears season was their 10th regular season completed in the National Football League. The club posted a 4–9–2 record during head coach George Halas's final season. The showing earned them a ninth-place finish in the team standings their worst record to date with the club finishing only below .500. Halas would return to coach in a few years. The Bears' season started promising enough, with a 4–1–1 start. However, three of those wins were against the Minneapolis Red Jackets, a team that finished the season 1–9. The final 9 games represented the worst stretch in franchise history, as the Bears went 0–8–1 to finish the season. Few of the Bears losses were even close contests. They lost three times to Green Bay, all shutouts. They also lost three times to New York. Against the Chicago Cardinals, the Bears fought them to a 0–0 tie in the first meeting, but ran into an NFL record performance in the rematch. Ernie Nevers, the former All-America from Stanford and owner-coach-player of the defunct Duluth Eskimos, had the game of a lifetime against Chicago on Thanksgiving Day, November 28. Nevers rushed for an NFL record 6 touchdowns and added 4 PATs for an NFL record 40 points; 6 TDs and 40 points are both still records and among the oldest standing records in NFL history (although Gale Sayers and Dub Jones tied Nevers with 6 touchdowns in a game, Nevers' 6 rushing touchdowns are still an unmatched record). The Bears were crushed 40–6, with Nevers scoring all the Cardinals' points.[1] The inability of Chicago to compete with the top teams in the NFL may have been the catalyst for Halas to step down as player-coach and focus on his owner duties. Clearly, the Bears needed more talent at the "skill positions" as the Chicago backfield was mostly unchanged since the early 1920s. One bright spot was the emergence of End Luke Johnsos, who caught two touchdown passes late in the season. In addition, the legendary Red Grange rejoined the team and regained some of his earlier form.

Future Hall of Fame Players

Other Leading Players

Schedule

Date Opponent Location Result Score Record
Sep 22 Minneapolis Red Jackets Breese Stevens Field Win19–6 1–0–0
Sep 29 Green Bay Packers City Stadium Loss0–23 1–1–0
Oct. 6 Minneapolis Red Jackets Nicollet Park Win7–6 2–1–0
Oct 13 Buffalo Bisons Bison Stadium Win 16–0 3–1–0
Oct 20 Chicago Cardinals Wrigley Field Tie 0–0 3–1–1
Oct 27 Minneapolis Red Jackets Wrigley Field Win 27–0 4–1–1
Nov 3 New York Giants Wrigley Field Loss 14–26 4–2–1
Nov 10 Green Bay Packers Wrigley Field Loss 0–14 4–3–1
Nov 16 Frankford Yellow Jackets Frankford Stadium Loss 14–204–4–1
Nov 17 New York Giants Polo Grounds Loss 0–344–5–1
Nov 24 Buffalo Bisons Wrigley Field Loss 7–19 4–6–1
Nov 28 Chicago Cardinals Wrigley Field Loss 6–40 4–7–1
Dec. 1 Frankford Yellowjackets Wrigley Field Tie 0–0 4–7–2
Dec. 8 Green Bay Packers Wrigley Field Loss 0–25 4–8–2
Dec. 15 New York Giants Wrigley Field Loss 9–14 4–9–2

Standings

NFL standings
W L T PCT PF PA STK
Green Bay Packers 12 0 1 1.000 198 22 W2
New York Giants 13 1 1 .929 312 86 W4
Frankford Yellow Jackets 9 4 5 .692 129 128 W1
Chicago Cardinals 6 6 1 .500 154 83 W1
Boston Bulldogs 4 4 0 .500 98 73 L1
Staten Island Stapletons 3 4 3 .429 89 65 L2
Orange Tornadoes 3 4 4 .429 35 80 L1
Providence Steam Roller 4 6 2 .400 107 117 L1
Chicago Bears 4 9 2 .308 119 227 L1
Buffalo Bisons 1 7 1 .125 48 142 W1
Minneapolis Red Jackets 1 9 0 .100 48 185 L7
Dayton Triangles 0 6 0 .000 7 136 L6

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

References

  1. ↑ "Hall of Famers » ERNIE NEVERS". Profootballhof.com. Retrieved September 6, 2012.
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