1929 Chicago Bears season
Head coachGeorge Halas
Home fieldWrigley Field
Results
Record4–9–2
League place9th NFL

The 1929 season was the Chicago Bears' 10th in the National Football League. The team was unable to improve on their 7–5–1 record from 1928 and finished with 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 and first time the club finishing below .500. Chicago scored 119 points total during the season, but the defensive squad conceded 227, most in the league.

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 (Halas would return to coach in a few years). 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 Result Record Venue
September 22 at Minneapolis Red Jackets W 19–6 1–0 Breese Stevens Field
September 29 at Green Bay Packers L 0–23 1–1 City Stadium
October 6 at Minneapolis Red Jackets W 7–6 2–1 Nicollet Park
October 13 at Buffalo Bisons W 16–0 3–1 Bison Stadium
October 20 Chicago Cardinals T 0–0 3–1–1 Wrigley Field
October 27 Minneapolis Red Jackets W 27–0 4–1–1 Wrigley Field
November 3 New York Giants L 14–26 4–2–1 Wrigley Field
November 10 Green Bay Packers L 0–14 4–3–1 Wrigley Field
November 16 at Frankford Yellow Jackets L 14–20 4–4–1 Frankford Stadium
November 17 at New York Giants L 0–34 4–5–1 Polo Grounds
November 24 Buffalo Bisons L 7–19 4–6–1 Wrigley Field
November 28 at Chicago Cardinals L 6–40 4–7–1 Comiskey Park
December 1 Frankford Yellow Jackets T 0–0 4–7–2 Wrigley Field
December 8 Green Bay Packers L 0–25 4–8–2 Wrigley Field
December 15 New York Giants L 9–14 4–9–2 Wrigley Field

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 10 4 5 .714 129 128 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
Providence Steam Roller 4 6 2 .400 107 117 L1
Orange Tornadoes 3 5 4 .375 35 80 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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