1938 NFL season

The 1938 NFL season was the 19th regular season of the National Football League. The season ended when the New York Giants defeated the Green Bay Packers in the NFL Championship Game.

Major rule changes

*A new 15-yard penalty for roughing the passer is enacted.
*If a kickoff goes out of bounds, the receiving team may opt to take possession of the ball at their own 45-yard line.
*The penalty for a second forward pass during a play is changed from 5 yards and a loss of down to just 5 yards.

Division races

In "Week Seven", the Bears lost at home to the Rams, 23-21, while the Packers beat the Pirates (the future Steelers) 20-0, giving Green Bay the lead for the first time. The Packers won their next three games to clinch the Western Division.

In the Eastern Division, the Redskins led until "Week Ten", when they fell to the Bears, 31-7; the Giants' 28-0 win over the Rams gave New York the division lead on November 13. The division title still came down to the last day of the regular season, December 4, when 57,461 turned out at the Polo Grounds in New York to watch the 7-2-1 Giants host the 6-2-2 Redskins. A Washington win would have made them 7-2-2 and New York 7-3-1, with the Skins as division champs. New York needed only to win or tie, and did the former, five touchdowns en route to a 36-0 victory.

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"

See also

1938 NFL Draft

References

* "NFL Record and Fact Book" (ISBN 1-932994-36-X)
* [http://www.nfl.com/history/chronology/1931-1940 NFL History 1931-1940] (Last accessed December 4, 2005)
* [http://nflhistory.net/linescores/pdf/1938.pdf 1938 season in details]
* "Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League" (ISBN 0-06-270174-6)