| Regular season | |
|---|---|
| Duration | September 14 – December 14, 1930 |
| Champions | Green Bay Packers |
The1930 NFL season was the 11thregular season of theNational Football League.
Prior to the season,Brooklyn bootleggerBill Dwyer bought theDayton Triangles, moved them, brought on formerOrange Tornadoes starJack Depler as a partner, and renamed them theBrooklyn Dodgers. With this move, the league was able to keep the final franchise from theOhio League alive, albeit in a new location and with more skilled players, as it was unfeasible for the players in Dayton to move to Brooklyn during the Great Depression. The remains of the Tornadoes, with much of their roster now playing for the relocated Triangles-Dodgers franchise, moved to Newark.
ThePortsmouth Spartans (now known as theDetroit Lions) joined the league, while theBuffalo Bisons and theBoston Bulldogs both folded.
TheGreen Bay Packers were named the NFL champions for the second consecutive year after they finished the season with the best record.
The league had 11 teams in 1930.
| First season in NFL * | Last active season ^ |
‡ Player/head coachGeorge Gibson was one of the ten players that theMinneapolis Red Jackets sold to theFrankford Yellow Jackets after Minneapolis folded following a 1–7–1 start to the season. This enabled Gibson to also serve as player/head coach for Frankford for five games late in the season.
Defending champion Green Bay won its first eight games, including a 14–7 home win over the New York Giants on October 4. ByWeek Nine, Green Bay was at 8–0–0 and New York right behind them at 10–1–0. On November 16, the Packers lost to the Cardinals 13–6, but in New York, the Giants fell to the Bears, 12–0. On November 23, a crowd of 37,000 turned out as the Packers and the Giants met at thePolo Grounds in New York. The Giants' 13–6 win inWeek Eleven gave it the lead, 11–2–0 (.846) to the Packers' 8–2–0 (.800). Missed extra points had a big effect, as four days later, the Giants were beaten onThanksgiving Day by Staten Island, 7–6, while Green Bay defeated Frankford 25–7 to retake the lead at 9–2–0 (.818) to New York's 11–3–0 (.785). The Giants faltered again on Sunday, November 30, when Brooklyn beat them 7–6, again on a missed point after.
InWeek Thirteen, the Giants beat the Yellow Jackets, 14–6, while the Packers lost to the Bears, 21–0, cutting Green Bay's hold on first place to a mere 4/10ths of a percentage point, .769 to .765.
The Giants finished their season at 13–4–0, while 10–3–0 Green Bay had a final game at Portsmouth: a loss would have given the Packers a 10–4–0 finish and a .714 percentage, giving the Giants, at .765, the championship, while a tie (10–3–1 and .769) or win (11–3–0 and .785) would give Green Bay the 1930 title, their second in a row.
Once again, the point after decided the race. On December 14, the Packers scored on Red Dunn's touchdown pass to Wuert Engelmann, but the point after byVerne Lewellen failed, giving them a 6–0 lead. After Chuck Bennett ran for a touchdown for the Spartans, the extra point attempt by Tiny Lewis was blocked, and when the game ended, the 6–6 tie gave the Packers the 1930 title.[1]
Had the current (post-1972) system of counting ties as half a win and half a loss been in place in 1930, the tie would have given the Giants (13–4–0, .765) the title, and Green Bay would have finished runner-up at .750.
| NFL standings | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | T | PCT | PF | PA | STK | |||
| Green Bay Packers | 10 | 3 | 1 | .769 | 234 | 111 | T1 | ||
| New York Giants | 13 | 4 | 0 | .765 | 308 | 98 | L1 | ||
| Chicago Bears | 9 | 4 | 1 | .692 | 169 | 71 | W5 | ||
| Brooklyn Dodgers | 7 | 4 | 1 | .636 | 154 | 59 | L1 | ||
| Providence Steam Roller | 6 | 4 | 1 | .600 | 90 | 125 | L1 | ||
| Staten Island Stapletons | 5 | 5 | 2 | .500 | 95 | 112 | L1 | ||
| Chicago Cardinals | 5 | 6 | 2 | .455 | 128 | 132 | L1 | ||
| Portsmouth Spartans | 5 | 6 | 3 | .455 | 176 | 161 | T1 | ||
| Frankford Yellow Jackets | 4 | 13 | 1 | .235 | 113 | 321 | T1 | ||
| Minneapolis Red Jackets | 1 | 7 | 1 | .125 | 27 | 165 | L6 | ||
| Newark Tornadoes | 1 | 10 | 1 | .091 | 51 | 190 | L6 | ||