The1941 National Football League (NFL) playoffs occurred after the conclusion of the regular season to determine the champion of the1941 NFL season. At the conclusion of the regular season, there was a tie for theWestern Division championship between theChicago Bears andGreen Bay Packers, requiring an unscheduledone-game playoff, making this the debut edition of theNFL playoffs. The two teams had finished the regular season with identical 10–1 records and had split their season series.[1] The teams had developeda rivalry; the Bears weredefending league champions and the Packers had won the NFL title in1939.
The 1941 season was the 22ndregular season of theNational Football League (NFL). The league's ten teams were split into two divisions of five teams each: theEastern and Western Divisions. Each team played a regular season schedule of 11 games, for a total of 55 regular season contests. Prior to the start of the season, the NFL bylaws were changed to provide for playoffs in cases where division races are tied after the regular season and new rules for sudden-death overtimes in case a playoff game was tied after four quarters were added. The Eastern Division was won by theNew York Giants with a record of 8–3, beating out theBrooklyn Dodgers and theWashington Redskins. In the Western Division, theGreen Bay Packers andChicago Bears—who were the defending NFL Champions—battled throughout the season for the division lead. The two teams, who had developeda rivalry, played each other twice, splitting the games and giving them each their only loss of the season. Each team finished with a record of 10–1, both coming-from-behind in their last game of the season. Theattack on Pearl Harbor occurred the same day the Bears won to tie the Packers' record. With the same record, a playoff game was scheduled to determine who would go to, and host, the1941 NFL Championship Game.
This game marked the first postseason meeting in theBears–Packers rivalry, with the second meeting not occurring for another 70 years, in the2010 NFC Championship Game.[4] The game began evenly, but a 24-point second quarter by the Bears created a insurmountable lead, with the Bears ultimately winning 33–14 to move on to theNFL Championship Game.[5][6]
