Dan Fortmann team captain, he led the Bears to back-to-back NFL championships in 1940 and 1941 with records of 8–3 and 10–1. After the 1940 season, Fortmann was rated as the best lineman in the NFL. The United Press called him "the heart and soul" of the Bears' ground attack that "rolled up a vast amount of yardage overland." In the 1940 NFL Championship Game, the Bears defeated the Washington Redskins by a 73-0 score. Fortman later cited the 1940 championship game as proof of Halas' skill as a "master of psychology." The Bears had lost to the Redskins three weeks earlier,
History of the Chicago Bears league championship. In 1922, Halas changed the team name to the Bears to reflect baseball's Chicago Cubs, the team's host at Wrigley Field. Over the next few years, the Bears were ranked among the elite teams in the NFL, but could never capture an NFL Championship because the league did not have a playoff system. Instead it had a somewhat controversial scheduling formula, which led to uneven standings and controversial champions. The highlight of the decade was George Halas's unprecedented move to sign Red Grange for $100,000 in 1925. In 1925, professional football was viewed negatively by Americans, as most