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,
1940 NFL Championship Game to the team which had just beaten them, the Bears made an eleven-touchdown pile and used it as a pedestal to raise the NFL to view in all corners of the country... Pro football, the T-formation and the Chicago Bears were the sudden sports news of the year." "Sunday, December 8, 1940"<br> Kickoff: 1:30 p.m. EST The NFL had only four game officials in ; the back judge was added in , the line judge in , and the side judge in . Source: The net gate receipts from the sellout were over $102,000, a record, and each Bear player