History of the football helmet gridiron until 1939 and were not made mandatory in the National Football League until 1943 As a side note, "the last NFL player to play in a game without a helmet was Dick Plasman an end for the Chicago Bears in 1940." There is a photograph of him without one taken during the 1940 NFL Championship Game in which Chicago defeated the Washington Redskins 73–0. Before the invention of the football helmet, players would often grow their hair long, because they believed it would protect their heads. The man largely credited with inventing the first helmet was George Barclay. In
History of the Chicago Bears first place in the league. The teams played an "unofficial" championship playoff game, held on December 18 at Chicago Stadium. The Bears won the game 9–0 and captured the NFL Championship before 11,198 fans. The popularity of the game prompted the NFL to institute various rule changes for the 1933 season, including the splitting of the league into two geographical divisions and the establishment of an officially scheduled championship game to determine the NFL champion. In 1933, George Halas made his return to coaching the Bears. Halas led the Bears to win the first ever Western Division title and the