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 to last game of the season, the Bears and Chicago Cardinals faced off in the final game of the season, with the Western Division title on the line. Despite it being a home game for the Bears at Wrigley Field the Cardinals came in and would stun the Bears 30–21 en route to the 1947 NFL Championship. In 1948, for the second season in a row, the Bears put together another great regular season but fell short to their inner city rival Cardinals. The Bears posted a 10–2 record, but lost a key game against the Cardinals that gave them