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
1947 NFL season NFL Draft was held on December 16, 1946 at New York City's Commodore Hotel. With the first pick, the Chicago Bears selected halfback Bob Fenimore from Oklahoma State University–Stillwater. 1947 NFL season The 1947 NFL season was the 28th regular season of the National Football League. The league expanded the regular season by one game from eleven games per team to twelve, a number that remained constant for fourteen seasons, through 1960. The season ended when the Chicago Cardinals defeated the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL Championship Game on December 28. Starting in 1947, the NFL teams played a 12-game