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
1963 NFL Championship Game the NFL still regarded itself as the premiere professional league of American football, as reflected in WGN radio broadcaster Jack Quinlan's comment as the clock ticked to zero on the final play: "The Chicago Bears are world's champions of professional football!" It was another twenty-two years before the Bears won another league championship. "Sunday, December 29, 1963"<br> Kickoff: 12:05 p.m. CST The NFL had five game officials in ; the line judge was added in and the side judge in . The gate receipts for the game were about $500,000 and the television money was $926,000. For the first time,