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 the Western Division Championship. In 1949, The Bears continued to be one of the best teams in the NFL. However, they fell one game short of making the Championship game again. The Bears' success continued into 1950 as they began the new decade in style by finishing 9–3, which was good enough to earn them a tie for the Western Division with the Los Angeles Rams and play in the Conference Playoff against them. However, the Bears were unable to slow down the high-powered Ram offense in a 24–14 loss in Los Angeles as the Rams advanced to the NFL