The 1938 NFL season was the 19th regular season of the National Football League. The season ended when the New York Giants defeated the Green Bay Packers in the NFL Championship Game.
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Major rule changes
- A new 15-yard penalty for roughing the passer is enacted.
- If a kickoff goes out of bounds, the receiving team may opt to take possession of the ball at their own 45-yard line.
- The penalty for a second forward pass during a play is changed from 5 yards and a loss of down to just 5 yards.
Division races
In Week Seven, the Bears lost at home to the Rams, 23-21, while the Packers beat the Pirates (the future Steelers) 20-0, giving Green Bay the lead for the first time. The Packers won their next three games to clinch the Western Division.
In the Eastern Division, the Redskins led until Week Ten, when they fell to the Bears, 31-7; the Giants' 28-0 win over the Rams gave New York the division lead on November 13. The division title still came down to the last day of the regular season, December 4, when 57,461 turned out at the Polo Grounds in New York to watch the 7-2-1 Giants host the 6-2-2 Redskins. A Washington win would have made them 7-2-2 and New York 7-3-1, with the Skins as division champs. New York needed only to win or tie, and did the former, five touchdowns en route to a 36-0 victory.
Four neutral-site games were held: two at Civic Stadium in Buffalo, New York, one in Erie, Pennsylvania and one in Charleston, West Virginia. The Buffalo games marked the league's first return to Buffalo since the folding of the Bisons in 1929.
Final standings
W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PCT= Winning Percentage, PF= Points For, PA = Points Against
Note: The NFL did not officially count tie games in the standings until 1972
| Eastern Division | ||||||
| Team | W | L | T | PCT | PF | PA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| New York Giants | 8 | 2 | 1 | .800 | 194 | 79 |
| Washington Redskins | 6 | 3 | 2 | .667 | 148 | 154 |
| Brooklyn Dodgers | 4 | 4 | 3 | .500 | 131 | 161 |
| Philadelphia Eagles | 5 | 6 | 0 | .455 | 154 | 164 |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 2 | 9 | 0 | .182 | 79 | 169 |
| Western Division | ||||||
| Team | W | L | T | PCT | PF | PA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Green Bay Packers | 8 | 3 | 0 | .727 | 223 | 118 |
| Detroit Lions | 7 | 4 | 0 | .636 | 119 | 108 |
| Chicago Bears | 6 | 5 | 0 | .545 | 194 | 148 |
| Cleveland Rams | 4 | 7 | 0 | .364 | 131 | 215 |
| Chicago Cardinals | 2 | 9 | 0 | .182 | 111 | 168 |
NFL Championship Game
N.Y. Giants 23, Green Bay 17, at Polo Grounds, New York City, December 11, 1938
Awards
| Joe F. Carr Trophy (Most Valuable Player) | Mel Hein, Center, N.Y. Giants |
See also
References
- NFL Record and Fact Book (ISBN 1-932994-36-X)
- NFL History 1931-1940 (Last accessed December 4, 2005)
- 1938 season in details
- Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League (ISBN 0-06-270174-6)
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1938 NFL Season
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|---|---|
| Eastern Division | Western Division |
| Brooklyn | Chicago Bears |
| New York | Chicago Cardinals |
| Philadelphia | Cleveland |
| Pittsburgh | Detroit |
| Washington | Green Bay |
| 1938 NFL Draft • NFL Championship | |
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