THE NFL’S WACKY, PECULIAR, AND CONFUSING EARLY SCHEDULING PRACTICES!

In the modern world of today’s National Football League, schedules are carefully constructed to ensure fairness and opportunity. Home and away games are strictly monitored to maintain equality among all 32 teams. Each spring, after computers devour thousands of scheduling options, an elite group of NFL administrators meets to fine tune and ultimately finalize the schedule for the upcoming season.

Upcoming opponents are known for each club fairly quickly after the conclusion of the previous season since an established league formula defines a rotating concept of non-divisional foes for the 17-game schedule. Ultimately, each franchise will be awarded either nine home games (with one home exhibition contest) or eight home contests (with a pair of pre-season exhibitions at home).

All-in-all, hundreds of preparation hours by a squadron of humans, in addition to untold variations developed by software programs, contribute to the creation of the NFL schedule for the upcoming season. Needless to say, it is a long, studious, and perhaps tedious, project undertaken in an effort to ensure fairness and equality for all teams.

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CARDINALS: ONE GAME PLAYED OUTSIDE CHICAGO

A century ago, things were much easier when creating game arrangements in the struggling National Football League, including for the Chicago Cardinals, the NFL’s oldest team. Instead of an army of highly qualified league representatives, bolstered by an ample array of computer considerations, the Cardinals relied on just one individual to put together the schedule each year.

With no formal scheduling requirements, a team like the Cardinals could gobble up as many home games as possible, resulting in the fact that there was no need to chase after away games. In fact, over a five-year period from 1921-1925, the Cardinals scheduled just one game outside of the city of Chicago!

Of course, things were much simpler then. The league itself did not get involved with individual team scheduling. There were no requirements to develop home-and-away rivalry meetings, nor did the NFL mandate an equal number of home and away contests. Divisions did not yet exist, nor did playoffs. Very simply, it was winner-take-all based on the best record for the NFL title. But even the best record did not automatically result in the awarding of a league championship.

While all of this sounded acceptable, the newly minted NFL often encountered numerous problems in its attempts to determine the pro champions, most notably in 1921 and 1924. Without a solid scheduling process and no limitations on the number of games, league championship claims were running amuck at that time.

The accompanying anguish from teams who were rejected in their efforts to secure the title did not shed a positive light on the league itself, which seemingly could not avoid negative public opinion as it attempted to pull itself up to the popularity of the college game. It would take years to accomplish that objective, but at that time, at least the first giant step had been successful—that of creating a professional football league in 1920!

BEST RECORD DID NOT ENSURE CHAMPIONSHIP

If we look at the two years in question of 1921 and 1924, the unusual conclusions to those seasons might be interpreted as both perfectly acceptable, or deliriously unfair depending on which team was selected to wear the NFL crown. Again, we use the word “selected” since, as mentioned, the best record did not always ensure championship honors.

For example, in 1921, the Chicago Staleys were awarded the NFL championship based on dubious circumstances. Or—in common language—“wacky” might better describe the conclusion of the 1921 campaign. Here’s what happened…

George Halas, co-owner and co-coach of the Chicago Staleys (soon to be the Bears) along with Dutch Sternman, was extremely anxious to claim a league title in 1921, especially after failing to do so in 1920 despite a lofty 10-1-2 record, second only to the Akron Pros who finished with a 8-0-3 mark. Although Akron was selected as the champion of the American Professional Football Conference, Halas fought furiously for his Staleys to be awarded that honor.

After all, Halas argued, the Staleys should be given the crown since his club not only earned more victories than Akron, but also had not lost to the Pros during the just completed 1920 season. This position fell on proverbial deaf ears.

Then in 1921, the Staleys and the Buffalo All Americans were locked in a tough battle for first place as the end of the season grew closer. After games on November 27, the Staleys were 7-1 in the APFA, while Buffalo topped the standings with a 7-0-2 record. Tie games in 1921 did not count in the league standings and there was no playoff in place.

This left Halas with only one alternative if he was to sneak up on Buffalo and snatch the championship: the Staleys would need to defeat the All Americans one more time before the season ended on December 4. So, Halas issued a challenge to Buffalo to play a single game to settle the league title. But would the league-leaders agree to accept this challenge? In reality, there was no reason to do so.

BUFFALO ENDURED 500 MILE TRAIN RIDE

It would have been understood if Buffalo had decided to end its season at the end of November and retired for the year undefeated. If that was the case, Buffalo would have finished 8-0-2 and the club would have been awarded the league title. No questions asked. Surprisingly, All-Americans’ owner Frank McNeil agreed to a difficult two-game set to finish the season, arranging to meet the Akron Pros on Saturday, December 3 in Buffalo and then grabbing an all-night train for the over 500-mile ride to Chicago to face the Staleys the next day.

This would be a nearly impossible assignment for Buffalo, even in the current days of jet travel. On the other hand, it was certainly a huge advantage for the Staleys to play a team that not only was in action the previous day, but also one that just spent the entire night on a train. And—let’s not forget that the APFA championship was at stake!

Over the years, there has been speculation that Buffalo considered the games with Akron and the Staleys to be merely exhibitions. In other words, neither game, no matter what the outcome, would count in the official league standings.

I thought this season-ending controversy was so unusual that I wrote the following in my book Bears vs. Cardinals: The NFL’s Oldest Rivalry:

“Although Buffalo defeated Akron 14-0 on December 3, the team fell to the Staleys 10-7 the very next day. In 1956, former Buffalo quarterback/coach Tommy Hughitt recalled the circumstances of those final two games in 1921, stating that the battle with the Staleys was a “post-season game, and was arranged with that understanding by Frank McNeil, our manager. We’d certainly have been silly to risk our championship if it was to be listed as a regular season game. And the Bears [Staleys] never would agree to come to Buffalo.”

“Even with the loss, and the win over Akron, Buffalo (9-1) completed its season on December 4 ahead of the Staleys (8-1) in the 1921 standings without the ties included.

“Still, Halas was convinced that the win over Buffalo (along with no tie games by the Staleys) would secure the championship for his team, despite the unequal records.

STALEY SWINDLE

But would the final game with the All-Americans be included in the standings, especially if Buffalo presumed it was only an exhibition? Just to be sure, Halas went ahead and played two more games on the calendar, the first against Canton on December 11. A 10-0 win pulled the Staleys even with the All-Americans since each team was now sitting on a 9-1 record. Again, would this game count for the Staleys since the APFA had already closed the door on the schedule effective December 4?

Assuming that all of the aforementioned games would “count” in the title chase, Halas could quell any disparaging questions by simply defeating the Cardinals (3-3-1) in the absolute final game of the year now added on December 18. (No one seemed to care that the league decided that the season would end on December 4!)

On game day, with temperatures dropping to single digits, neither team could generate any offense, resulting in a 0-0 tie. With the deadlock, the Cardinals apparently derailed the Staleys’ bid for the outright APFA crown. A win for the Staleys would have brought that elusive tenth victory, a step ahead of Buffalo, while the tie meant virtually nothing. The final standings for 1921 showed the Staleys with a 9-1-1 record, while Buffalo finished with a 9-1-2 mark. All that remained now was for the APFA honchos to determine whether the Staleys, or the All-Americans, would be proclaimed as the 1921 champs.

It would be a tough decision, but this situation also clearly identified that some type of playoff structure was needed.

Ultimately, the league, using a very questionable and controversial basis for its decision, proclaimed the Staleys as the APFA champions. The criteria utilized in the process was quite peculiar. The league honchos juggled three options:

Award the title to Buffalo based on the standings as of December 4 and agreeing that the All-Americans last game with the Bears was indeed an exhibition and any other games played after December 4 would be disregarded.
Consider all games played and decide that the Staleys and Buffalo were co-champions.
Agree with George Halas and determine that the “tie-breaker” between Buffalo and Chicago would be decided by which team won the latest game between the two clubs. Huh?

And that third choice was, surprisingly, the final answer. The Staleys were awarded the title, while folks in Buffalo still refer to this decision as the “Staley Swindle.” Of course, the league did not want to repeat this type of confusion in the future, but another head-shaker occurred in 1924. In this case, four teams were in contention when the schedule supposedly concluded on November 30, 1924—headed by the circuit leading Cleveland Bulldogs with a 7-1-1 mark while the Chicago Bears were a step behind with a 6-1-4 record.

Once again, ties were not recognized, so apparently, Cleveland edged the Bears by one lonely victory. But here is where the sloppy and erratic scheduling popped up again! George Halas of Chicago challenged the Bulldogs to a so-called championship game at the end of the season and the Bulldogs accepted. On December 7, 1924, the Bears defeated Cleveland 23-0 and, along with most major newspapers, claimed the NFL title.

This “championship” battle revived bad memories for the league since it mirrored the exact same scenario as the 1921 season. This time, the league would not accept the Bears’ claim and Cleveland was awarded the title based on the standings as of November 30, 1924.

Now this brings us back to the NFL club that somehow managed to avoid road trips during the infant years of the league. Without any scheduling restrictions in the early 1920s, Chris O’Brien, the manager of the Chicago Cardinals, sketched out a series of potential opponents before, and during, each season and secured contracts from the visitors, often just a few days before the game was to take place.

CHRIS O’BRIEN’S HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE

Without bending any rules, since none existed, O’Brien scheduled 62 games from 1921 through the 1925 seasons, yet only one was outside the City of Chicago. Talk about home field advantage! But did this barrage of home games result in much success for the Cardinals?

From 1921 through 1925, the Cards compiled an excellent overall record of 42-16-4. Of those 62 games, 56 were actual home games hosted by the Cardinals, while the club also played four other games in Chicago against the Chicago Staleys/Bears and one at the Chicago Stayms. That leaves us with just that one, lonely true “away” game taking place outside of the Chicago area.

That contest took place on November 26, 1922 when the Cardinals hopped on the train and took the rare journey to Canton, OH. The result was a 20-3 defeat resulting in the Cardinals having a perfect losing “away” record during those five years of competition.

The other away games during this time period were equally unsuccessful. In the four away games against the Staleys/Bears, the Cardinals were 0-2-2 and were outscored 9-0, being shutout in all four battles. The lone away victory was a 27-0 exhibition win over the Stayms in 1921. As such, the flurry of home games hosted by the Cardinals from 1921-1925 definitely resulted in more successful outcomes and an overall ledger of 41-13-2.

So, did the bloated home schedule help the Cardinals during those five seasons? Aside from a timely 75.9% home winning margin (ties did not count), the home games did not result in much in the way of professional football domination. The following are the league finishes for the Cardinals in each of those five campaigns: 1921 (ninth); 1922 (third); 1923 (sixth); 1924 (eighth), and 1925 (NFL champions). During the 1925 season, the Cardinals only away game was against the Bears, meaning that the club never needed to leave the home town of Chicago,

It wasn’t until 1931 that the NFL initiated some control over the scheduling process. Over the next few years, this prompted more controlled scheduling by the league and eventually teams were divided into two divisions, thus prompting an overall title game between the two division champions to determine the true league champion.

Thank you for joining us for this discussion of some very archaic NFL procedures that often prompted some head scratching among fans, media, and the teams themselves. Of course, today there are no doubts regarding schedules and the crowning of the league champion in the Super Bowl as nearly 130 million television viewers might agree!

Please stop by for the next episode of “When Football Was Football” here on the Sports History Network. We’re very pleased to share that this will be the 100th program in this series, and to celebrate, we’ll share how our first episode inspired a book.

Author and Host - Joe Ziemba

Joe Ziemba is the host of this show, and he is an author of early football history in the city of Chicago. Here, you can learn more about Joe and When Football Was Football, including all of the episodes of the podcast.