1924 NFL season

The 1924 NFL season was the fifth regular season of the National Football League. The league had 18 teams play during the season, including the new clubs Frankford Yellow Jackets, Kansas City Blues, and Kenosha Maroons. The Louisville Brecks, Oorang Indians, and Toledo Maroons folded.

Before the season, the owner of the now-defunct Cleveland Indians bought the Canton Bulldogs and "mothballed" it, taking the team's nickname and players to Cleveland for the season. Amidst controversy, the new team, the Cleveland Bulldogs, won the 1924 NFL title with a 7–1–1 record.

Background

January league meeting

Team owners and representatives held their annual scheduling meeting at the Hotel Sherman in Chicago during the weekend of January 26–27, 1924."Pro Gridiron Heads Favor Two-Part League,"
''Chicago Tribune,'' Jan. 27, 1924, p. 22. Representatives from twenty teams were in attendance, including a delegate from Kansas City requesting admission into the league. Joe F. Carr of Columbus was reelected as president, with John Dunn of Minneapolis chosen vice-president."Independents May Be in New Grid Division,"
''Rock Island Argus,'' Jan. 28, 1924, p. 12. Carl Storck of Dayton was selected as the league's secretary-treasurer.

The assembled delegates debated the division of the league into two divisions — Eastern and Western — with the latter to include the two Chicago teams and neighboring Hammond, Indiana; Rock Island, Illinois; St. Louis; and the northwestern teams of Minneapolis, Green Bay, Milwaukee, and Racine, Wisconsin. The geographic arrangement was to be accompanied by a championship playoff game pitting the winners of the East and West. This seemingly obvious division of the league was not adopted, however.

Representatives from the professional football clubs of Hibbing, Minnesota, and Ironwood, Michigan were said to be sending representatives to the Chicago meeting in an effort to obtain league franchises. While neither of these small town clubs were able to satisfy team owners in the league of their viability, Kansas City was admitted for 1924.F.B. Field
"Elastic Card for Pro Elevens,"
'' hicagoCollyer's Eye,'' Feb. 2, 1924, p. 5.

The league meeting presented gold footballs to members of the 1923 Canton Bulldogs for winning the league championship.

An appeal was heard by the delegates, presented by the Rock Island Independents, over the guarantee paid in 1923 to the Rochester Jeffersons for their October 14 game. The Jeffs, it was alleged, misrepresented their lineup and breached their contract by failing to bring in regular players for a competitive game. The visiting substitutes had been blasted 56–0 by the Islanders in one of the most one-sided games of the 1923 season. This dispute was decided in favor of Rochester, however, and the team was awarded its guarantee.

It was reported that the National League was attempting regularization of scheduling for the 1924 season, with the first five weeks dedicated to regional matchups, the next four weeks to intersectional games, with clubs filling in final dates based upon their standing in the league. It was hoped that improved competitive balance would result.

Teams

Eighteen teams competed in the NFL during the 1924 season, with four financially failing teams from 1923 failing to return — the Toledo Maroons, St. Louis All-Stars, Louisville Brecks, and the Oorang Indians of Marion, Ohio.

Standings

Championship race

The Cleveland Bulldogs, Buffalo Bisons, Frankford Yellow Jackets, Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears were the contenders for the title in November.

However, Buffalo faltered down the stretch, dropping their last three games to drop from 6–2 to 6–5, finishing squarely in the middle of the pack, and Green Bay similarly fell from 6–2 to 7–4. This left Cleveland and Chicago to contend for the title, since Frankford had two losses and the other two teams only one. Teams such as the Duluth Kelleys and the Rock Island Independents would have been contenders for the title, but their more limited schedules (six games for Duluth and nine for Rock Island) effectively ruled them out of title contention.

The official end of the season was designated on November 30, 1924, with Cleveland atop the league standings. After this date, Chicago challenged Cleveland to a post-season rematch and won, setting up a repeat of 1921, when the Bears (at that time still known as the Staleys) were able to win the championship from Buffalo (at the time known as the All-Americans) using the same tactic: this time, however, league officials declared any game after November 30 to be effectively exhibition games, null and void with regard to the season standings, which allowed the Bulldogs to keep their title. The Bears argued that the Bulldogs had agreed in advance that the game will be the title match, but the NFL officials claimed the Bulldogs couldn't make the decision for the league, and awarded them the title based on "league play".Bulldogs became Cleveland’s team, NFL champions in matter of months
, by Chris Lillstrung, The News-Herald (Willoughby, Ohio/Cleveland), May 17, 2020

In terms of pure win–loss differential, the Yellow Jackets would have easily won the title, as they had nine more wins than losses, compared to the +6 of the Bulldogs and the +5 of the Bears.

Had the current (post-1972) system of counting ties as half-a-win and half-a-loss been in force in 1924, the Kelleys (5–1) would have tied with the Bulldogs (7–1–1) for the league title at .833, with the tiebreaker not applicable as the Kelleys and Bulldogs did not play each other, while the Yellow Jackets (11–2–1) would have finished third at .821, with the Bears (6–1–4) finishing fourth at .727.

References

Further reading

* Tom Bennett, et al. (eds.), ''The NFL's Official Encyclopedic History of Professional Football.'' Revised and expanded edition. New York: Macmillan, 1977.
* Bob Carroll, et al. (eds.), ''Total Football II: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League.'' New York: HarperCollins, 1999.
* Santo Labombarda and NFL Communications Department (eds.)
''2024 NFL Record and Fact Book.''
New York: National Football League, 2024.
* Tod Maher and Bob Gill (eds.), ''The Pro Football Encyclopedia: The Complete and Definitive Record of Professional Football.'' New York: Macmillan USA, 1997.

{{NFL seasons

1924