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The 1929 season was the Chicago Bears' 10th in the National Football League. The team was unable to improve on their 7–5–1 record from 1928 and finished with a 4–9–2 record during head coach George Halas's final season. The showing earned them a ninth-place finish in the team standings their worst record to date and first time the club finishing below .500. Chicago scored 119 points total during the season, but the defensive squad conceded 227, most in the league.
| 1929 Chicago Bears season | |
|---|---|
| Head coach | George Halas |
| Home field | Wrigley Field |
| Results | |
| Record | 4–9–2 |
| League place | 9th NFL |
The Bears' season started promising enough, with a 4–1–1 start. However, three of those wins were against the Minneapolis Red Jackets, a team that finished the season 1–9. The final 9 games represented the worst stretch in franchise history, as the Bears went 0–8–1 to finish the season. Few of the Bears losses were even close contests. They lost three times to Green Bay, all shutouts. They also lost three times to New York. Against the Chicago Cardinals, the Bears fought them to a 0–0 tie in the first meeting, but ran into an NFL record performance in the rematch.
Ernie Nevers, the former All-America from Stanford and owner-coach-player of the defunct Duluth Eskimos, had the game of a lifetime against Chicago on Thanksgiving Day, November 28. Nevers rushed for an NFL record 6 touchdowns and added 4 PATs for an NFL record 40 points; 6 TDs and 40 points are both still records and among the oldest standing records in NFL history (although Gale Sayers and Dub Jones tied Nevers with 6 touchdowns in a game, Nevers' 6 rushing touchdowns are still an unmatched record). The Bears were crushed 40–6, with Nevers scoring all the Cardinals' points.[1]
The inability of Chicago to compete with the top teams in the NFL may have been the catalyst for Halas to step down as player-coach and focus on his owner duties (Halas would return to coach in a few years). Clearly, the Bears needed more talent at the "skill positions" as the Chicago backfield was mostly unchanged since the early 1920s. One bright spot was the emergence of End Luke Johnsos, who caught two touchdown passes late in the season. In addition, the legendary Red Grange rejoined the team and regained some of his earlier form.
- Paddy Driscoll, back
- Red Grange, back (did not play in 1928)
- George Halas, end
- Ed Healey, tackle
- Link Lyman, tackle
- George Trafton, center
- Luke Johnsos, end (rookie from Northwestern)
- Joe Kopcha, guard (rookie from Chattanooga)
- William Senn, back
- Joe Sternaman, quarterback
- Laurie Walquist, quarterback
- Packie Nelson, tackle
- Sod Ryan, tackle
| Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 22 | at Minneapolis Red Jackets | W 19–6 | 1–0 | Breese Stevens Field |
| September 29 | at Green Bay Packers | L 0–23 | 1–1 | City Stadium |
| October 6 | at Minneapolis Red Jackets | W 7–6 | 2–1 | Nicollet Park |
| October 13 | at Buffalo Bisons | W 16–0 | 3–1 | Bison Stadium |
| October 20 | Chicago Cardinals | T 0–0 | 3–1–1 | Wrigley Field |
| October 27 | Minneapolis Red Jackets | W 27–0 | 4–1–1 | Wrigley Field |
| November 3 | New York Giants | L 14–26 | 4–2–1 | Wrigley Field |
| November 10 | Green Bay Packers | L 0–14 | 4–3–1 | Wrigley Field |
| November 16 | at Frankford Yellow Jackets | L 14–20 | 4–4–1 | Frankford Stadium |
| November 17 | at New York Giants | L 0–34 | 4–5–1 | Polo Grounds |
| November 24 | Buffalo Bisons | L 7–19 | 4–6–1 | Wrigley Field |
| November 28 | at Chicago Cardinals | L 6–40 | 4–7–1 | Comiskey Park |
| December 1 | Frankford Yellow Jackets | T 0–0 | 4–7–2 | Wrigley Field |
| December 8 | Green Bay Packers | L 0–25 | 4–8–2 | Wrigley Field |
| December 15 | New York Giants | L 9–14 | 4–9–2 | Wrigley Field |
| NFL standings | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | T | PCT | PF | PA | STK | |||
| Green Bay Packers | 12 | 0 | 1 | 1.000 | 198 | 22 | W2 | ||
| New York Giants | 13 | 1 | 1 | .929 | 312 | 86 | W4 | ||
| Frankford Yellow Jackets | 10 | 4 | 5 | .714 | 129 | 128 | W1 | ||
| Chicago Cardinals | 6 | 6 | 1 | .500 | 154 | 83 | W1 | ||
| Boston Bulldogs | 4 | 4 | 0 | .500 | 98 | 73 | L1 | ||
| Staten Island Stapletons | 3 | 4 | 3 | .429 | 89 | 65 | L2 | ||
| Providence Steam Roller | 4 | 6 | 2 | .400 | 107 | 117 | L1 | ||
| Orange Tornadoes | 3 | 5 | 4 | .375 | 35 | 80 | L1 | ||
| Chicago Bears | 4 | 9 | 2 | .308 | 119 | 227 | L1 | ||
| Buffalo Bisons | 1 | 7 | 1 | .125 | 48 | 142 | W1 | ||
| Minneapolis Red Jackets | 1 | 9 | 0 | .100 | 48 | 185 | L7 | ||
| Dayton Triangles | 0 | 6 | 0 | .000 | 7 | 136 | L6 | ||
Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.
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