Some facts about the 1940 season.

[Rain Man]

Since that was the last time a team went so long without holding a lead, I wanted to see which team it was. And I'm not sure, so screw it. But here are some interesting facts about that season.

1. Obviously, it produced the most lopsided championship game in NFL history, and I believe the most lopsided game of any sort (though the Chiefs still have nine more games this season). The Bears beat the Redskins 73-0. The Bears recorded scores by three Hall of Famers that day, Sid Luckman, George McAfee, and Bulldog Turner. Interestingly, both teams recorded 17 first downs. However, the Redskins had 9 turnovers to 1 for the Bears. The Redskins outpassed the Bears 226 yards to 138, but the Bears outrushed the Redskins 381 to 5. Makes you wonder why the Bears didn't have more first downs. Seven different players completed passes, including three Hall of Famers (Luckman, McAfee, and Sammy Baugh). Matt Cassel did not complete a pass in that game.

2. The Redskins had the best regular season record at 9-2, scoring 245 points and yielding 142. They had the #1 offense and #3 defense in a ten-team league. Their 22.7 points per game is higher than than the Chiefs' current 20.4 points per game, despite the forward pass being relatively young.

3. The Pittsburgh Steelers scored only 60 points, averaging only 5.5 points per game. However, they somehow went 2-7-2, which is rather difficult to fathom, but still better than the Chiefs' record. The next lowest scoring team was the Philadelphia Eagles with 111 points. The Steelers' defense was ranked 7th in a ten-team league.

4. Interestingly, those same Steelers were undefeated in their first three games, with one win (10-7 at Detroit) and two ties (7-7 against the Chicago Cardinals and 10-10 against the Giants). However, they scored only 33 points in their next eight games, which makes it hard to win. Even with that, they notched a 10-7 win over the Eagles in Week 10, much like the Chiefs' win over New Orleans.

5. The Philadelphia Eagles had the worst record at 1-10, with the #9 offense and #9 defense. So I figure they must've been the team that we're being compared with. Their first win didn't come until Week 10 of the 11-game season, so we may be better than them. The jury's still out.

6. The Eagles ran the ball 317 times that season for 298 yards, averaging 0.9 yards per carry. Somehow they ended up with 8 rushing touchdowns. The next worst rushing attack in the league was the Steelers, averaging 2.7 yards per carry over 1,102 yards. Jamaal Charles gives us the edge here.

7. There were 100 touchdown passes thrown that season, compared to 223 interceptions. I think that's roughly were our quarterbacks are in 2012. There were also 100 touchdowns rushing. Six of the ten teams had more rushing yards than passing.

8. The Steelers' primary starting quarterback was 5-10, 167-lb. Billy Patterson, who threw 117 of the team's 183 total passes. The team's overall passing rating was 14.4, in part because they threw 4 TDs and 27 interceptions. Cassel and Quinn are outperforming Patterson so far.

9. The Steelers' fullback was George Kiick, father of NFL running back Jim Kiick, who was on a more successful team in 1972 (not the Chiefs).

10. Leaguewide, kickers made 85.1 percent of their extra point attempts and 39.6 of their field goal attempts. Succop is way better than that.

11. The league MVP was the Brooklyn Dodgers' Ace Parker, a Hall of Famer who threw for 817 yards with a 73.3 rating and ran for 306 yards. He also had 139 yards receiving, kicked the team's extra points (19 of 22), and punted 49 times for a 38.3 yard gross average. On defense, he added six interceptions as a defensive back. There were reportedly calls by fans to give Parker more carries.

12. In part, the Eagles' futility running the ball may be due to a statistical change. Their running backs ran the ball 217 times for 478 yards, a healthy
2.2 yards per carry. However, young quarterback Davey O'Brian (5'-7", 151 pounds) chipped in 100 carries for -180 yards, relatively few of which would have been victory kneels. I wonder if these were sacks that were recorded as rushing attempts. If so, it would appear that he and Cassel played behind similar offensive lines.

13. The Bears' 11 starters included 6 Hall of Famers. I'm a fan of NFL history, and I've never heard of a single player on the Eagles' roster that year other than the head coach. See below for more on that. The 2012 Chiefs resemble the Eagles more closely than the Bears.

14. The Eagles were coached in 1940 by Bert Bell, who was the owner of the Eagles and become the coach to save money. Bell had also come up with the concept of the NFL draft a few years earlier when he was unable to sign any top players. This eventually led to the Chiefs' drafts of players such as Jon Baldwin, Tyson Jackson, and Donald Stephenson, and the trade of draft picks for Matt Cassel. Bell therefore shares some responsibility with Pioli for this season.

Interestingly, Art Rooney sold the Steelers that year and became part owner with Bell of the Eagles. He and Rooney then immediately traded their entire franchise to the new owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers and became owners of the Steelers. Rooney convinced Bell to resign as head coach in 1941, and Bell still holds the record for the worst career record of any NFl coach with 5 or more seasons (10-46-2 - his best season was 5-6 and his second-best season was 2-8-1). However, note that Crennel has not yet coached for five years.

When Bell was invited to become the NFL commissioner in 1946, Rooney bought out Bell's remaining ownership share. Bell went on to create the media blackout rules that will soon affect the Chiefs this year.