• Carl Storck, who served for two years as president after Joe Carr's death, resigned, and the owners hired Notre Dame coach Elmer Layden and gave him the title Commissioner.
• Three teams also had changes at the top.
  Dan Reeves purchased the Cleveland Rams.
  Pittsburgh owner Art Rooney, tired of losing both games and money, sold his club to 28-year-old Boston businessman Alexis Thompson. Rooney used the proceeds to buy a half interest iin Bert Bell's Philadelphia Eagles.
  However, during the summer, Thompson and Rooney decided to trade franchises. Art moved back to the Steel City with Bell and changed the name of the team from Pirates to Steelers while Thompson took control of the Eagles. About 30 players also changed teams in the swap, but to no avail - the teams finished at the bottom of the East Division with only three wins between them.
  
• The owners changed the bylaws to require a playoff when a division race was tied after the regular season. They also called for sudden-death over­time in case a playoff game was tied after four quarters. The first rule would be applied right away, but the OT rule wasn't needed for 17 sea­sons.
• Other rules changes:
  The penalty for an illegal shift is 5y.
  The penalty for an illegal kick or bat is 15y.
  Whenever a player is ejected, his team is penalized 15y.
  A personal foul committed by the defensive team on a scoring play is en­forced on the ensuing kickoff.
• The league also experimented with more liberal substitution rules in the preseason, with each team able to substitute four men at a time. How­ever, it would be two years before any changes affected the regular sea­son.

Commissioner Elmer Layden presents the 1941 MVP award to Don Hutson.

1941 was expected to be the year of the big rematch with the Redskins getting a chance for revenge against the Bears who thrashed them 73-0 in the '40 title contest. But the Giants spoiled the party.

• Steve Owen's 8-3 crew beat Washington twice, 17-10 and 20-13, to win the East by one game over the surprising Brooklyn Dodgers.
• New York did it with defense, holding opponents to a league-low 114 points.
• Ed Danowski returned after a one-year retirement to help Tuffy Leemans run the NY offense. Like many other pro and college coaches after the Bears' T offense annihilated the Redskins, Owen added some T-formation plays to his offense, including the man in motion.

However, the two strongest teams played in the Western Division.

• The Bears and Packers tied for first with 10-1 records, losing only to each other. The Bears beat the Packers in Green Bay 25-17 to open the sea­son, but Curly Lambeau's club returned the favor n the Windy City Novem­ber 2, 16-14.
• Both teams sat atop the league in points with the Bears amassing an un­heard-of 396 (98 more than the previous league high the Bears had set in '39) to the Pack's 258. Halas's boys outscored their opponents by an ave­rage of almost 23 ppg.
• The day after the '40 title game, Halas stayed in Washington for the annu­al draft. He added some fresh blood to his offensive powerhouse, notably two backs from Clark Shaugnessy's undefeated Stanford club that, within a month, would win the Rose Bowl:
  Norm Standlee, a 238 lb FB/LB who was immediately dubbed the next Bronko Nagurski.
  Hugh Gallarneau, Standlee's slimmer but faster running mate at Stanford
• More and more commentators referred to QB Sid Luckman as "another Sammy Baugh." The pride of Columbia completed 57.1% of his passes, distributing the ball to 15 different receivers, with E Dick Plasman leading with 14.
• The running game was no less potent, with 2nd-year speedster George McAfee compiling the most yardage, 474. Standlee trailed by only 60y.

The final Sunday of the regular season, December 7, saw three games sched­uled.

• The Giants celebrated "Tuffy Leemans' Day" at the Polo Grounds but lost to the Dodgers 21-7 for the second time.
• At Griffith Stadium in Washington, the Redskins defeated the Eagles 20-14 on a bitterly cold day before 27,102.
• The Bears visited their crosstown rivals, the Chicago Cardinals, at Comis­key Park where they rallied for a 34-24 victory that clinched a tie for the Western crown.

At all three stadiums, the PA announcer interrupted his commentary on the game to tell all servicemen to report to their units.

• The Redskins announcer also paged high-ranking government and military personnel in attendance but did not mention the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor that morning. Reporters were instructed to check with their offices. Team owner George Marshall wouldn't allow an announcement of the attack during game, explaining that it would distract the fans. QB Sammy Baugh later said, We didn't know what the hell was going on. I had never heard that many announcements one right after another. We felt something was up, but we just kept playing.
• The Chicago announcer told the crowd that the Japanese had attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor. Halas thought about calling the game at that point but decided to play on
• The radio broadcast of each game was also interrupted for the bulletin from the White House.

Crowd at Griffith Stadium 12/7/41

The Bears and Packers met in the Western Division playoff December 14.

• Convinced that this was truly the NFL championship game, 43,425 braved the numbing 19° cold, including 10,000 Packer fans and the entire Giants coaching staff.
• The frigid conditions immediately affected play as Gallarneau fumbled the opening kickoff, and the visitors recovered on the 19. Five plays later, Clarke Hinkle plunged over from the 1' line to give the Packers a quick 7-0 lead.
• Gallarneau also fumbled the next kickoff but recovered. But a few mo­ments later, Standlee dropped the ball, and GB covered it at the 35. How­ever, the Bears stuffed the Pack and blocked Hinkle's 40y FG attempt.
• After receiving a punt, Green Bay couldn't move, and Hinkle punted to Gallarneau who took the ball on the 18 and eluded the coverage unit for an 82y TD. Bob Snyder, who kicked PATs standing still, had his boot blocked to keep the score 7-6 as Q1 ended.
• The Bears express rolled in Q2 to the tune of 24 points.
  First, they rumbled 37y to the GB 14, from where Snyder booted a FG to give the Bears a lead they never relinquished.
  Before a steaming cup of coffee had a chance to get cold, Joe Maniaci returned a Packer bobble to the 12. Three plays later, Standlee went in from the 3.
  On the next possession, Chicago drove 58y, with Standlee doing the honors again, from the 2.
  Next came a 63y march leading to Bob Swisher's 9y TD run.
• The game was essentially over, though the Packers won the second half 7-3 to make the final 33-14.
• Green Bay's star receiver Don Hutson, the league MVP, had only one re­ception on the afternoon.
• The Chicago Daily News article on the game included this passage: Stout Steve Owen and sundry other officlals of the New York Giants are back on Broadway today, but unless they're marvelous actors, they're not fooling any­body. One look at the long faces Stout Steve and his gang carried out of Wrigley Field yesterday afternoon will be all the Giants need to warn them of what is in store for them on the same sod next Sunday afternoon.