The 1935 NFL season was the 16th regular season of the National Football League. The season ended with the Detroit Lions' 26âÂÂ7 victory over the New York Giants in the NFL Championship Game.
Were it not for the cancellation of a RedskinsâÂÂEagles game on November 17 due to heavy rain and snow, all of the teams would have played 12 games, which would have made 1935 the first season in which all NFL teams played the same number of games. The standardization of the league's schedule was formalized the following year and has continued ever since, with the number of games being slowly increased to 14 by 1961, 16 by , and 17 by .
The next season to have any teams play a different amount of regular season games was in , when a BillsâÂÂBengals game on January 2 was declared a no contest due to the in-game collapse of Damar Hamlin.
This marked the last season until 2023 that every team in one division finished with a winning record, in this case the NFL West.
With the loss of the Cincinnati franchise and its St. Louis successor at the end of the 1934 NFL season, the league stood with a total of just 9 teams, split into divisions of unequal sizes.
This width lasted for ten seasons, through . The hashmarks were moved to 20 yards from the sidelines (40 feet apart) in , which lasted for 27 seasons. They were moved in to the width of the goalposts (18ý feet) in .
In the Eastern Division, the key game took place on Thanksgiving Day at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, as the 5âÂÂ4 Dodgers hosted the 6âÂÂ3 Giants. A Brooklyn win would have tied the teams at 6âÂÂ4, but New York won, 21âÂÂ0, and went on to victories in their remaining two games to win the division championship comfortably at 9âÂÂ3.
In the Western Division, all 4 teams were in a close race. On Thanksgiving Day the Lions defeated the Bears 14-2 while the Cardinals won over the Packers 9âÂÂ7, leaving the Lions at 6âÂÂ3âÂÂ2 and the Cardinals at 6âÂÂ3âÂÂ1. Three days later on December 1, the Lions defeated Brooklyn 28âÂÂ0, while the Cardinals tied the Bears 7âÂÂ7. With this win, Detroit finished its season at 7âÂÂ3âÂÂ2 and eliminated the Packers and Bears from contention, while the Cardinals stood at 6âÂÂ3âÂÂ2 with another game against the Bears coming up on December 8. The Cardinals needed to win in order to force a playoff for the division title. However, the Bears won 13âÂÂ0, and the Lions were the division champs.
Had the current (post-1972) system of counting ties as half a win and half a loss been in place in 1935, the Packers at 8âÂÂ4âÂÂ0 would have tied the 7âÂÂ3âÂÂ2 Lions for the Western Division title with .667, requiring a playoff game. This was the last season until 2023 that an entire division finished with a winning record.
Detroit 26, N.Y. Giants 7, at University of Detroit Stadium, in Detroit, Michigan, on December 15.
The 1935 season marked the fourth year in which official statistics were tracked and retained by the NFL. Certain statistics later regarded as staples were not maintained, including interceptions, punting average, kickoff return yardage and average, and field goal percentage, among others.
In the table below, â¡ denotes a new NFL record.
<small>Source: Pete Palmer, et al. (eds.), The ESPN Pro Football Encyclopedia. First Edition. New York: Sterling Publishing, 2006; p. 1043.</small>