The 1942 NFL season was the 23rd regular season of the National Football League. Before the season, many players left for service in World War II, thus depleting the rosters of all the teams.
The ten teams of the NFL each played a 11 game schedule during the 1942 regular season, for a league total of 55 contests.
Continuing their Chicago Bears finished the regular season at 11âÂÂ0, and faced the 10âÂÂ1 Washington Redskins in the championship game. Washington, which had been embarrassed by a massive 73âÂÂ0 shutout loss in the 1940 Championship Play-off, got a measure of revenge by spoiling the Bears' hope for a perfect season, winning the rematch 14âÂÂ6.
The 1942 NFL draft was held on December 22, 1941, at Chicago's Palmer House Hotel. With the first pick, the Pittsburgh Steelers selected runningback Bill Dudley from the University of Virginia.
These statistics include the 11 regularly scheduled games played by each team and exclude the Championship game. A new league record for passing was set by the Green Bay Packers, with 2,407 yards gained through the air. The Packers also set new records for most passes completed in a season (172) and most touchdowns passing (28). The Washington Redskins, featuring the passing of Sammy Baugh, set a new NFL record for passing accuracy, completing 53.4% of their 257 pass attempts as a team. Also worthy of note is the point differential of the undefeated Chicago Bears, who amassed 376 points (34.1 points per game) while giving up just 84 (7.6 points per game) â both league bests.
The longest run of 1942 in the NFL was by Lloyd Cardwell of Detroit, 80 yards.
Top receiver in the NFL in 1942 â for the fifth time in eight seasons â was Don Hutson of the Packers. In this second of two back-to-back MVP years, Hutson set new NFL records for total receiving yards (1,211), receptions (74), and touchdowns receiving (17). He also led the league in scoring, setting a new league record with 138 points scored in just an 11 game season. He also expanded his career records for touchdowns (72) and yards receiving (5,515).
The league as a whole set a record for touchdown passes with 108, topping the matching 100 TD seasons of 1940 and 1941.
Green Bay's Cecil Isbell became the NFL's first back-to-back passing champion in 1942. He set new season records for passing yards (2,021), completions (146), and touchdown passes (24) â also tying a league record by throwing six touchdown passes in one game. Also delivering an MVP-caliber performance was Sammy Baugh of the Redskins, who also topped the old NFL records for passing yards, completions, and touchdown passes, while helping Washington set a new team record for completion percentage (53.3%).
The Joe F. Carr Trophy was presented annually by the National League as its Most Valuable Player award. For the second year in a row, the award was won by Packer end Don Hutson.
Given the dominant performance of the 1942 Chicago Bears team, it is unsurprising that five of the players named to the First Team eleven were members of George Halas' club, with a sixth Bear player tabbed for the second team. In addition, four Washington Redskins were accorded All-League honors, with the Green Bay Packers and the Cleveland Rams adding three players each. There were also 34 players included as part of an "Honorable Mention" list.