December 21, 1941: The Last NFL Player Without a Helmet

According to Pro-Football-Reference.com,

the only number Dick Plasman wore

during a game for the Bears was 14.

December 21, 1941: The NFL Championship Game is played at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The Chicago Bears make it back-to-back titles, beating the New York Giants, 37-9.

It wasn't as demonstrative as the year before, when the Bears beat the Washington Redskins, 73-0 in Washington, earning them the nickname "The Monsters of the Midway." But it was decisive. The Giants actually led 6-3 at the end of the 1st quarter, and forged a 9-9 tie in the 3rd. But quarterback Sid Luckman ran the T formation as well as ever, leading 3 long drives that ended with short touchdown runs, 2 by Norm Standlee, 1 by George McAfee. The Bears also got 2 field goals from Bob Snyder, and a 42-yard fumble return by Ken Kavanaugh.

This game was notable for other reasons. It had been 2 weeks since the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, so it would be the last NFL game played before the manpower drain of World War II began to take effect. Two players in this game would be killed in The War, both in early 1945: Chicago back Young Bussey, with the Navy in the Philippines; and New York end Jack Lummus, with the Marines on Iwo Jima.

On the Bears' last touchdown, Ray "Scooter" McLean chose to dropkick the extra point. There wouldn't be another attempt at a dropkick in an NFL game for 64 years, until Doug Flutie of the New England Patriots did it at the end of the 2005 season. A member of 4 title teams with the Bears, McLean would go on to be the Green Bay Packer head coach replaced by Vince Lombardi in 1959.

"There'll be no need of breaking up the Bears for the good of pro football," Bears end Dick Plasman said. "The war's done it already." This prediction turned out not to be completely true: The Bears did manage to reach the Championship Game again in 1942, but lost it to the Redskins; then, with a makeshift roster, including bringing running back Bronko Nagurski out of retirement after 6 years, beat the Redskins in the 1943 title game. After 2 years missing the title game, they got back to it in 1946, and beat the Giants. The Giants got into the 1944 title game, losing to the Packers.

Plasman did not wear a helmet in the 1941 title game, or in any game he'd played before that. By his own admission, he didn't even like hats. He thus became the last man to appear in an NFL game without a helmet. The NFL mandated helmets starting in 1943, with no "grandfather clause." When Plasman, on leave with the U.S. Army Air Forces, was allowed to return to the Bears in 1944, and when he played for the Chicago Cardinals after The War in 1946 and 1947 (his last game was their NFL Championship win), he wore a helmet.

Paul Zimmerman, the Sports Illustrated pro football expert known as Dr. Z, said of Plasman, "Ferocious on his blocks, a great pass rusher and a receiver, too. The guy was terrific, a force out there. He was worthy of the Hall of Fame."

In 1974, sportswriter Ira Berkow asked Plasman if he would wear any headgear if given an opportunity to return to the field. He said, "Yes, earmuffs." He had sustained frostbite in his ears during The War. He died in 1981.

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December 21, 1941 was a Sunday. Baseball was out of season. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. There were 3 games in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Montreal Canadiens, 4-3 at the old Madison Square Garden. Bryan Hextall scored the winning goal, 6:07 into overtime.

* The Boston Bruins and the Detroit Red Wings played to a tie, 2-2 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.

* The Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 3-0 at the Chicago Stadium.

* And the New York Americans were not scheduled. They had been renamed the Brooklyn Americans, even though they were still playing at Madison Square Garden. World War II put their plans for an arena in Brooklyn on hold, and they never played again.