1925 NFL season

1925 NFL season

Regular season
Duration	September 20 – December 20, 1925
A controversial ruling by the NFL suspended the Pottsville Maroons from all league privileges, including the right to play for the NFL championship.
Champions	Chicago Cardinals
← 1924 NFL seasons 1926 →

The 1925 NFL season was the sixth regular season of the National Football League. Five new teams entered the league: New York Giants, Detroit Panthers, Pottsville Maroons, Providence Steam Roller, and a new Canton Bulldogs team. The Kenosha Maroons folded, with the Racine Legion and Minneapolis Marines mothballing.

Twenty teams competed in the NFL during the 1925 season.

First season in NFL *	Last active season ^	Last season before hiatus, rejoined league later §
Team jumped to the AFL †	Rejoined the NFL **

Team	Head coach(es)	Stadium
Akron Pros	Scotty Bierce	Akron League Park
Buffalo Bisons	Walt Koppisch	Bison Stadium
Canton Bulldogs **	Harry Robb	League Field
Chicago Bears	George Halas	Cubs Park
Chicago Cardinals	Norman Barry	Comiskey Park
Cleveland Bulldogs §	Cap Edwards	Dunn Field
Columbus Tigers	Red Weaver	West Side Athletic Club
Dayton Triangles	Carl Storck	Triangle Park
Detroit Panthers *	Jimmy Conzelman	Navin Field
Duluth Kelleys	Dewey Scanlon	Duluth Athletic Park
Frankford Yellow Jackets	Guy Chamberlin	Frankford Stadium
Green Bay Packers	Curly Lambeau	City Stadium
Hammond Pros	Fritz Pollard (1 game) and Doc Young (4 games)	Traveling team
Kansas City Cowboys	Roy Andrews	Muehlebach Field
Milwaukee Badgers	Johnny Bryan	Milwaukee Athletic Park
New York Giants *	Bob Folwell	Polo Grounds
Pottsville Maroons	Dick Rauch	Minersville Park
Providence Steam Rollers *	Archie Golembeski	Cycledrome
Rochester Jeffersons ^	Tex Grigg	Edgerton Park
Rock Island Independents †	Rube Ursella	Douglas Park

Controversy surrounds who actually won the 1925 NFL Championship. Officially, the Chicago Cardinals are listed as the 1925 NFL champions because they finished with the best record; however, many Pottsville fans at the time claimed that the Maroons were the legitimate champions. The Maroons and the Cardinals were the top contenders for the title, with Pottsville winning a late-season meeting between them, 21–7. But the Maroons scheduled a game against a team of University of Notre Dame All-Stars in Philadelphia (and winning 9–7) on the same day that the Frankford Yellow Jackets were scheduled to play a game in the same city. Frankford protested, saying that it was violating their protected territory rights.

Although NFL president Joe Carr warned the Maroons in writing that they faced suspension if they played in Philadelphia, the Maroons claimed that Carr had previously approved the game during a telephone call, and played anyway. In response, Carr fined the club, suspended it from all league rights and privileges (including the right to play for the NFL championship), and returned its franchise to the league.

In 2003, the NFL decided to again examine the case regarding the 1925 championship. In October of that year, the NFL voted 30–2 not to reopen the case, with only Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, the league's two Pennsylvania-based teams, voting in favor. Thus, the Cardinals are still listed as the 1925 NFL champions.^[1]

Had the current (post-1972) system of counting ties as half a win and half a loss been in place in 1925, the Maroons would have won the championship with a win percentage of .833, while the Cardinals would have finished runner-up at .821.

NFL standings
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	PF	PA	STK
Chicago Cardinals *	11	2	1	.846	229	65	W2
Pottsville Maroons *	10	2	0	.833	270	45	W5
Detroit Panthers	8	2	2	.800	129	39	W1
New York Giants	8	4	0	.667	122	67	W1
Akron Pros	4	2	2	.667	65	51	L2
Frankford Yellow Jackets	13	7	0	.650	190	169	W2
Chicago Bears	9	5	3	.643	158	96	W3
Rock Island Independents	5	3	3	.625	99	58	L1
Green Bay Packers	8	5	0	.615	151	110	W1
Providence Steam Roller	6	5	1	.545	111	101	L1
Canton Bulldogs	4	4	0	.500	50	73	L1
Cleveland Bulldogs	5	8	1	.385	75	135	L1
Kansas City Cowboys	2	5	1	.286	65	97	W1
Hammond Pros	1	4	0	.200	23	87	L3
Buffalo Bisons	1	6	2	.143	33	113	L4
Rochester Jeffersons	0	6	1	.000	26	111	L5
Dayton Triangles	0	7	1	.000	3	84	L7
Duluth Kelleys	0	3	0	.000	6	25	L3
Milwaukee Badgers	0	6	0	.000	7	191	L6
Columbus Tigers	0	9	0	.000	28	124	L9

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

* The Pottsville Maroons were suspended from the league in December, resulting in the Chicago Cardinals being named the NFL champions.

NFL league president Joseph Carr chose an all-star team for 1925, including players from Red Grange's tour.^[2]

• Lynn Bomar, New York Giants
• Paul G. Goebel, Columbus Tigers

• Ed Healey, Chicago Bears
• Link Lyman, Cleveland Bulldogs

• Butch Spagna, Frankfort Yellow Jackets
• John Alexander, New York Giants

• Herb Stein, Pottsville Maroons

• Joey Sternaman, Chicago Bears

• Red Grange, Chicago Bears
• Red Barron, Coral Gables All-Stars

• Jack McBride, New York Giants

• NFL Record and Fact Book (ISBN 1-932994-36-X)
• NFL History 1921–1930 (Last accessed December 4, 2005)
• Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League (ISBN 0-06-270174-6)