| Regular season | |
|---|---|
| Duration | September 19 – December 19, 1926 |
| Champions | Frankford Yellow Jackets |
Pros Buccaneers ColonelsThe 1926 NFL season was the seventh regular season of the National Football League. The league grew to 22 teams, a figure that would not be equaled in professional football until 1961, adding the Brooklyn Lions, the Hartford Blues, the Los Angeles Buccaneers, and the Louisville Colonels, with the Racine Tornadoes re-entering. The Cleveland Bulldogs sat out the season, the Rock Island Independents defected to the upstart American Football League, and the Rochester Jeffersons suspended operations for the final time (eventually folding in early 1928). The Akron Pros re-branded as the Akron Indians, the Duluth Kelleys as the Duluth Eskimos and the Buffalo Bison as the Buffalo Rangers (the team also used the names "Texas Rangers" and "Buffalo Cowboys"). .
The Buccaneers, Eskimos, Colonels and Buffalo Rangers were "showcase teams," the first efforts for the league to reach beyond the northeast and midwest. The Buccaneers, a response to the AFL's Los Angeles Wildcats, represented the state of California; the Eskimos the far northern plains, while the Colonels represented the Southern United States and the Rangers represented the state of Texas and other areas of the Southwestern United States. The four teams (except the Rangers) all played primarily as traveling teams. Three of the four teams only lasted one season; the Buccaneers and Colonels both folded while the Rangers reverted to their previous status as the Bison, and only the Eskimos returned for 1927.
In mid-November, Brooklyn merged with the AFL's Brooklyn Horsemen and stayed in the NFL, playing one more game as the Lions before changing its name to the Brooklyn Horsemen for the last three games (all shutout losses).
The Frankford Yellow Jackets were named the NFL champions after finishing the season with the best record. Their 14 victories were the most in an NFL season to that point, a record that would not be bested until the 1968 Baltimore Colts won 15.
After the season, the Philadelphia Inquirer lobbied for a World Series-style game between the Yellow Jackets and the AFL's champions Philadelphia Quakers, with the Quakers' owner challenging the Yellow Jackets, but ultimately the NFL denied permission to this game to be held.[1]
Teams
The league grew to 22 teams.
| First season in NFL * | Rejoined the NFL † | Last active season ^ |
Standings
| NFL standings | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | T | PCT | PF | PA | STK | |||
| Frankford Yellow Jackets | 14 | 1 | 2 | .933 | 236 | 49 | W6 | ||
| Chicago Bears | 12 | 1 | 3 | .923 | 216 | 63 | L1 | ||
| Pottsville Maroons | 10 | 2 | 2 | .833 | 155 | 29 | T1 | ||
| Kansas City Cowboys | 8 | 3 | 0 | .727 | 76 | 53 | W7 | ||
| Green Bay Packers | 7 | 3 | 3 | .700 | 151 | 61 | T1 | ||
| New York Giants | 8 | 4 | 1 | .667 | 151 | 61 | W3 | ||
| Los Angeles Buccaneers | 6 | 3 | 1 | .667 | 67 | 57 | L1 | ||
| Duluth Eskimos | 6 | 5 | 3 | .545 | 113 | 81 | L1 | ||
| Buffalo Rangers | 4 | 4 | 2 | .500 | 53 | 62 | T1 | ||
| Chicago Cardinals | 5 | 6 | 1 | .455 | 74 | 98 | L1 | ||
| Providence Steam Roller | 5 | 7 | 1 | .417 | 89 | 103 | L1 | ||
| Detroit Panthers | 4 | 6 | 2 | .400 | 107 | 60 | L3 | ||
| Hartford Blues | 3 | 7 | 0 | .300 | 57 | 99 | L1 | ||
| Brooklyn Lions | 3 | 8 | 0 | .273 | 60 | 150 | L3 | ||
| Milwaukee Badgers | 2 | 7 | 0 | .222 | 41 | 66 | L5 | ||
| Dayton Triangles | 1 | 4 | 1 | .200 | 15 | 82 | L2 | ||
| Akron Indians | 1 | 4 | 3 | .200 | 23 | 89 | T1 | ||
| Racine Tornadoes | 1 | 4 | 0 | .200 | 8 | 92 | L4 | ||
| Columbus Tigers | 1 | 6 | 0 | .143 | 26 | 93 | L5 | ||
| Canton Bulldogs | 1 | 9 | 3 | .100 | 46 | 161 | L1 | ||
| Hammond Pros | 0 | 4 | 0 | .000 | 3 | 56 | L4 | ||
| Louisville Colonels | 0 | 4 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 108 | L4 | ||
Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.
References
- ↑ "8 Defunct NFL Teams With Unusual Histories". The History Channel.
- NFL Record and Fact Book (ISBN 1-932994-36-X)
- NFL History 1921–1930 (Last accessed December 4, 2005)
- David S. Neft, Richard M. Cohen, and Rick Korch, The Football Encyclopedia: The Complete, Year-by-Year History of Professional Football From 1892 to the Present (St. Martin's Press 1994) ISBN 0-312-11435-4
- Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League (ISBN 0-06-270174-6)