The 1923 NFL season was the fourth regular season of the National Football League. For the first time, all of the clubs that were considered to be part of the NFL fielded teams. The new teams that entered the league were the Duluth Kelleys, the St. Louis All Stars (which only lasted one season), and a new Cleveland Indians team, while the Evansville Crimson Giants dropped out of the league and folded. The Canton Bulldogs repeated as NFL Champions after ending the season with an 11–0–1 record.

1923 NFL season
Regular season
DurationSeptember 30 – December 16, 1923
ChampionsCanton Bulldogs
1923 NFL season is located in USA Midwest and Northeast
Pros
Pros
All-Americans
All-Americans
Bulldogs
Bulldogs
Bears
Bears
Cardinals
Cardinals
Indians
Indians
Tigers
Tigers
Triangles
Triangles
Kelleys
Kelleys
Packers
Packers
Brecks
Brecks
Badgers
Badgers
Marines
Marines
Legion
Legion
Jeffersons
Jeffersons
Independents
Independents
All-Stars
All-Stars
Maroons
Maroons
Traveling teams Pros Indians
Traveling teams
Pros
Indians

Postseason play

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Six days after the December 9 end of the NFL season, league champion Canton accepted a challenge to play against the Frankford Yellow Jackets of Philadelphia, who were not an NFL team but who had billed themselves as "champions of the East" with a 9-1-2 record against teams in the "Anthracite League" and against four other NFL teams.[1] Canton won the game in Philadelphia in the final two minutes of play on a field goal from future Hall of Famer Pete Henry.[2]

Teams

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Twenty teams competed in the NFL during the 1923 season.

First season in NFL * Team folded this season ^ Last season before hiatus, rejoined league later §
First season in NFL, and then folded after this season *^
Team Head coach(es) Stadium(s)
Akron Pros Dutch Hendrian (5 games) and Wayne Brenkert (2 games) Akron League Park
Buffalo All-Americans Tommy Hughitt Canisius Field and Buffalo Baseball Park
Canton Bulldogs § Guy Chamberlin League Field
Chicago Bears George Halas Cubs Park
Chicago Cardinals Arnie Horween Comiskey Park
Cleveland Indians * Cap Edwards Dunn Field
Columbus Tigers Gus Tebell (3 games) and Gaylord Stinchcomb (7 games) Neil Park
Dayton Triangles Carl Storck Triangle Park
Duluth Kelleys * Joey Sternaman Duluth Athletic Park
Green Bay Packers Curly Lambeau Bellevue Park
Hammond Pros Wally Hess Traveling team
Louisville Brecks ^ Jim Kendrick Parkway Field
Milwaukee Badgers Jimmy Conzelman Milwaukee Athletic Park
Minneapolis Marines Harry Mehre Nicollet Park
Oorang Indians ^ Jim Thorpe Traveling team
Racine Legion Babe Ruetz Horlick Field
Rochester Jeffersons Leo Lyons Edgerton Park
Rock Island Independents Herb Sies Douglas Park
St. Louis All-Stars *^ Ollie Kraehe Sportsman's Park
Toledo Maroons ^ Guil Falcon Swayne Field

Standings

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NFL standings
W L T PCT PF PA STK
Canton Bulldogs 11 0 1 1.000 246 19 W5
Chicago Bears 9 2 1 .818 123 35 W1
Green Bay Packers 7 2 1 .778 85 34 W5
Milwaukee Badgers 7 2 3 .778 100 49 W1
Cleveland Indians 3 1 3 .750 52 49 L1
Chicago Cardinals 8 4 0 .667 161 56 L1
Duluth Kelleys 4 3 0 .571 35 33 L3
Buffalo All-Americans 5 4 3 .556 94 43 L1
Columbus Tigers 5 4 1 .556 119 35 L1
Toledo Maroons 3 3 2 .500 35 66 L1
Racine Legion 4 4 2 .500 86 76 W1
Rock Island Independents 2 3 3 .400 84 62 L1
Minneapolis Marines 2 5 2 .286 48 81 L1
St. Louis All-Stars 1 4 2 .200 25 74 L1
Hammond Pros 1 5 1 .167 14 59 L4
Akron Pros 1 6 0 .143 25 74 W1
Dayton Triangles 1 6 1 .143 16 95 L2
Oorang Indians 1 10 0 .091 50 257 W1
Louisville Brecks 0 3 0 .000 0 90 L3
Rochester Jeffersons 0 4 0 .000 6 141 L4

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

References

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  1. ^ "Canton Bulldogs Play Frankfort [sic] in Tilt for Laurels; Famous Ohio 'Pro' Gridders Tied but One Contest and Won Eleven", St. Louis Star, December 15, 1923, p. 11
  2. ^ "Canton Bulldogs Take Professional Grid Title", Baltimore Sun, December 16, 1923, p. 2-1
  • 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)