| Regular season | |
|---|---|
| Duration | September 13 – December 15, 1935 |
| East Champions | New York Giants |
| West Champions | Detroit Lions |
| Championship Game | |
| Champions | Detroit Lions |
The 1935 NFL season was the 16th regular season of the National Football League. The season ended with the Detroit Lions' 26–7 victory over the New York Giants in the NFL Championship Game.
Were it not for the cancellation of a Redskins–Eagles game on November 17 due to heavy rain and snow, all of the teams would have played 12 games, which would have made 1935 the first season in which all NFL teams played the same number of games. The standardization of the league's schedule was formalized the following year and has continued ever since, with the number of games being slowly increased to 14 by 1961, 16 by 1978, and 17 by 2021.
The next season to have any teams play a different amount of regular season games was in 2022, when a Bills–Bengals game on January 2 was declared a no contest due to the in-game collapse of Damar Hamlin.
This marked the last season until 2023 that every team in one division finished with a winning record, in this case the NFL West.
With the loss of the Cincinnati franchise and its St. Louis successor at the end of the 1934 NFL season, the league stood with a total of just 9 teams, split into divisions of unequal sizes.
This width lasted for ten seasons, through 1944. The hashmarks were moved to 20 yards from the sidelines (40 feet apart) in 1945, which lasted for 27 seasons. They were moved in to the width of the goalposts (18½ feet) in 1972. [1]
In the Eastern Division, the key game took place on Thanksgiving Day at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, as the 5–4 Dodgers hosted the 6–3 Giants. A Brooklyn win would have tied the teams at 6–4, but New York won, 21–0, and went on to victories in their remaining two games to win the division championship comfortably at 9–3.
In the Western Division, all 4 teams were in a close race. On Thanksgiving Day the Lions defeated the Bears 14-2 while the Cardinals won over the Packers 9–7, leaving the Lions at 6–3–2 and the Cardinals at 6–3–1. Three days later on December 1, the Lions defeated Brooklyn 28–0, while the Cardinals tied the Bears 7–7. With this win, Detroit finished its season at 7–3–2 and eliminated the Packers and Bears from contention, while the Cardinals stood at 6–3–2 with another game against the Bears coming up on December 8. The Cardinals needed to win in order to force a playoff for the division title. However, the Bears won 13–0, and the Lions were the division champs.
Had the current (post-1972) system of counting ties as half a win and half a loss been in place in 1935, the Packers at 8–4–0 would have tied the 7–3–2 Lions for the Western Division title with .667, requiring a playoff game. This was the last season until 2023 that an entire division finished with a winning record.
| NFL Eastern Division | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | T | PCT | DIV | PF | PA | STK | ||
| New York Giants | 9 | 3 | 0 | .750 | 8–0 | 180 | 96 | W5 | |
| Brooklyn Dodgers | 5 | 6 | 1 | .455 | 3–4–1 | 90 | 141 | T1 | |
| Pittsburgh Pirates | 4 | 8 | 0 | .333 | 3–5 | 100 | 209 | L3 | |
| Boston Redskins | 2 | 8 | 1 | .200 | 2–4–1 | 65 | 123 | T1 | |
| Philadelphia Eagles | 2 | 9 | 0 | .182 | 2–5 | 60 | 179 | L5 | |
| NFL Western Division | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| W | L | T | PCT | DIV | PF | PA | STK | ||
| Detroit Lions | 7 | 3 | 2 | .700 | 3–2–2 | 191 | 111 | W2 | |
| Green Bay Packers | 8 | 4 | 0 | .667 | 4–4 | 181 | 96 | W1 | |
| Chicago Cardinals | 6 | 4 | 2 | .600 | 3–2–2 | 99 | 97 | L1 | |
| Chicago Bears | 6 | 4 | 2 | .600 | 1–3–2 | 192 | 106 | W1 | |
Detroit 26, N.Y. Giants 7, at University of Detroit Stadium, in Detroit, Michigan, on December 15.
The 1935 season marked the fourth year in which official statistics were tracked and retained by the NFL. [2] Certain statistics later regarded as staples were not maintained, including interceptions, punting average, kickoff return yardage and average, and field goal percentage, among others. [3]
In the table below, ‡ denotes a new NFL record.
| Name | Team | Yards | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Passing | 1. Ed Danowski | New York Giants | 794 |
| 2. Arnie "Flash" Heber | Green Bay Packers | 729 | |
| 3. Johnny Gildea | Pittsburgh Pirates | 529 | |
| Rushing | 1. Doug Russell | Chicago Cardinals | 499 |
| 2. Ernie Caddel | Detroit Lions | 450 | |
| 3. Kink Richards | New York Giants | 449 | |
| Receiving | 1. Charley Malone | Boston Redskins | 433 |
| 2. Tod Goodwin | New York Giants | 432 | |
| 3. Don Hutson | Green Bay Packers | 420 | |
| Touchdowns | 1. Don Hutson | Green Bay Packers | 7 |
| 2. Dale Burnett | New York Giants | 6 | |
| 2. Ernie Caddel | Detroit Lions | 6 | |
| 2. Dutch Clark | Detroit Lions | 6 | |
| 2. Bill Karr | Chicago Bears | 6 |
Source: Pete Palmer, et al. (eds.), The ESPN Pro Football Encyclopedia. First Edition. New York: Sterling Publishing, 2006; p. 1043.
