1921 NFL Championship controversy
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| Date | December 4, 1921 | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Stadium | Cubs Park, Chicago, Illinois | ||||||||||||||||||
The 1921 NFL Championship controversy, known among Buffalo sports historians and fans as the Staley Swindle, is a dispute in which the Buffalo All-Americans unintentionally surrendered the 1921 APFA Championship title to the Chicago Staleys (later renamed the Chicago Bears). The controversy began at the conclusion of the 1921 season, when the All-Americans finished the season with the best record in the American Professional Football Association (renamed the National Football League in 1922). However, after losing what the All-Americans owner had intended to be an exhibition game to the Staleys on December 4, 1921, the All-Americans lost their title to Chicago on a tiebreaker.
The Buffalo All-Americans finished 1921 with a 9-0-2 record; meanwhile, Chicago captured second place with its only loss coming against Buffalo on Thanksgiving. The Staleys refused to play any road games that season except for their Thanksgiving game against the then-undefeated All-Americans, who also had played all of their games at home. Chicago owner George Halas then challenged the All-Americans to a rematch. Buffalo owner, Frank McNeil, having already scheduled the team's last game for December 3 against the Akron Pros, agreed on the condition that it be considered only a "post-season exhibition match" and not be counted in the standings. McNeil also made a point of telling the Buffalo media that the two games were exhibitions and would have no bearing on the team's claim to the APFA title; to this extent, McNeil released the players he had borrowed from the then-defunct Detroit Tigers NFL team to play one last exhibition game under the Tigers banner (the same day as the Staleys/All-Americans matchup, the Tigers played the Detroit Maroons; McNeil made one exception and kept lineman Clarence "Steamer" Horning, who would incidentally score the All-Americans' only points in the Staleys rematch by recovering a blocked punt for a touchdown). He then scheduled the game against the Staleys the day after the team's final game against Akron. Therefore, after a game, scheduled for December 3 against the tough Akron Pros, McNeil's team would take an all-night train to Chicago to play the Staleys the next day.
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