One Bear. One Amazing Season.

I recently received a book for Christmas from my sister-in-law (my wife's family gets me). It's called "Chicago Bears; The Complete Illustrated History." by Lew Freedman. If you get a chance check it out. I'd been looking for something to write about that didn't have to do with the draft or CBA to post this week so I picked up the book with the intentions of giving you guys a glimpse into some Bears history. On page 32 I found something amazing. It's just a collection of numbers but they tell an astounding story. Join me after the break for an eye popper.

Before I started to put this down on paper I made sure this was a topic that hadn't been previously covered here and I found a story every WCG fan should read. I almost stopped there but then I realized I hadn't put down the eye popping numbers so without further ado.....

Beattie Feathers' 1934 Rushing season

Game  			Attempts 			Yards

Green Bay 			8   				 41

Cincinnati 			18  				 140

Brooklyn 			14   				 132

Pittsburgh 			8   				 101

Chicago Cardinals 		15   				 97

Cincinnati			 7  				 114

Green Bay 			15     			 155

New York			 8   				 55

Boston 			11   				 80

New York 			10   				 47

Chicago Cardinals		3   				 42

That's 101 attempts for 1,004 yards or a 9.9 average per carry*. This made him the first running back to eclipse 1,000 yards rushing in a single season in only 11 games. He also caught 5 passes for 171 yards or 34.8 yards per catch. He had 9 touchdowns that season. Just look at those numbers and how many games he averaged more than 10 yards per carry. In the second game against Cincinnati he averaged 16.3 yards per attempt!! This was a season for the record books. Unfortunately he suffered a shoulder injury that ended his season. He was never the same again.

Feathers went on to credit football for his education stating that it kept him in school because of his love for the game. Feathers was a graduate of the University of Tennessee. He died March 11, 1979.

* Author's note; According to Wikipedia and NFL.com Feathers finished the 1934 season with an 8.4 YPC average. I have no explanation for this discrepancy but still thought it was cool to look at the stats per game according to this source.