I decided to go way back again for the player to feature in my series looking at some of the greatest individual season performances in Chicago Bears history. In 1947, 2 time Pro Bowl receiver Ken Kavanaugh had his best season as a pro. Oddly enough his '47 year wasn't one of his Pro Bowl selections, even though he set personal bests in receptions, yards, yards per reception, and touchdowns. His 25.6 yards per catch is 10th best in the history of the NFL.
Even though he didn't get the Pro Bowl nod in 1947 - I'm not sure how that team was selected back in the day, but I do find a lot of unwarranted omissions - he was named 2nd Team All-NFL from the Associated Press,1st Team All-NFL by the Chicago Herald-American, 2nd Team All-NFL by Pro Football Illustrated, 1st Team All-NFL by the NY Daily News, and 1st Team All-NFL United Press International. He wasn't hurting for hardware in that season.
In the 12 game season Kavanaugh caught 13 TD passes, which is tied with Dick Gordon (1970), for the Bears single season record. He amassed 818 yards on just 32 receptions.
Kavanaugh didn't score in the 1st two weeks, but in week three he had two TDs, one a 74 yard reception and the other a 70 yarder, in a 40-7 shellacking of the Eagles. He had 3 TD receptions in a 28-24 win at the Boston Yanks in week 6. The following week against the Packers he took a Sid Luckman pass 81 yards for the score in a 20-17 win. He finished the season off with another 81 yarder in a loss to the Chicago Cardinals. The Bears went 8-4 that year and finished 2nd to the Cardinals in the West division.
Kavanaugh joined the Air Force and missed the 1942, '43, and '44 seasons, but he played 8 seasons with the Bears. His 50 career TD receptions is most all time for the franchise.
For more on Ken Kavanaugh you can click here and here.
And you can check out more about the Chicago Bears history by checking out the Windy City Gridiron Bears History section.