7. Which innovation relatively new to the NFL, did the Bears use to devastating effect against the Redskins?
From Quiz 1940: Bears 73, Redskins 0
Answer:
T formation
Clark Shaughnessy, a coach with University of Chicago and later Stanford, developed the T formation, seven players on the line and three backs lined up behind the quarterback, parallel to the line and shared it with his friend George Halas, coach of the Bears.
The idea of the formation was to give defenses little idea of what the offense would be doing. As the ball was snapped, the quarterback could easily hand off to any of the backs behind him, or throw a pass to either his receivers or the running backs. With another wrinkle added by Halas - running a player in motion parallel to the line before the play started - defenses were further confused.
The Bears' T devestated the Redskins. Three weeks later, Shaughnessy's Stanford team used the T to win the Rose Bowl, 21-13, over Nebraska. By 1945, nearly every US football team - pro, college, high school - were exclusively or primarily using the formation.