1920 Akron Pros season The 1920 Akron Pros season was the franchise ' s first NFL season ( it had been known as the Akron Burkhardts in previous years ) . 1920 was the Pros ' first year in the National Football League , then known as the American Professional Football Association ( APFA ) . The team finished with a record of 8 - 0 - 3 ( 6 - 0 - 3 among other APFA teams ) . The Akron Pros finished in first place in the APFA , and were awarded the title of league champions . Schedule . Regular season . The Pros remained undefeated through eleven regular - season games . They scored a total of 151 points and allowed just 7 ; this was the best defensive record and the sixth - best offensive record in 1920 . The team was 5 - 0 ( 3 - 0 among other APFA teams ) at home and 3 - 0 - 3 on the road . Games in " italics " represent non - league games . Week 2 Wheeling Stogies ( 0 - 0 - 0 ) at Akron Pros ( 0 - 0 - 0 ) - Akron League Park Al Nesser of the famous Nesser Brothers scored three Touchdowns on fumble recoveries to help lead Akron to a 43 - 0 victory over the Wheeling Stogies . According to Coach Tobin , Fritz Pollard was sick during the game . Week 3 Columbus Panhandles ( 0 - 1 - 0 ) at Akron Pros ( 1 - 0 - 0 ) - Akron League Park Wingback Frank McCormick ran for two early touchdowns to give Akron a 14 - 0 lead . Bob " Nasty " Nash later recovered a fumble in the end zone ( the first fumble recovery for a touchdown in a game of two league teams ) and the defense added the leagues first safety to give the Akron Pros a 37 - 0 victory over the Columbus Panhandles . Week 4 Cincinnati Celts ( 0 - 0 - 0 ) at Akron Pros ( 2 - 0 - 0 ) - Akron League Park FB Rip King and TB Fritz Pollard each scored a Touchdown in leading Akron to a 13 - 0 victory . The Pros ' defense was so dominant that the Celts did not get a single first down all game long . Game summaries . Week 2 : vs Wheeling Stogies . " October 3 , 1920 at Akron League Park , Akron , Ohio " The Pros made their AFPA debut against the Wheeling Stogies . Playing in front of 4 , 000 fans , defensive end Al Nesser of the famous Nesser Brothers scored three touchdowns ( two fumble recoveries and 1 blocked field goal ) . Tailback Fritz Pollard also scored two rushing touchdowns to help lead Akron to a 43 - 0 victory over the Stogies . The Pros defense got a safety in the first quarter after the extra point was missed . Blocking back Harry Harris also contributed by adding one rushing towndown in the fourth quarter . According to Coach Tobin , Fritz Pollard was sick during the game . Week 3 : vs Columbus Panhandles . " October 10 , 1920 at Akron League Park , Akron , Ohio " Wingback Frank McCormick rushed for two touchdowns to give Akron a 14 - 0 lead . Defensive end Bob Nash later recovered a fumble in the end zone ( the first fumble recovery for a touchdown in a game of two league teams ) . Blocking back Harry Harris and fullback Fred Sweetland also contributed , scoring one rushing touchdown each . Fred Sweetland was hired by coach Elgie Tobin to be a line substitute , but the coach decided to play Sweetland this game . The defense added another safety in the fourth quarter to give the Akron Pros a 37 - 0 victory over the Columbus Panhandles . Week 4 : vs Cincinnati Celts . " October 17 , 1920 at Akron League Park , Akron , Ohio " In week four , the Pros played against the Cincinnati Celts . The Celts were not directly affiliated with the APFA and would not join the league until the following year . Fullback Rip King and Running back Fritz Pollard each scored a touchdown in leading Akron to a 13 - 0 victory . The Pro ' s kicker for that game , Charlie Copley , made one extra point and missed the other . The Pros ' defense was so dominant that the Celts did not get a single first down all game long . Week 5 : vs Cleveland Tigers . " October 24 , 1920 at Akron League Park , Akron , Ohio " In week five , the Pros played against the Cleveland Tigers . Prior to this game , the Tigers were considered the best team in Ohio . The only score came from a punt block by Bob Nash in the first quarter . Nash apparently grabbed the ball from the Tigers ' punter , Stan Cofall on the 8 - yard line and ran in for the score . With an extra point from Charlie Copley , the Pros defeated the Tigers 7 - 0 to keep their undefeated streak alive . Week 6 : at Canton Bulldogs . " October 31 , 1920 at Lakeside Park , Canton , Ohio " With four games under their belt , the Pros were starting to gain attention around the league . In week six , the Pros played against the Canton Bulldogs . Playing under a crowd of 10 , 000 ; the Pros defeated the Bulldogs 10 - 0 . In the first quarter , Charlie Copley kicked a 38 - yard field goal . In the second quarter , Pike Johnson recorded a 55 - yard interception which was originally tipped by Copley for a touchdown . Many Bulldogs ' fans were highly upset with their team for not scoring a point Week 7 : vs Detroit Heralds . " November 7 , 1920 at Akron League Park , Akron , Ohio " In week seven , the Pros were suppose to play the Detroit Heralds , but the game was canceled due to rain . Week 8 : at Cleveland Tigers . " November 14 , 1920 at Dunn Park , Cleveland , Ohio " In week eight , the Pros played against the Cleveland Tigers . Playing in front of 8 , 000 fans , the Pros allowed their first and only points of the year from a 50 - yard touchdown pass from Mark Devlin to Tuffy Conn and an extra point by Al Pierotti in the third quarter . Fritz Pollard had a 20 - yard rushing touchdown in the second quarter and Charlie Copley made an extra point . This was the first tie of the Pros ' season , and kept the Pros ' championship hope alive . Week 9 : vs Dayton Triangles . " November 21 , 1920 at Akron League Park , Akron , Ohio " In week nine , the Pros played against the Dayton Triangles . The Triangles came into this game as one of the few teams left undefeated . The game started out with three scoreless quarters until Rip King threw a 15 - yard passing touchdown in the fourth quarter to Frank McCormick . Fritz Pollard also rushed for a 17 - yard touchdown and Charlie Copley made one extra point and missed another one . This brought one of only two loses the Triangles had this season . Week 10 : vs Canton Bulldogs . " November 25 , 1920 at Akron League Park , Akron , Ohio " In their first game of week ten , the Pros played against the Canton Bulldogs for the second time this season , and were still upset from their " fluke " loss earlier in the season . A muffed punt by the Bulldogs game the Pros the ball at the 32 - yard line . On their next drive , the Pros ' passing game gave them the lone score , a passing touchdown from Rip King to Bob Nash in the first quarter . Once again , the Pros ' defense was nearly unstoppable and gave the Bulldogs another shutout . Week 10 : at Dayton Triangles . " November 28 , 1920 at Triangle Park , Dayton , Ohio " The Pros were now recognized as the top team in the league and in their second game of week ten , the Pros played against the Dayton Triangles . This game could be classified as a " U . S . Championship " , but the APFA had widened its battlefield with the Buffalo All - Americans and the Decatur Staleys still with high winning percentage . Fritz Pollard returned punt for a touchdown early in the first quarter . He also had one receiving touchdown in the third quarter from Rip King . The mud made hindered the playing skills of both teams , and both teams could not do much offensively . Week 11 : at Buffalo All - Americans . " December 5 , 1920 at Buffalo Baseball Park , Buffalo , New York " In week eleven , the Pros played against the Buffalo All - Americans . The All - Americans were tired from playing a game against the Canton Bulldogs the day before . Playing in front of 3 , 000 people , the game resulted in a 0 - 0 tie . The rain caused sloppy game play as well as a small crowd . Earlier in the season , Bob Nash of the Pros was traded to the All - Americans for $ 300 , but Nash did not appear in this game for either team . Week 12 : at Decatur Staleys . " December 12 , 1920 at Cubs Park , Chicago , Illinois " The Pros ended their season in week twelve against the Decatur Staleys . Playing in front of 12 , 000 fans , the largest recorded crowd of that season , the game ended in a 0 - 0 tie . This was the second game in a row where the score ended in 0 - 0 . Prior to the game , the Staleys ' coach hired Paddy Driscoll to play on his team in order to help defeat the Pros . The game was good for the Pros because the tie did not hurt their winning percentage and made the Pros NFL Champions . Post season . Since there were no playoff system in the American Professional Football Association / National Football League until 1932 , a meeting was held to determine the 1920 NFL Champions . Each team that showed up had a vote to determine the champions . The Decatur Staleys and the Buffalo All - Americans stated that they should win the award because they had more wins , and were not beaten by the Akron Pros . Since the Akron Pros had a perfect record ( tie games did not account into winning percentages until 1972 ) , the Pros were unanimously awarded the award on April 30 , 1921 . The trophy originally awarded was lost sometime and has yet to been recovered .