1921 Buffalo All - Americans season The 1921 Buffalo All - Americans season was their second in the league . The team matched their previous output of 9 - 1 - 1 , going 9 - 1 - 2 , and losing the league title to the Chicago Staleys in a disputed tiebreaker . Philadelphia Quakers moonlighting controversy and absorption of Detroit Heralds . During the 1921 season , several of the Buffalo All - Americans , most notably future Philadelphia Eagles co - founder Lud Wray , also played for the Philadelphia Quakers , an independent club based in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . Since Philadelphia was subject to blue laws in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania , the Quakers had to play their games on Saturdays , as opposed to the Sundays used by the APFA , including Buffalo . The Buffalo players played for Philadelphia on Saturday , then traveled back to Buffalo for Sunday ' s game . A few days before Buffalo played Canton , the league found out about violation of league policy , and made the players choose which team they wanted to play for . Five , including Wray , chose to stay with the Quakers , blaming the Buffalo management for " blowing the whistle . " Buffalo was able to hire players from the Detroit Heralds , who folded midseason , to complete their roster . De facto championship game . The Chicago Staleys ( to be renamed the Chicago Bears after the end of the season ) , led by wide receiver George Halas , and the Buffalo All - Americans , led by quarterback Tommy Hughitt , were the two top teams in the league ; each playing all of their games at home , Buffalo and Chicago amassed 6 - 0 records in league play . On Thanksgiving 1921 , Buffalo played one of its only road games of the season , in Chicago , and prevailed 7 - 6 . Chicago demanded a rematch . The All - Americans agreed to rematch the Staleys on December 4 , again in Chicago , on the condition that the game would be considered a " post - season " exhibition game not to be counted in the standings ; had it not , Buffalo would have had an undefeated season and won the title . ( Buffalo had played , and defeated , the Akron Pros just one day prior . ) Chicago defeated Buffalo in the rematch by a score of 10 - 7 . Halas rebutted that the second game was played on December 4 ( well before teams typically stopped playing games in those days ) , and the Staleys played two more games against top opponents , the Canton Bulldogs and Chicago Cardinals after the second Buffalo game ( though , at the time of the Buffalo - Chicago matchup , Chicago had played three fewer games than Buffalo ) . The league counted the All - Americans game in the standings , against Buffalo ' s wishes , resulting in Buffalo ( 9 - 1 - 2 ) and Chicago ( 9 - 1 - 1 ) being tied atop the standings . The league then implemented the first ever tiebreaker : a rule , now considered archaic and removed from league rulebooks , that states that if two teams play multiple times in a season , the last game between the two teams carries more weight . Thus , the Chicago victory actually counted " more " in the standings , giving Chicago the championship . Buffalo sports fans have been known to refer to this , justly or unjustly , as the " Staley Swindle , " and have cited it as the first evidence of a sports curse on the city . Schedule . A September 25 game against the McKeesport Olympics , which the All - Americans won 28 - 0 , is not counted in league standings , since McKeesport was not an NFL team .