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1940 Pittsburgh Steelers season
1940 Pittsburgh Steelers season
Owner	Art Rooney
Head coach	Walt Kiesling
Home field	Forbes Field
Results
Record	2–7–2
Division place	4th NFL Eastern
Playoff finish	Did not qualify
	← 1939 (Pirates); Steelers seasons; 1941 →;

The 1940 Pittsburgh Steelers season was the team's 8th in the National Football League. It was also the first season in which the team was known as the Pittsburgh Steelers, and not the copycat "Pirates" moniker.^[1]^[2]^[3] The 1940 team was led by head coach Walt Kiesling in his first full season as the head coach. Kiesling's assistant coaches were Wilbur "Bill" Sortet and Hank Bruder, who both also played.

Offseason

They held training camp at St. Francis College in Loretto, Pennsylvania.^[4]^[5] In the 1940 NFL draft the Steelers continued their pattern of trading away high picks when they dealt their first-round selection (second overall), halfback Kay Eakin from Arkansas, to the New York Giants for tackle Ox Parry, who would never play for the Steelers.^[6]

Regular season

Schedule

Game	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance	Recap
1	September 8	Chicago Cardinals	T 7–7	0–0–1	Forbes Field	~22,000	Recap
2	September 15	New York Giants	T 10–10	0–0–2	Forbes Field	18,601	Recap
3	September 22	at Detroit Lions	W 10–7	1–0–2	University of Detroit Stadium	15,310	Recap
4	September 29	Brooklyn Dodgers	L 3–10	1–1–2	Forbes Field	26,618	Recap
5	October 6	Washington Redskins	L 10–40	1–2–2	Forbes Field	25,213	Recap
6	October 13	at Brooklyn Dodgers	L 0–21	1–3–2	Ebbets Field	19,468	Recap
7	October 20	at New York Giants	L 0–12	1–4–2	Polo Grounds	19,798	Recap
8	October 27	at Green Bay Packers	L 3–24	1–5–2	Wisconsin State Fair Park	13,703	Recap
9	November 3	at Washington Redskins	L 10–37	1–6–2	Griffith Stadium	31,204	Recap
10	November 10	Philadelphia Eagles	W 7–3	2–6–2	Forbes Field	9,556	Recap
11	November 28	at Philadelphia Eagles	L 0–7	2–7–2	Shibe Park	4,200	Recap
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 1 (Sunday September 8, 1940): Chicago Cardinals

	1	2	3	4	Total
Cardinals	0	0	7	0	7
Steelers	0	7	0	0	7

at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Game time:
Game weather:
Game attendance: 22,000
Referee:

Scoring Drives:

Pittsburgh – Platukis 45 pass from Patterson (Niccolai kick)
Chicago Cardinals – Hall 44 pass from Clark (Clark kick)

Week 2 (Sunday, September 15, 1940): New York Giants

	1	2	3	4	Total
Giants	0	0	7	3	10
Steelers	10	0	0	0	10

at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Game time:
Game weather:
Game attendance: 18,601
Referee:

Scoring Drives:

Pittsburgh – FG Niccolai 48
Pittsburgh – Tomasetti 26 pass from Patterson (Niccolai kick)
New York – Shaffer 1 run (Cuff kick)
New York – FG Barnum 31

Week 3 (Sunday September 22, 1940): Detroit Lions

	1	2	3	4	Total
Steelers	0	0	3	7	10
Lions	0	7	0	0	7

at Briggs Stadium, Detroit, Michigan

Game time:
Game weather:
Game attendance: 15,310
Referee:

Scoring Drives:

Detroit – Cardwell 33 run (White kick)
Pittsburgh – FG Niccolai 28
Pittsburgh – Tomasetti 3 run (Niccolai kick)

Week 4 (Sunday September 29, 1940): Brooklyn Dodgers

	1	2	3	4	Total
Dodgers	7	0	3	0	10
Steelers	0	3	0	0	3

at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Game time:
Game weather:
Game attendance: 26,618
Referee:

Scoring Drives:

Brooklyn – Manders 1 run (Parker kick)
Pittsburgh – FG Niccolai 21
Brooklyn – FG Kercheval 27

Week 5 (Sunday October 6, 1940): Washington Redskins

	1	2	3	4	Total
Redskins	14	7	13	6	40
Steelers	3	0	7	0	10

at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Game time:
Game weather:
Game attendance: 25,213
Referee:

Scoring Drives:

Pittsburgh – FG Niccolai 48
Washington – Johnston 64 interception (kick failed)
Washington – Seymour 1 run (Masterson kick)
Washington – Millner 30 pass from Filchock (Russell kick)
Washington – Johnston 1 run (Masterson kick)
Washington – Johnston 2 run (Sanford kick)
Pittsburgh – Condit pass from Thompson (Niccolai kick)
Washington – Seymour 10 run (kick failed)

Week 6 (Sunday October 13, 1940): Brooklyn Dodgers

	1	2	3	4	Total
Steelers	0	0	0	0	0
Dodgers	14	0	0	7	21

at Ebbets Field, Brooklyn, New York

Game time:
Game weather:
Game attendance: 19,468
Referee:

Scoring Drives:

Brooklyn – Manders 2 run (Parker kick)
Brooklyn – Schwartz – 7 pass from Parker (Parker kick)
Brooklyn – Leckonby 8 pass from Kercheval (Kercheval kick)

Week 7 (Sunday October 20, 1940): New York Giants

	1	2	3	4	Total
Steelers	0	0	0	0	0
Giants	7	3	0	2	12

at Polo Grounds, New York, New York

Game time:
Game weather:
Game attendance: 19,798
Referee:

Scoring Drives:

New York – Cuff 60 pass from Miller (Cuff kick)
New York – FG Cuff 23
New York – Safety, Pirro tackled in end zone

Week 8 (Sunday October 27, 1940): Green Bay Packers

	1	2	3	4	Total
Steelers	3	0	0	0	3
Packers	7	3	0	14	24

at Wisconsin State Fair Park, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Game time:
Game weather:
Game attendance: 13,703
Referee:

Scoring Drives:

Green Bay – Adkins 35 interception (Engebretsen kick)
Pittsburgh – FG Niccolai 36
Green Bay – FG Hinkle 33
Green Bay – Balazs 2 run (Hutson kick)
Green Bay – Hutson 19 pass from Van Every (Engebretsen kick)

Week 9 (Sunday November 3, 1940): Washington Redskins

	1	2	3	4	Total
Steelers	3	7	0	0	10
Redskins	6	7	7	17	37

at Griffith Stadium, Washington, DC

Game time:
Game weather:
Game attendance: 31,204
Referee:

Scoring Drives:

Pittsburgh – FG Niccolai 25
Washington – Johnston 39 pass from Baugh (kick failed)
Washington – Filchock 12 run (Russell kick)
Pittsburgh – Platukis 31 pass from Patterson (Niccolai kick)
Washington – Johnston 45 pass from Baugh (Masterson kick)
Washington – Masterson 15 pass from Filchock (Russell kick)
Washington – Todd 1 run (Russell kick)
Washington – FG Masterson 20

Week 10 (Sunday November 10, 1940): Philadelphia Eagles

	1	2	3	4	Total
Eagles	3	0	0	0	3
Steelers	0	0	7	0	7

at Forbes Field, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Game time:
Game weather:
Game attendance: 9,556
Referee:

Scoring Drives:

Philadelphia – FG Sommers 36
Pittsburgh – McDonough 1 run (Niccolai kick)

The Steelers defeated the Eagles 7–0. The game is the last in NFL history as of 2013 to not have a penalty called on either team.^[7]

Week 13 (Thursday November 28, 1940): Philadelphia Eagles

	1	2	3	4	Total
Steelers	0	0	0	0	0
Eagles	0	0	0	7	7

at Shibe Park, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Game time:
Game weather:
Game attendance: 4,200
Referee:

Scoring Drives:

Philadelphia – Riffle 17 run (Somers kick)

Standings

NFL Eastern Division
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	PF	PA	STK
Washington Redskins	9	2	0	.818	6–2	245	142	W1
Brooklyn Dodgers	8	3	0	.727	6–2	186	120	W4
New York Giants	6	4	1	.600	5–2–1	131	133	L1
Pittsburgh Steelers	2	7	2	.222	1–6–1	60	178	L1
Philadelphia Eagles	1	10	0	.091	1–7	111	211	L1

Note: Tie games were not officially counted in the standings until 1972.

NFL Western Division
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	PF	PA	STK
Chicago Bears	8	3	0	.727	6–2	238	152	W2
Green Bay Packers	6	4	1	.600	4–3–1	238	155	T1
Detroit Lions	5	5	1	.500	4–3–1	138	153	L1
Cleveland Rams	4	6	1	.400	2–5–1	171	191	T1
Chicago Cardinals	2	7	2	.222	2–5–1	139	222	L3