1976 NFL season
| Regular season | |
|---|---|
| Duration | September 12 – December 12, 1976 |
| Playoffs | |
| Start date | December 18, 1976 |
| AFC Champions | Oakland Raiders |
| NFC Champions | Minnesota Vikings |
| Super Bowl XI | |
| Date | January 9, 1977 |
| Site | Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California |
| Champions | Oakland Raiders |
| Pro Bowl | |
| Date | January 17, 1977 |
| Site | Kingdome, Seattle |
The 1976 NFL season was the 57th regular season of the National Football League. The year 1976 was also the Bicentennial of the United States although the NFL did not issue its own Bicentennial patch. The Dallas Cowboys did modify their helmet (red, white and blue stripes) to honor the year, and were the only NFL team to recognize the Bicentennial.
The league expanded to 28 teams with the addition of the Seattle Seahawks and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. This fulfilled one of the conditions agreed to in 1966 for the 1970 AFL-NFL Merger, which called for the league to expand to 28 teams by 1970 or soon thereafter.
For this season only, the Seahawks played in the NFC West while the Buccaneers played in the AFC West. The Seahawks would return to the NFC West with the realignment prior to the 2002 season. The Buccaneers would set a record of futility, becoming the first NFL team to finish a season 0–14. The Buccaneers would go on to lose their first 26 games as a franchise before finally winning against the New Orleans Saints and St. Louis Cardinals to finish the 1977 season.
The New York Giants finally opened their new stadium Giants Stadium after spending 2 seasons at the Yale Bowl and one season at Shea Stadium.
The season ended with Super Bowl XI when the Oakland Raiders defeated the Minnesota Vikings 32-14 in the Rose Bowl.
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