1977 NFL season
| Regular season | |
|---|---|
| Duration | September 18, 1977 – December 18, 1977 |
| Playoffs | |
| Start date | December 24, 1977 |
| AFC Champions | Denver Broncos |
| NFC Champions | Dallas Cowboys |
| Super Bowl XII | |
| Date | January 15, 1978 |
| Site | Louisiana Superdome, New Orleans, Louisiana |
| Champions | Dallas Cowboys |
| Pro Bowl | |
| Date | January 23, 1978 |
| Site | Tampa Stadium, Tampa, Florida |
The 1977 NFL season was the 58th regular season of the National Football League. The Seattle Seahawks were placed in the AFC West while the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were slotted in the NFC Central.
Instead of a traditional Thanksgiving Day game hosted by the Dallas Cowboys, the league scheduled a Miami Dolphins at St. Louis Cardinals contest. This would be only the second season since 1966 that the Cowboys did not play on that holiday. As of 2016, it marked the last time that the Cowboys did not play on Thanksgiving.
This was the last NFL regular season with 14 games. The regular season was expanded to 16 games in 1978, with the preseason reduced from six games to four. It was also the final season of the eight-team playoff field in the NFL, before going to ten the following season.
The 1977 season is considered the last season of the "Dead Ball Era" of professional football (1970–1977). The 17.2 average points scored per team per game was the lowest since 1942. In 1978, the league made significant changes to allow greater offensive production.
The season ended with Super Bowl XII when the Cowboys defeated the Denver Broncos.
Tampa Bay and Seattle continued as "swing" teams that didn't participate in regular conference play. Every other NFL team played a home-and-away series against the other members in its division, two or three interconference games, and the remainder of their 14-game schedule against other conference teams. Tampa Bay switched to the NFC and played the other 13 members of the conference, while Seattle did the same in the AFC. The teams met in Week Five, with Seattle winning 30–23.
...
Wikipedia