![]() The Cowboys playing against the Broncos in Super Bowl XII | |
Regular season | |
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Duration | September 18 – 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 two second-year expansion teams switched conferences, with the Seattle Seahawks moving from the NFC West to the AFC West, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers transferring from the AFC West to 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. 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 to 1977). The 17.2 average points scored per team per game was the lowest since 1942, and it was the only post-merger NFL season where no player surpassed 1,000 receiving yards. For 1978, the league made significant changes to allow greater offensive production. [1]
The season ended with Super Bowl XII when the Cowboys defeated the Denver Broncos.
The 1977 NFL Draft was held from May 3 to 4, 1977 at New York City’s Roosevelt Hotel. With the first pick, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers selected running back Ricky Bell from the University of Southern California.
Tommy Bell retired after the 1976 season. His line judge, Jerry Markbreit, was named his successor. Bell worked two Super Bowls, III and VII. Markbreit would work four Super Bowls, and is (as of 2022) the only referee to achieve this.
Tampa Bay and Seattle continued as "swing" teams that did not 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.
Starting in 1970, and through 2001, except for the strike-shortened 1982 season, there were three divisions (Eastern, Central and Western) in each conference. This was the final season as the winners of each division, and a fourth "wild card" team based on the best non-division winner, qualified for the playoffs. The tiebreaker rules were changed to start with head-to-head competition, followed by division records, common opponents records, and conference play.
National Football Conference
Week | Eastern | Central | Western | Wild Card | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 3 teams | 1–0 | (Chicago, Green Bay) | 1–0 | Atlanta | 1–0 | 3 teams | 1–0 |
2 | Dallas | 2–0 | 4 teams | 1–1 | Atlanta* | 1–1 | 8 teams | 1–1 |
3 | Dallas | 3–0 | Minnesota | 2–1* | Atlanta | 2–1 | 3 teams | 2–1 |
4 | Dallas | 4–0 | Minnesota | 3–1 | Atlanta | 3–1 | Washington | 3–1 |
5 | Dallas | 5–0 | Minnesota | 4–1 | Atlanta* | 3–2 | 3 teams | 3–2 |
6 | Dallas | 6–0 | Minnesota | 4–2 | Atlanta* | 4–2 | Los Angeles | 4–2 |
7 | Dallas | 7–0 | Minnesota | 5–2 | Atlanta* | 4–3 | St. Louis* | 4–3 |
8 | Dallas | 8–0 | Minnesota | 5–3 | Los Angeles | 5–3 | St. Louis* | 5–3 |
9 | Dallas | 8–1 | Minnesota | 6–3 | Los Angeles | 6–3 | St. Louis* | 6–3 |
10 | Dallas | 8–2 | Minnesota | 6–4 | Los Angeles | 7–3 | St. Louis | 7–3 |
11 | Dallas | 9–2 | Minnesota | 7–4 | Los Angeles | 8–3 | St. Louis | 7–4 |
12 | Dallas | 10–2 | Minnesota | 8–4 | Los Angeles | 8–4 | St. Louis* | 7–5 |
13 | Dallas | 11–2 | Chicago* | 8–5 | Los Angeles | 10–3 | Washington* | 8–5 |
14 | Dallas | 12–2 | Minnesota * | 9–5 | Los Angeles | 10–4 | Chicago * | 9–5 |
* other teams with same W-L record
American Football Conference
Week | Eastern | Central | Western | Wild Card | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | (Baltimore, Miami) | 1–0 | 3 teams | 1–0 | (Denver, Oakland) | 1–0 | 5 teams | 1–0 |
2 | (Baltimore, Miami) | 2–0 | (Cleveland, Houston) | 2–0 | (Denver, Oakland) | 2–0 | 3 teams | 2–0–0 |
3 | (Baltimore, Miami) | 3–0 | Cleveland* | 2–1 | (Denver, Oakland) | 3–0 | 2 teams | 3–0 |
4 | Baltimore | 4–0 | Houston | 3–1 | (Denver, Oakland) | 4–0 | 2 teams | 4–0 |
5 | Baltimore | 5–0 | Pittsburgh* | 3–2 | Denver | 5–0 | Oakland* | 4–1 |
6 | Baltimore* | 5–1 | Pittsburgh* | 3–2 | Denver | 6–0 | Oakland* | 5–1 |
7 | Baltimore | 6–1 | Cleveland | 5–2 | Oakland* | 6–1 | Denver | 6–1 |
8 | Baltimore | 7–1 | Cleveland | 5–3 | Oakland* | 7–1 | Denver | 7–1 |
9 | Baltimore | 8–1 | Pittsburgh* | 5–4 | Oakland* | 8–1 | Denver | 8–1 |
10 | Baltimore | 9–1 | Pittsburgh* | 6–4 | Denver | 9–1 | Oakland | 8–2 |
11 | Baltimore* | 9–2 | Pittsburgh | 7–4 | Denver | 10–1 | Oakland | 9–2 |
12 | Baltimore* | 9–3 | Pittsburgh | 8–4 | Denver | 11–1 | Oakland | 9–3 |
13 | Baltimore* | 9–4 | Pittsburgh* | 8–5 | Denver | 12–1 | Oakland | 10–3 |
14 | Baltimore * | 10–4 | Pittsburgh | 9–5 | Denver | 12–2 | Oakland | 11–3 |
* other teams with same W-L record
Highlights of the 1977 season included:
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Dec 26 – Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum | |||||||||||||
3 | Minnesota | 14 | |||||||||||
Jan 1 – Texas Stadium | |||||||||||||
2 | Los Angeles | 7 | |||||||||||
NFC | |||||||||||||
3 | Minnesota | 6 | |||||||||||
Dec 26 – Texas Stadium | |||||||||||||
1 | Dallas | 23 | |||||||||||
NFC Championship | |||||||||||||
4 | Chicago | 7 | |||||||||||
Jan 15 – Louisiana Superdome | |||||||||||||
1 | Dallas | 37 | |||||||||||
Divisional playoffs | |||||||||||||
N1 | Dallas | 27 | |||||||||||
Dec 24 – Memorial Stadium | |||||||||||||
A1 | Denver | 10 | |||||||||||
Super Bowl XII | |||||||||||||
4 | Oakland | 37** | |||||||||||
Jan 1 – Mile High Stadium | |||||||||||||
2* | Baltimore | 31 | |||||||||||
AFC | |||||||||||||
4 | Oakland | 17 | |||||||||||
Dec 24 – Mile High Stadium | |||||||||||||
1 | Denver | 20 | |||||||||||
AFC Championship | |||||||||||||
3 | Pittsburgh | 21 | |||||||||||
1* | Denver | 34 | |||||||||||
* The Denver Broncos (the AFC 1 seed) did not play the Oakland Raiders (the 4 seed) in the Divisional playoff round because both teams were in the same division.
This was the fourth and final year under the league's broadcast contracts with ABC, CBS, and NBC to televise Monday Night Football , the NFC package, and the AFC package, respectively. All three networks renewed their deals for another four years. Don Meredith returned to ABC after spending three seasons at NBC, while Alex Karras returned to his acting career. John Brodie was promoted to replace Meredith as NBC's lead color commentator, while Merlin Olsen replaced Brodie on the network's #2 team. NBC also renamed its pregame show, referring to it as NFL '77 to start and updating the program's title every new season. [6]
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