Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

This was the only team in NFL history who had an official fourth-place finish, but going into the final week still had a chance at winning the division title outright. Name them. Gotta be the 1963 Steelers. Yes. The 1963 Pittsburgh Steelers are the only team that controlled their own destiny for th...

I seem to remember if one of the games of Week 14 in 1970 had gone another way, a playoff team would have been decided by a coin flipped by George Halas. This caused more tiebreakers to be added in 1971. Below are all the scenarios, which are easier to read than me trying not to lose my mind explai...

Why did the Eagles get the nod to play in the '66 Playoff Bowl over Cleveland? Both were 9-5, both split with each other, but the Browns did have the better conference record at 9-4 as opposed to 8-5. Apparently because (similar to how some college bowl games used to do it), the Browns (1963 season...

The 1978 schedule was scrapped. Otherwise, everything was played as listed. Does anyone have the proposed 1978 schedule for all teams? How far did they project out? I had done research on this previously. Sorry I am just getting to this.... Here were the original 1978 opponents based on the nine-ye...

Sites for all division/conference playoff games through 1966 (and in the AFL through ‘68) were determined by coin flip.

Not sure the last time it happened. Pretty sure it was early-'60s. Any examples of such 'double-headers' that come to mind? You think the league would ever apply that again here in the modern era? The last occurrence was when the Steelers and Redskins played each other in back-to-back weeks in 1966...

Insane that a coin flip was even on the table. Curious if it came to that...would both teams just rather play a game instead and just move the entire playoffs back a week? My sentiments exactly. All the other tiebreakers are at least somewhat affectable (I know that's not a word, but close enough) ...

Since playoff seeding began in 1975, the '79 Redskins are the only team that had a shot at the #1 seed heading into the final week of the regular season that missed the playoffs. Ivan, to your knowledge are there any other teams that had a shot at the #1 seed going into the final week that could ha...

The 1985 Broncos went 11-5 and missed the postseason. The 1979 Redskins were quite possibly the strongest 10-6 team to miss the postseason. If they had beaten Dallas in the regular season finale, they would have went into the playoffs with the number one seed in the NFC, but a 35-34 loss along with...

ChrisBabcock wrote:I never realized that FOUR teams were still alive for the NFL East going into the final week.

Only two teams, NYG and PIT, were alive in the NFL East going into the final weekend. The Giants would win the East with a win or tie vs. PIT, and the Steelers with a win vs. NYG.