1978 NFL Season

[CSKreager]

Looking back, 1978 was one of the most impactful and important season in NFL history. As outlandish as this sounds, I feel this was the beginning of the 'Modern' era of NFL football.

You had the rule changes to charge up the passing game. Consider the passing leaders from '77: No 3,000 yard passer (Joe Ferguson 'won' the passing yardage crown with 2,803), no 1,000 yard receiver- heck, no 900 yard reciever (Drew Pearson's 870 yards led the NFL).

Heck, only TWO QB's had 20 touchdown passes (Griese/Stabler. Yes, even Staubach had only 18 on that legendary '77 SB team).

You had those changes that really revived passing going forward.

The 16-game schedule, a 2nd Wild Card team, the first year of Wild Card games. (A year or two too late for The '77 Dolphins and '76 Cardinals )

We had quite the season. It was the type of season where every division was a storyline of itself:

AFC East- The fall of the Colts, with the Dallas MNF week 1 debacle the beginning of the end (though they had a couple of last hurrah MNF wins against Washington and The Joe Washington Game at Foxboro). The Patriots' prolific offense. Miami kickstarting a near-decade run of contending again under Shula with Delvin Williams igniting things. The Jets getting new unis/new helmets and a fresh start where their offense looked better and they started a decent run under Walt Michaels. Buffalo starting over in the post-OJ era with Chuck Knox.

AFC Central- The fall of the early-mid 70s Bengals. The Browns making baby steps under Sipe/Rutigliano as a 3-0 start IMO began the progress towards the Kardiac Kids. Earl Campbell and Luv Ya Blue. And of course, the Steelers taking advantage of the new pass-happy rules as Bradshaw/Swann/Stallworth became a holy trinity of terror for opposing defenses, meaning you could no longer stack 12 in the box against Franco.

AFC West- The Holy Roller. John Madden's last ride with the Raiders. Don Coryell sowing the seeds for the soon-to-be high-flying Chargers. Denver proving their '77 Super Bowl year was no fluke. The exciting Seahawks of Zorn/Largent/David Sims and Jack Patera's fourth down/trick play riverboat gambler ways made waves.

NFC East- The Cowboys ride a 3-month rollercoaster- dominating week 1 vs. Colts, a relatively shaky stretch of football for the next 2 months before catching fire down the stretch. Washington/Pardee going from 6-0 to no playoffs. The Eagles finally become winners for the first time in eons. And the Giants..... well, they were actually 5-3 in late October before the debacle of debacles against Philly. The brief and ill-fated Bud Wilkinson era in St. Louis.

NFC Central- Tampa Bay starts to push their defensive weight around. The Bears and Payton take a step back after a playoff year in '77 (and another to come in '79). The Lions play decent football (which makes '79 more shocking considering a lot of these guys were around for the Billy Sims revival). The Packers mount the first real challenge to Minnesota's division dominance but have arguably a bigger choke than Washington. The Vikings and Fran show signs of mortality (losing to the Chargers AT HOME in bad weather, plus the Saints/Seahawks), but Fran pulled out some big wins over GB/DAL/PHI.

NFC West- Death, taxes, LA Rams in the division with maybe their best team of the 1973-1980 era. But unlike past years, two other teams made waves- Archie and the Saints have their first not-completely-terrible record season (beating the Rams in LA for first time ever). The Falcons make the playoffs! (Big Ben, Gritz Blitz). And the horrendous 49ers (whom were a MUCH worse 2-14 than they were a year later.)


The first year of the modern NFL playoffs (four rounds instead of 3). Falcons late comeback vs. Philly, the Oilers' successful road trip through the AFC East, Rams FINALLY beat the Vikings, Falcons nearly shock Dallas. Pittsburgh/Dallas show their championship mettle in the conference title games.

And what better way to cap it off than the first truly excting entertaining Super Bowl? Big plays, big passes, Jackie Smith's drop, two stacked teams with so many Hall of Famers vying to be the first team to win 3 SB's.

[Rupert Patrick]

Steve Sabol said he thought the 1978 season was his favorite season in pro football history, because of many of the things you mentioned, but also due to the changing of the guard, the departures of Madden and Tarkenton and newcomers like Earl Campbell.

[BD Sullivan]

Steve Sabol said he thought the 1978 season was his favorite season in pro football history, because of many of the things you mentioned, but also due to the changing of the guard, the departures of Madden and Tarkenton and newcomers like Earl Campbell.

At the end of that season, I can recall Dan Jenkins criticizing it in SI:

http://www.si.com/vault/issue/71001/15/2