1977 NFL season


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 into 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. The 17.2 average points scored per team per game was the lowest since 1942. For 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.

Draft

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.

New Referees

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 the only referee to achieve this.

Major rule changes

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 in each conference. 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
WeekEasternCentralWesternWild Card
13 teams1–01–0Atlanta1–03 teams1–0
2Dallas2–04 teams1–1Atlanta*1–18 teams1–1
3Dallas3–0Minnesota2–1*Atlanta2–13 teams2–1
4Dallas4–0Minnesota3–1Atlanta3–1Washington3–1
5Dallas5–0Minnesota4–1Atlanta*3–23 teams3–2
6Dallas6–0Minnesota4–2Atlanta*4–2Los Angeles4–2
7Dallas7–0Minnesota5–2Atlanta*4–3St. Louis*4–3
8Dallas8–0Minnesota5–3Los Angeles5–3St. Louis*5–3
9Dallas8–1Minnesota6–3Los Angeles6–3St. Louis*6–3
10Dallas8–2Minnesota6–4Los Angeles7–3St. Louis7–3
11Dallas9–2Minnesota7–4Los Angeles8–3St. Louis7–4
12Dallas10–2Minnesota8–4Los Angeles8–4St. Louis*7–5
13Dallas11–2Chicago*8–5Los Angeles10–3Washington*8–5
14Dallas12–2Minnesota*9–5Los Angeles10–4Chicago*9–5

* other teams with same W-L record
American Football Conference
WeekEasternCentralWesternWild Card
11–03 teams1–01–05 teams1–0
22–02–02–03 teams2–0–0
33–0Cleveland*2–13–02 teams3–0
4Baltimore4–0Houston3–14–02 teams4–0
5Baltimore5–0Pittsburgh*3–2Denver5–0Oakland*4–1
6Baltimore*5–1Pittsburgh*3–2Denver6–0Oakland*5–1
7Baltimore6–1Cleveland5–2Oakland*6–1Denver6–1
8Baltimore7–1Cleveland5–3Oakland*7–1Denver7–1
9Baltimore8–1Pittsburgh*5–4Oakland*8–1Denver8–1
10Baltimore9–1Pittsburgh*6–4Denver9–1Oakland8–2
11Baltimore*9–2Pittsburgh7–4Denver10–1Oakland9–2
12Baltimore*9–3Pittsburgh8–4Denver11–1Oakland9–3
13Baltimore*9–4Pittsburgh*8–5Denver12–1Oakland10–3
14Baltimore*10–4Pittsburgh9–5Denver12–2Oakland11–3

* other teams with same W-L record

Final standings

Tiebreakers

Awards

Coaching changes

Offseason