Suvarna Garge (Editor)

1998 NFL season

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AFC Champions
  
Denver Broncos

Champions
  
Denver Broncos

Champion
  
Denver Broncos

NFC Champions
  
Atlanta Falcons

Site
  
Aloha Stadium

Start date
  
1998

Duration
  
September 6 – December 28, 1998

Site
  
Pro Player Stadium, Miami

Similar
  
1997 NFL season, 1999 NFL season, 2000 NFL season, 2001 NFL season, 1996 NFL season

The 1998 NFL season was the 79th regular season of the National Football League.

Contents

The season culminated with Super Bowl XXXIII, with the Denver Broncos defeating the Atlanta Falcons 34-19 at Pro Player Stadium. The Broncos had won their first thirteen games, the best start since the undefeated 1972 Dolphins, and were tipped by some to have a realistic chance at winning all nineteen games. The Minnesota Vikings became the first team since the 1968 Baltimore Colts to win all but one of their regular season games and not win the Super Bowl.

Football Outsiders noted "1998 was the last hurrah for the great quarterbacks who came into the league in the 1980s. The top four QBs [statistically] were all over 35: Vinny Testaverde, Randall Cunningham, Steve Young, and John Elway. Troy Aikman, age 32, was fifth. Dan Marino was 11th in his last good year."

Major rule changes

  • The officiating position titles of back judge and field judge were swapped to become more consistent with college and high school football. The field judge is now 20 yards deep, positioned on the same sideline as the line judge, while the back judge is 25 yards from the line of scrimmage near the center of the field.
  • Tinted visors on players' facemasks are banned except for medical need.
  • A defensive player can no longer flinch before the snap in an attempt to draw movement from an offensive linemen.
  • A team will be penalized immediately for having 12 players in a huddle even if the 12th player goes straight to the sideline as the huddle breaks.
  • During the season, the rules regarding the coin toss were changed to where the visiting team must make the call before the coin is tossed instead of while it was in the air. On Thanksgiving, the game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Detroit Lions went to overtime. During the coin toss, Steelers running back Jerome Bettis was heard calling "tails" but referee Phil Luckett claimed he said "heads". The coin landed on tails, and the Lions won the toss and eventually the game on a Jason Hanson field goal. It was later revealed that Bettis had changed his mind during the call and was originally going to call "heads" but stopped. Thus, the rule change was adopted to prevent any further confusion.

    • Stadium changes

  • Tennessee Oilers – Moved from Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis to Vanderbilt Stadium in Nashville while awaiting construction of the new (Adelphia Coliseum) in Nashville.
  • Baltimore Ravens – Departed from Memorial Stadium to PSINet Stadium.
  • Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Departed from Houlihan's Stadium to Raymond James Stadium.

    • Uniform changes

  • Baltimore Ravens – Removed black pants from road uniforms.
  • New York Jets – Re-adopted their 1960s logo and uniform design.
  • Jacksonville Jaguars – Removed black side panels on uniforms.
  • San Diego Chargers – Returned navy pants on road uniforms.
  • San Francisco 49ers – New gold pants.
  • Detroit Lions – New Honolulu blue numbers on road uniforms and Honolulu blue road pants with gray socks.

    • Television changes

    This was the first season that CBS held the rights to televise American Football Conference games, taking over the package from NBC. Meanwhile, this was the first time that ESPN broadcast all of the Sunday night games throughout the season (this was also the first season in which ESPN's coverage used the Monday Night Football themes, before reverting to using an original theme in 2001).

    1998 Coaching Changes

  • Oakland Raiders – Jon Gruden; replaced Joe Bugel who was fired after the '97 season.
  • Indianapolis Colts – Jim Mora; replaced Lindy Infante who was fired after the '97 season.
  • Dallas Cowboys – Chan Gailey; replaced Barry Switzer who resigned after the '97 season.
  • Buffalo Bills – Wade Phillips; replaced Marv Levy who retired after the '97 season.

    • Final regular season standings

    W = Wins, L = Losses, PCT = Winning Percentage, PF= Points For, PA = Points Against

    Clinched playoff seeds are marked in parentheses and shaded in green. No ties occurred this season.

    Tiebreakers

  • Miami finished ahead of Buffalo in the AFC East based on better net division points (6 to Bills' 0).
  • Oakland finished ahead of Seattle in the AFC West based on head-to-head sweep (2–0).
  • Carolina finished ahead of St. Louis in the NFC West based on head-to-head sweep (2–0).

    • Playoffs


    * Indicates overtime victory

    References

    1998 NFL season Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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