Neha Patil (Editor)

2006 NFL season

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Start date
  
January 6, 2007

NFC Champions
  
Chicago Bears

Dates
  
8 Sep 2006 – 5 Feb 2007

AFC Champions
  
Indianapolis Colts

Champions
  
Indianapolis Colts

2006 NFL season httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

Duration
  
September 7 – December 31, 2006

Site
  
Dolphin Stadium, Miami Gardens, Florida

Champion
  
Chicago Bears, Indianapolis Colts

Similar
  
2007 NFL season, 2005 NFL season, 2008 NFL season, 2004 NFL season, 2009 NFL season

The 2006 NFL season was the 87th regular season of the National Football League. Regular season play was held from September 7 to December 31, 2006.

Contents

The NFL title was eventually won by the Indianapolis Colts, when they defeated the Chicago Bears 29-17 in Super Bowl XLI at Dolphin Stadium at Miami Gardens, Florida on February 4.

Flexible-scheduling

This was the first season that the NFL used a "flexible-scheduling" for the last few weeks of the season, allowing the league flexibility in selecting games to air on Sunday night, in order to feature the current hottest, streaking teams. This was implemented to prevent games featuring losing teams from airing during primetime late in the season, while at the same time allowing NBC to rake in more money off of the higher ratings from surprise, playoff-potential teams that more fans would enjoy watching.

Under the flexible-scheduling system, all Sunday games in the affected weeks tentatively had the start times of 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT, except those played in the Pacific or Mountain time zones, which will have a tentative start time of 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT (or 4:15 p.m. ET/1:15 p.m. PT if it is a doubleheader weekend). On the Tuesday 12 days before the games, the league moved one game to the primetime slot, and possibly one or more 1 p.m. slotted games to the 4 p.m. slots. During the last week of the season, the league could re-schedule games as late as six days before the contests so that all of the television networks will be able to broadcast a game that has playoff implications.

Television

This was the first season that NBC held the rights to televise Sunday Night Football, becoming the beneficiaries by negotiating the new flexible-scheduling system. ESPN became the new home of Monday Night Football, replacing sister network American Broadcasting Company, who chose to opt out of broadcasting league games. Meanwhile, CBS and Fox renewed their television contracts to the American Football Conference and the National Football Conference packages, respectively.

Coaching changes

  • Buffalo Bills – Dick Jauron; replaced Mike Mularkey, who resigned after the 2005 season
  • Detroit Lions – Rod Marinelli; replaced interim head coach Dick Jauron who replaced Steve Mariucci who was fired following Thanksgiving Day during the 2005 season.
  • Green Bay Packers – Mike McCarthy; replaced Mike Sherman
  • Houston Texans – Gary Kubiak; replaced Dom Capers
  • Kansas City Chiefs – Herman Edwards; replaced Dick Vermeil who retired following the 2005 season
  • Minnesota Vikings – Brad Childress; replaced Mike Tice
  • New Orleans Saints – Sean Payton; replaced Jim Haslett
  • New York Jets – Eric Mangini; replaced Herman Edwards
  • Oakland Raiders – Art Shell; replaced Norv Turner
  • St. Louis Rams – Scott Linehan; replaced interim head coach Joe Vitt who replaced Mike Martz who was not allowed to coach due to health problems during the 2005 season.

    • Final regular season standings

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

    Clinched playoff seeds are marked in parentheses and shaded in green. No tie games occurred this year.

    Tiebreakers
    Source: 2007 NFL Record and Fact Book (ISBN 978-1-933821-85-6)
  • a Cincinnati finished ahead of Pittsburgh in the AFC North based on division record (4–2 to 3–3).
  • b Tennessee finished ahead of Jacksonville in the AFC South based on division record (4–2 to 2–4).
  • c Kansas City finished ahead of Denver in the AFC West based on division record (4–2 to 3–3).
  • d Indianapolis clinched the AFC #3 seed based on their head-to-head victory over New England (Week 9).
  • e New Orleans clinched the NFC #2 seed based on their head-to-head victory over Philadelphia (Week 6).
  • f N.Y. Giants clinched the NFC #6 seed based on better strength of victory than Green Bay (.422 to .383), while Carolina and St. Louis both were eliminated from playoff contention because the N.Y. Giants and Green Bay had better conference records (7–5 to 6–6).

    • Playoffs

    Within each conference, the four division winners and the two wild card teams (the top two non-division winners with the best overall regular season records) qualified for the playoffs. The four division winners are seeded 1 through 4 based on their overall won-lost-tied record, and the wild card teams are seeded 5 and 6. The NFL does not use a fixed bracket playoff system, and there are no restrictions regarding teams from the same division matching up in any round. In the first round, dubbed the wild-card playoffs or wild-card weekend, the third-seeded division winner hosts the sixth seed wild card, and the fourth seed hosts the fifth. The 1 and 2 seeds from each conference then receive a bye in the first round. In the second round, the divisional playoffs, the number 1 seed hosts the worst surviving seed from the first round (seed 4, 5 or 6), while the number 2 seed will play the other team (seed 3, 4 or 5). The two surviving teams from each conference's divisional playoff games then meet in the respective AFC and NFC Conference Championship games, hosted by the higher seed. Although the Super Bowl, the fourth and final round of the playoffs, is played at a neutral site, the designated home team is based on an annual rotation by conference.

    * Indicates overtime victory

    Pro Bowl

  • 2007 Pro Bowl at Aloha Stadium, Honolulu, Hawaii: AFC 31, NFC 28

    • Milestones

    The following teams and players set all-time NFL records during the regular season:

    All-Pro Team

    Offense

  • Most points scored: San Diego, 492
  • Fewest points scored: Oakland, 168
  • Most total offensive yards: New Orleans, 6,264
  • Fewest total offensive yards: Oakland, 3,939
  • Most total passing yards: New Orleans, 4,503
  • Fewest total passing yards: Atlanta, 2,371
  • Most rushing yards: Atlanta, 2,939
  • Fewest rushing yards: Detroit, 1,129

    • Defense

  • Fewest points allowed: Baltimore, 201
  • Most points allowed: San Francisco, 412
  • Fewest total yards allowed: Baltimore, 4,225
  • Most total yards allowed: Tennessee, 5,915
  • Fewest passing yards allowed: Oakland, 2,413
  • Most passing yards allowed: Cincinnati / Minnesota (tie), 3,818
  • Fewest rushing yards allowed: Minnesota, 985
  • Most rushing yards allowed: Indianapolis, 2,768

    • References

    2006 NFL season Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA