1994 NFL season

1994 National Football League season

NFL 75th season anniversary logo
Regular season
Duration September 4, 1994 – December 26, 1994
Playoffs
Start date December 31, 1994
AFC Champions San Diego Chargers
NFC Champions San Francisco 49ers
Super Bowl XXIX
Date January 29, 1995
Site Joe Robbie Stadium, Miami, Florida
Champions San Francisco 49ers
Pro Bowl
Date February 5, 1995
Site Aloha Stadium

The 1994 NFL season was the 75th regular season of the National Football League. To honor the NFL's 75th season, a special anniversary logo was designed and each player wore a patch on their jerseys with this logo throughout the season. Also, a selection committee of media and league personnel named a special NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team, honoring the best NFL players from the first 75 seasons.

The Phoenix Cardinals changed their name to Arizona Cardinals in an attempt to widen their appeal to the entire state of Arizona instead of just the Phoenix area. The name was initially resisted by Bill Bidwill.

The Seattle Seahawks played their first three regular season home games at Husky Stadium because the Kingdome, the Seahawks' regular home field, was undergoing repairs for damaged tiles on its roof. The Seahawks returned for the 2000 and 2001 seasons while their new stadium was under construction.

The 1994 season marked the last one until 2016 that the city of Los Angeles had an NFL team. Both the Rams and the Raiders left the city following the season. The Rams moved east to St. Louis, Missouri after being in Los Angeles for 49 years, while the Raiders left Los Angeles after 12 years to return to their previous home in Oakland, California. The Rams, after failing to reach an agreement with St. Louis on a new stadium, agreed to move back to Los Angeles for the 2016 NFL season.

This was also the first season that the then-fledgling Fox Network televised NFL games. Fox took over the National Football Conference package from CBS, who would return to televising the NFL in 1998. The league also signed an exclusivity agreement with the direct broadcast satellite (DBS) service DirecTV to launch NFL Sunday Ticket, a satellite television subscription service that offers every regular season NFL game. Today the package remains exclusive to DirecTV.

The season ended with Super Bowl XXIX when the San Francisco 49ers defeated the San Diego Chargers. Both teams had met that regular season, the second straight season that had happened, and ninth time overall.

Even though the 1994 World Series was canceled, the NFL ultimately decided not to reschedule its Thursday night contests in October for Sunday, even though they wouldn't have competed with baseball those nights.

This was also the first year of the current practice of whenever Christmas Day falls on a Sunday that most of that weekend's games were played on the Saturday afternoon of Christmas Eve. Every NFL season afterwards with Christmas Day on a Sunday has followed this same scheduling format.

Major rule changes

A package of changes were adopted to increase offensive production and scoring:

Throwback jerseys

The league also honored its 75th season by having each team wear throwback uniforms during selected games. The designs varied widely in their accuracy; many of them were not completely accurate for a number of reasons:

Some teams occasionally wore their throwbacks in additional games during the season, and the San Francisco 49ers wore them through the Super Bowl. They proved to be so popular that the New York Giants followed the lead of the Jets and eventually returned to wearing them full-time, with very slight modifications, in 2000. After the NFL modified its rules to allow teams to wear alternate jerseys in 2002, the San Diego Chargers selected their throwbacks as their third uniforms.

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.

AFC East
TeamWLPCTPFPA
(3) Miami Dolphins 106.625389327
(5) New England Patriots 106.625351312
Indianapolis Colts 88.500307320
Buffalo Bills 79.438340356
New York Jets 610.375264320
AFC Central
TeamWLPCTPFPA
(1) Pittsburgh Steelers 124.750316234
(4) Cleveland Browns 115.688340204
Cincinnati Bengals 313.188276406
Houston Oilers 214.125226352
AFC West
TeamWLPCTPFPA
(2) San Diego Chargers 115.688381306
(6) Kansas City Chiefs 97.563319298
Los Angeles Raiders 97.563303327
Denver Broncos 79.438347396
Seattle Seahawks 610.375287323
NFC East
TeamWLPCTPFPA
(2) Dallas Cowboys 124.750414248
New York Giants 97.563279305
Arizona Cardinals 88.500235267
Philadelphia Eagles 79.438308308
Washington Redskins 313.188320412
NFC Central
TeamWLPCTPFPA
(3) Minnesota Vikings 106.625356314
(4) Green Bay Packers 97.563382287
(5) Detroit Lions 97.563357342
(6) Chicago Bears 97.563271307
Tampa Bay Buccaneers 610.375251351
NFC West
TeamWLPCTPFPA
(1) San Francisco 49ers 133.813505296
New Orleans Saints 79.438348407
Atlanta Falcons 79.438317385
Los Angeles Rams 412.250286365

Tiebreakers

Playoffs

                                   
Dec. 31 – Joe Robbie Stadium   Jan. 8 – Jack Murphy Stadium          
 6  Kansas City  17
 3  Miami  21
 3  Miami  27     Jan. 15 – Three Rivers Stadium
 2  San Diego  22  
AFC
Jan. 1 – Cleveland Stadium  2  San Diego  17
Jan. 7 – Three Rivers Stadium
   1  Pittsburgh  13  
 5  New England  13 AFC Championship
 4  Cleveland  9
 4  Cleveland  20   Jan. 29 – Joe Robbie Stadium
 1  Pittsburgh  29  
Wild Card Playoffs  
Divisional Playoffs
Dec. 31 – Lambeau Field  A2  San Diego  26
Jan. 8 – Texas Stadium
   N1  San Francisco  49
 5  Detroit  12 Super Bowl XXIX
 4  Green Bay  9
 4  Green Bay  16     Jan. 15 – Candlestick Park
 2  Dallas  35  
NFC
Jan. 1 – Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome  2  Dallas  28
Jan. 7 – Candlestick Park
   1  San Francisco  38  
 6  Chicago  35 NFC Championship
 6  Chicago  15
 3  Minnesota  18  
 1  San Francisco  44  

Statistical leaders

Team

Points scoredSan Francisco 49ers (505)
Total yards gainedMiami Dolphins (6,078)
Yards rushingPittsburgh Steelers (2,180)
Yards passingNew England Patriots (4,444)
Fewest points allowedCleveland Browns (204)
Fewest total yards allowedDallas Cowboys (4,313)
Fewest rushing yards allowedMinnesota Vikings (1,090)
Fewest passing yards allowedDallas Cowboys (2,752)

Individual

ScoringJohn Carney, San Diego Chargers (135 points)
TouchdownsEmmitt Smith, Dallas Cowboys (22 TDs)
Most field goals madeJohn Carney, San Diego Chargers, and Fuad Reveiz, Minnesota Vikings (34 FGs)
RushingBarry Sanders, Detroit Lions (1,883 yards)
PassingSteve Young, San Francisco 49ers (112.8 rating)
Passing touchdownsSteve Young, San Francisco 49ers (35 TDs)
Pass receivingCris Carter, Minnesota Vikings (122 catches)
Pass receiving yardsJerry Rice, San Francisco 49ers (1,499)
Punt returnsBrian Mitchell, Washington Redskins (14.1 average yards)
Kickoff returnsMel Gray, Detroit Lions (28.4 average yards)
InterceptionsEric Turner, Cleveland Browns, and Aeneas Williams, Arizona Cardinals (9)
PuntingSean Landeta, Los Angeles Rams (44.8 average yards)
SacksKevin Greene, Pittsburgh Steelers (14)

Awards

Most Valuable PlayerSteve Young, Quarterback, San Francisco 49ers
Coach of the YearBill Parcells, New England Patriots
Offensive Player of the YearBarry Sanders, Running Back, Detroit Lions
Defensive Player of the YearDeion Sanders, Cornerback, San Francisco 49ers
Offensive Rookie of the YearMarshall Faulk, Running Back, Indianapolis Colts
Defensive Rookie of the YearTim Bowens, Defensive Tackle, Miami Dolphins
Comeback Player of the YearDan Marino, Quarterback, Miami Dolphins

External links

References

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