1991 NFL season

1991 National Football League season

Regular season
Duration	September 1 – December 23, 1991
Playoffs
Start date	December 28, 1991
AFC Champions	Buffalo Bills
NFC Champions	Washington Redskins
Super Bowl XXVI
Date	January 26, 1992
Site	Metrodome, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Champions	Washington Redskins
Pro Bowl
Date	February 2, 1992
Site	Aloha Stadium
← 1990 NFL seasons 1992 →

The 1991 NFL season was the 72nd regular season of the National Football League. It was the final season for legendary coach Chuck Noll. The season ended with Super Bowl XXVI when the Washington Redskins defeated the Buffalo Bills 37–24 at the Metrodome in Minnesota. This was the second of four consecutive Super Bowl losses for Buffalo.

Player movement[]

Transactions[]

• March 26, 1991: Ronnie Lott signs with the Los Angeles Raiders as a Plan B Free Agent.^[1]
• April 2, 1991: Roger Craig signs with the Los Angeles Raiders as a Plan B Free Agent.^[2]
• August 27: The Green Bay Packers sign punter Rick Tuten, who appeared in Super Bowl XXV with the Buffalo Bills.^[3]
• September 19: The Phoenix Cardinals sign quarterback Stan Gelbaugh, who led the London Monarchs to the World Bowl '91. ^[4]
• September 19: The Philadelphia Eagles sign Wide Receiver Roy Green. ^[4]
• September 21: The Pittsburgh Steelers sign quarterback Rick Strom. ^[4]
• September 21: The San Diego Chargers sign Wide Receiver Yancey Thigpen. ^[4]
• September 26 : The San Francisco 49ers sign Defensive End Jim Burt. ^[4]

Trades[]

• July 22: The Atlanta Falcons traded Defensive Tackle Tony Casillas to the Dallas Cowboys. ^[5]
• August 14: The Los Angeles Raiders traded Vencie Glenn to the New Orleans Saints^[6]
• August 19: The New Orleans Saints traded Robert Massey to the Phoenix Cardinals ^[6]
• August 21: The New Orleans Saints traded wide receiver Brett Perriman to the Detroit Lions ^[6]
• August 27: The Green Bay Packers traded kicker Brad Daluiso to the Atlanta Falcons ^[6]
• August 27: The Los Angeles Raiders traded quarterback Steve Beuerlein to the Dallas Cowboys^[6]
• August 28: The Chargers traded quarterback Billy Joe Tolliver to the Atlanta Falcons^[6]
• September 11: The Seattle Seahawks traded kicker Norm Johnson to the Atlanta Falcons.

Retirements[]

• Four-time Super Bowl champion Mike Webster announced his retirement on March 11, 1991 after a 17-year career with a total of 245 games played at center.^[7]

Draft[]

The 1991 NFL Draft was held from April 21 to 22, 1991 at New York City's Marriott Marquis. With the first pick, the Dallas Cowboys selected defensive tackle Russell Maryland from the University of Miami.

Officiating changes[]

Art McNally resigned as the league's Director of Officiating during the offseason. He had held the position since 1968.^[8] Longtime NFL referee Jerry Seeman, who worked the previous season's Super Bowl XXV, was named as McNally's replacement.^[9]

Jim Tunney retired after 31 years as an NFL official. He remains the only referee to have worked consecutive Super Bowls (XI, and XII).

Gene Barth died on October 11, 1991.^[10] For the remainder of the 1991 season, NFL officials wore a black armband on their left sleeve with the white number 14 to honor him.

Bernie Kukar, Larry Nemmers (the side judge for Super Bowl XXV), and Stan Kemp were promoted to referee to replace Barth, Seeman, and Tunney.

Major rule changes[]

Source: Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League (ISBN 0-06-270174-6). pp 1583–1592.

• The definition of a drop kick, field goal, and punt is modified: all three can only be attempted from behind the line of scrimmage.
• If a foul by a player causes an injury to an opponent, a team time out will not be charged to the penalized team anytime during the game instead of only during the last two minutes of a half/overtime.
• The game clock will not start until the next snap following any change of possession, even if the player went out of bounds.
• Officials will immediately blow the play dead when a defensive player is offsides before the snap and clearly rushes beyond the offensive line in such a way that he becomes an unabated threat to the quarterback.
• A touchback will be ruled when a player fumbles the ball in the field of play and it goes out of bounds in the opponent's end zone.
• A touchback, not a safety, will also be ruled when a player fumbles the ball in his own end zone and the opponent is the one that knocks the fumble out of bounds in the end zone.
• An offensive player cannot deliberately bat a backward pass forward.

1991 deaths[]

• Ollie Spencer
• Jimmy Strausbaugh
• Sid Youngelman

Members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame[]

• Paul Brown: Brown died on August 5, 1991 at home of complications from pneumonia. A longtime coach of the Cleveland Browns and co-founder of the Cincinnati Bengals in 1968, also serving as their first coach, Brown was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967.
• Red Grange: Grange developed Parkinson's disease and died on January 28, 1991, in Lake Wales, Florida. Joining the Chicago Bears in 1925, Grange, a charter member of both the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame, also became the first person other than the game referee to toss the coin at a Super Bowl.

Preseason[]

American Bowl[]

A series of National Football League pre-season exhibition games that were held at sites outside the United States, a total of three games were contested.

Date	Winning Team	Score	Losing Team	Score	Stadium	City
July 28, 1991	Buffalo Bills	17	Philadelphia Eagles	13	Wembley Stadium	London
August 3, 1991	San Francisco 49ers	21	Chicago Bears	7	Olympiastadion	Berlin
August 4, 1991	Miami Dolphins	19	Los Angeles Raiders	17	Tokyo Dome	Tokyo

Regular season[]

Scheduling formula[]

Inter-conference AFC East vs NFC Central AFC Central vs NFC East AFC West vs NFC West

Highlights of the 1991 season included:

• Thanksgiving: Two games were played on Thursday, November 28, featuring Chicago at Detroit and Pittsburgh at Dallas, with Detroit and Dallas winning.

Final standings[]

Tiebreakers[]

• N.Y. Jets finished ahead of Miami in the AFC East based on head-to-head sweep (2–0).
• Chicago was the first NFC Wild Card based on better conference record than Dallas (9–3 to Cowboys’ 8–4).
• Atlanta finished ahead of San Francisco in the NFC West based on head-to-head sweep (2–0), and was the third NFC Wild Card ahead of Philadelphia based on better conference record (7–5 to Eagles’ 6–6).

Playoffs[]

	Dec. 29 – Soldier Field					Jan. 5 – Pontiac Silverdome
	5	Dallas	17
						5	Dallas	6
	4	Chicago	13								Jan. 12 – RFK Stadium
						2	Detroit	38
						NFC
	Dec. 28 – Louisiana Superdome										2	Detroit	10
						Jan. 4 – RFK Stadium
											1	Washington	41
	6	Atlanta	27								NFC Championship
						6	Atlanta	7
	3	New Orleans	20													Jan. 26 – Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
						1	Washington	24
	Wild Card playoffs
						Divisional playoffs
	Dec. 29 – Astrodome															N1	Washington	37
						Jan. 4 – Mile High Stadium
																A1	Buffalo	24
	6	NY Jets	10													Super Bowl XXVI
						3	Houston	24
	3	Houston	17								Jan. 12 – Rich Stadium
						2	Denver	26
						AFC
	Dec. 28 – Arrowhead Stadium										2	Denver	7
						Jan. 5 – Rich Stadium
											1	Buffalo	10
	5	LA Raiders	6								AFC Championship
						4	Kansas City	14
	4	Kansas City	10
						1	Buffalo	37

Records, milestones, and notable statistics[]

Week 8

• October 21: James Lofton became the oldest player to record 200 yards receiving as well as 200 yards from scrimmage in a game (35 years, 108 days), as the Buffalo Bills defeated the Cincinnati Bengals by a 35–16 final.

Awards[]

Most Valuable Player	Thurman Thomas, Running Back, Buffalo
Coach of the Year	Wayne Fontes, Detroit
Offensive Player of the Year	Thurman Thomas, Running Back, Buffalo
Defensive Player of the Year	Pat Swilling, Linebacker, New Orleans
Offensive Rookie of the Year	Leonard Russell, Running Back, New England
Defensive Rookie of the Year	Mike Croel, Linebacker, Denver
NFL Comeback Player of the Year	Jim McMahon, Quarterback, Philadelphia
NFL Man of the Year	Anthony Muñoz, Offensive Tackle, Cincinnati
Super Bowl Most Valuable Player	Mark Rypien, Quarterback, Washington

Coaching changes[]

Offseason[]

• Cleveland Browns: Bill Belichick was named the permanent replacement, after Bud Carson was fired after the first nine games of 1990, and Jim Shofner served as interim for the final seven games.
• New England Patriots: Dick MacPherson replaced the fired Rod Rust.
• New York Giants: Bill Parcells resigned following the team's Super Bowl XXV victory, and was replaced by Ray Handley.
• Philadelphia Eagles: Rich Kotite was hired after the team opted to not renew Buddy Ryan's contract.
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Richard Williamson became the permanent head coach, after serving as interim for the final three games of 1990 following the firing of Ray Perkins.

In-season[]

• Indianapolis Colts: Ron Meyer was fired after five games, and Rick Venturi then served as interim for the final 11 games.

Uniform changes[]

• The NFL shield was added to the yoke of the jerseys and the left thigh of the pants. The NFL shield was also added to the right breast of the officiating uniforms.
• The New England Patriots switched from white face masks to red.
• The Washington Redskins switched from big block numbers to skinner font size numbers.
• The San Francisco 49ers removed white stripes on red socks

External links[]

• Football Outsiders: DVOA 1991

References[]

• NFL Record and Fact Book (ISBN 1-932994-36-X)
• NFL History 1991–2000
• Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League (ISBN 0-06-270174-6)
• 1991 NFL season at Pro Football Reference