1994 NFL season

NFL 75th season anniversary logo
Regular season
Duration	September 4 – 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
←1993 NFL seasons 1995 →

Colts

Patriots

Bills

Dolphins

Jets

Bengals

Browns

Oilers

Steelers

Broncos

Chiefs

Raiders

Chargers

Seahawks

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AFC teams: West, Central, East

Cowboys

Giants

Eagles

Cardinals

Redskins

Bears

Lions

Packers

Vikings

Buccaneers

Falcons

Rams

Saints

49ers

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NFC teams: West, Central, East

The1994 NFL season was the 75thregular season of theNational Football League (NFL). 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 specialNFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team, honoring the best NFL players from the first 75 seasons.

The Phoenix Cardinals changed their name toArizona Cardinals in an attempt to widen their appeal to the entire state ofArizona instead of just thePhoenix area. The name was initially resisted by team ownerBill Bidwill.

This marked the last season until2016 that the city of Los Angeles had an NFL team and the last one until2017 that the city had two. Both theRams and theRaiders left the city following the season. The Rams moved east toSt. Louis, Missouri after being in Los Angeles for 49 years, while the Raiders left after twelve seasons to return to their previous home inOakland, California. The Rams eventually returned in 2016 after failing to reach an agreement with St. Louis on a new stadium followed by the Chargers in 2017 due to a stadium proposal being voted down by most voters in San Diego.

The season ended withSuper Bowl XXIX whenSan Francisco defeatedSan Diego 49–26 atJoe Robbie Stadium. This was the first season of the 1990s to not feature theBuffalo Bills in the Super Bowl.

This was also the first time in whichChristmas Day fell on a Sunday during the regular season. The league established the practice to move most of that weekend's games to the Saturday afternoon of Christmas Eve. Every NFL season afterwards with Christmas Day on a Sunday has followed this same scheduling format. Prior to the 1990 introduction of thebye week, Christmas had fallen within the postseason. In years in which Christmas was on a Sunday, that weekend's games would be split between Saturday, December 24 and Monday, December 26.

The NFL'ssalary cap was implemented this season.^[1]

• July 21: San Francisco signed quarterbackBill Musgrave^[2]
• July 21: Indianapolis signed quarterbackDon Majkowski^[2]
• July 22: Washington signed safety Martin Bayless^[2]
• July 22: The New York Giants re-signed sign punterMike Horan^[2]
• July 22: The Los Angeles Rams signed running backJohnny Bailey^[2]
• July 23: Philadelphia signed Defensive EndGreg Townsend^[2]
• July 23 The Los Angeles Raiders signed Tackle Robert Jenkins^[2]
• July 25: Indianapolis signed linebackerScott Radecic^[2]
• July 25: Miami signed guardHouston Hoover.^[2]
• July 25: Green Bay signed guardGuy McIntyre.^[2]
• July 25: Kansas City signed wide receiverSanjay Beach.^[2]
• July 25: Buffalo signed free safetyMike Dumas^[2]
• July 25: San Francisco signed Wide ReceiverEd McCaffrey^[2]
• July 26: Detroit signed Tight EndRodney Holman^[2]
• July 27 Green Bay signed safetyMike Prior^[2]
• July 30: Arizona signed safetyAndre Waters^[2]
• July 30: San Francisco signed running backMarc Logan^[2]
• August 31: Minnesota signed punterMike Saxon.^[3]

• April 14, 1994: Houston traded quarterbackWarren Moon to Minnesota.^[4]
• April 24, 1994: Minnesota traded defensive endChris Doleman as a part of a package involving draft picks to Atlanta.^[5]
• July 12, 1994: Detroit traded safetyWilliam White to Kansas City.^[6]

• January 15: LinebackerLawrence Taylor announced his retirement immediately following theNew York Giants 44-3 loss to theSan Francisco 49ers in an NFC divisional playoff. Taylor was a 10-time Pro-Bowler, 10-time All-Pro (eight first-team, two second-team), two timeSuper Bowl champion (XXI,XXV), 1981Defensive Rookie of the Year, three timeDefensive Player of the Year (1981, 1982, 1986), and 1986NFL MVP. Taylor played for theNew York Giants his entire 13-year career.^[7]

The1994 NFL draft was held from April 24 to 25, 1994. With the first pick, theCincinnati Bengals selected defensive tackleDan Wilkinson fromOhio State.

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

• Thetwo-point conversion after touchdowns is adopted.^[8][9] However, thedefensive two-point conversion would not be adopted until the2015 season; instead a two-point conversion or extra point automatically was blown dead and ruled as "no good" as soon as the defense gained possession of the ball.
• The spot of the kickoff is moved from the 35-yard line to the 30-yard line;^[8] this rule change was reverted prior to the2011 season.
• The "neutral zone infraction" foul is adopted. A play is automatically dead before the snap when a defensive player enters the neutral zone and causes an offensive player to react.
• After a field goal is missed, the defensive team takes possession of the ball at the spot of the kick (instead of at the line of scrimmage) or the 20-yard line, whichever is farther from the goal line.^[8]
• During field goal attempts and extra point tries, players on the receiving team cannot block below the waist.
• The referee shall announce the end of each quarter on his microphone. Prior to 1994, an official (the line judge from 1965 up to 1993) fired astarter's pistol to signal the end of a period.

A series of fourpre-season games that were held at sites outside the United States. On July 31, theLos Angeles Raiders defeatedDenver atEstadi Olímpic inBarcelona. On August 7,Minnesota defeatedKansas City at theTokyo Dome inTokyo. On August 13, theNew York Giants defeatedSan Diego atOlympiastadion inBerlin. On August 15,Houston defeatedDallas atEstadio Azteca inMexico City.

ThePro Football Hall of Fame Game, in whichAtlanta defeatedSan Diego, was played on July 30 atTom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium inCanton, Ohio, the same city wherethe league was founded. The 1994 Hall of Fame Class included Tony Dorsett, Bud Grant,Jimmy Johnson, Leroy Kelly, Jackie Smith and Randy White.

Highlights of the 1994 season included:

• Shula Bowl: On October 2,Don Shula'sMiami Dolphins defeated his sonDavid Shula'sCincinnati Bengals. This marked the first time in NFL history that a head coaching matchup featured father against son.^[10]
• Thanksgiving: Two games were played on Thursday, November 24, featuring Buffalo atDetroit and Green Bay atDallas, with Detroit and Dallas winning.

• Miami finished ahead of New England in the AFC East based on head-to-head sweep (2–0).
• Kansas City finished ahead of L.A. Raiders in the AFC West based on head-to-head sweep (2–0).
• Green Bay was the first NFC Wild Card based on best head-to-head record (3–1) vs. Detroit (2–2) and Chicago (1–3) and better conference record (8–4) than the New York Giants (6–6).
• Detroit was the second NFC Wild Card based on better division record (4–4) than Chicago (3–5) and head-to-head victory over N.Y. Giants (1–0).
• Chicago was the third NFC Wild Card based on better record against common opponents (4–4) than N.Y. Giants (3–5).
• New Orleans finished ahead of Atlanta in the NFC West based on head-to-head sweep (2–0).

• Arizona Cardinals:Buddy Ryan replaced the firedJoe Bugel.
• Atlanta Falcons:June Jones replaced the firedJerry Glanville who became a color commentator for the NFL on Fox prior to the 1994 season.
• Dallas Cowboys:Barry Switzer replacedJimmy Johnson, who resigned in March 1994.
• New York Jets:Pete Carroll replaced the firedBruce Coslet.
• Washington Redskins:Norv Turner replaced the firedRichie Petitbon.

• Houston Oilers:Jack Pardee was fired after 10 games and was replaced byJeff Fisher.

This was the final season of selectedGreen Bay Packers home games in Milwaukee. Recent upgrades toLambeau Field started to make it more lucrative for the team to play full-time in Green Bay, whileMilwaukee County Stadium, built with baseball in mind, was becoming outdated for football.

The home of theIndianapolis Colts, the Hoosier Dome, was renamed theRCA Dome afterRCA acquired the naming rights.

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

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

• Although no attempt was made to simulate obsolete leather helmets (which were phased out in the 1950s), teams simulating uniforms from the era of leather headgear (Bears, Cardinals, Lions, Packers, Redskins, Steelers) simply removed all decals and striping from their regular hard-shell helmets.
• All jerseys displayed the players' last names on the back, though this practice did not become standard until 1970.^[11]
• The Buffalo Bills and New York Jets' otherwise accurate throwbacks used different colored helmets than their historic uniforms used, being red and green, respectively, instead of white. The Dallas Cowboys wore their then-current helmets with their throwbacks. The Cowboys and the Bills would later adopt a more accurate representation of their 1960s throwbacks as their alternative uniform, while the Jets would move to a style similar to their throwbacks but with a darker shade of green and green facemasks full-time in1998 (the Jets introduced a more accurate throwback uniform, with a lighter shade of green and gray face masks, in2024).
• The San Francisco 49ers also used their modern gold helmets with their 1955-inspired throwbacks, as the originals had red helmets. The white uniforms also had all red stripes on the sleeves, instead of the black-red-black pattern of the original. The white throwbacks would return to replace their black Color Rush uniforms in2019, and the red throwback would also be added into their rotation in2021.
• In some instances the fonts and typestyles used were only approximate matches at best. TheSan Diego Chargers andHouston Oilers' throwbacks averted this, being completely accurate replications, including typefaces, of their first uniforms in 1960. The Chargers and the Oilers' successors, theTennessee Titans, wore these throwbacks again for the American Football League's 50th anniversary celebration during the2009 season.
• The Cleveland Browns were the only team to not acquire throwbacks or alter any part of the uniform they had. They passed off their all white uniforms as "1964 throwbacks" to honor the Browns 1964 NFL Championship since with the exception of white facemasks, the 1994 all white uniform were similar in design to the 1964 uniform. Many believeArt Modell did this because of the four NFL Championships (1950, 1954, 1955 and 1964) the 1964 team was the only one thatPaul Brown was not the Head Coach of and having throwbacks honoring any of the other Browns Championship Teams would be acknowledging Brown, something Modell would not do because of their antagonistic relationship dating back to when Modell purchased the team.
• The Indianapolis Colts also made no changes to their jerseys, helmets, or pants, only wearing striped socks instead of solid blue-topped socks for their throwback games.
• On-field officials working these throwback games woreflat caps similar to the ones that NFL officials wore back in the 1920s, but still had on their regular striped shirts instead of the white dress shirts worn during that era.

Some teams occasionally wore their throwbacks in additional games during the season, andthe San Francisco 49ers wore them through the Super Bowl. They proved to be so popular thatthe New York Giants followed the lead of the Jets (who went back to their 1960s logo in 1998) and eventually returned to wearing them full-time, with very slight modifications, in2000. After the NFL modified its rules to allow teams to wearalternate jerseys in 2002,the San Diego Chargers selected their throwbacks as their third uniforms.

Instead of wearing their throwbacks in additional games, theDallas Cowboys celebrated their back-to-back Super Bowl titles by wearing "Double-Star" white alternative jerseys during Thanksgiving and through the playoffs. Similar to their throwbacks, they had blue sleeves and blue stars on each shoulder, but it was the modern star design with white lines and blue borders.

• TheDenver Broncos added trim to the nameplates to match the numbers on both regular jerseys: blue trim on the orange jerseys and orange trim on the white jerseys.
• TheMiami Dolphins adopted a new style of numbers on their jerseys: white numbers with orange trim on their aqua jerseys and aqua numbers with orange trim on their white jerseys.
• TheNew England Patriots switched from red to white numbers on their blue jerseys; gray to red facemasks; and a different red-blue design on the pants stripping.
• TheSeattle Seahawks adopted a thinner font for their jersey numbers.

This was the first season that the then-eight-year oldFox network televised NFL games, taking over the NFC package fromCBS.ABC,NBC,TNT, and ESPN renewed their rights to televiseMonday Night Football, the AFC package, Sunday night games during the first half of the season, and Sunday night games during the second half of the season, respectively. All of these networks signed four-year television contracts through the 1997 season.^[12] The league also signed an exclusivity agreement with the newdirect broadcast satellite (DBS) serviceDirecTV to launchNFL Sunday Ticket, asatellite television subscription service offering every Sunday afternoon regular season NFL game.

Fox hired several members from CBS, including its lead broadcast team ofPat Summerall andJohn Madden; andDick Stockton andMatt Millen to serve as Fox's #2 team. For the newFox NFL Sunday pregame show, Fox hired CBS play-by-play announcerJames Brown to be the host, andTerry Bradshaw as the show's lead analyst in basically the same role he had onThe NFL Today on CBS. The then-recently retired playerHowie Long and head coachJimmy Johnson also joinedFox NFL Sunday.^[13]

NBC firedO. J. Simpson after hewas charged with murder during the off-season. NBC also hiredGreg Gumbel from CBS to become the new host ofNFL Live!, replacingJim Lampley.Ahmad Rashad became the show's new co-host, whileJoe Gibbs joinedMike Ditka as the show's analysts.

• Football Outsiders 1994 DVOA Ratings and Commentary

• NFL Record and Fact Book (ISBN 1-932994-36-X)
• NFL History 1991–2000 (Last accessed October 17, 2005)
• Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League (ISBN 0-06-270174-6)
• NFL 75th Anniversary Throwbacks (Archived 2009-10-21)

• NFL seasons
• 1994 NFL season
• 1994 in American football
• 1994 in American sports

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• Use mdy dates from November 2013