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AFC teams: West, Central, East

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NFC teams: West, Central, East

The1997 NFL season was the 78thregular season of theNational Football League (NFL). TheOilers relocated fromHouston, Texas toNashville, Tennessee. The newly renamed Tennessee Oilers played their home games during this season at theLiberty Bowl Memorial Stadium inMemphis, Tennessee while construction of a new stadium in Nashville started. Houston would rejoin the NFL with the expansionTexans in2002.

This would be the only season between1989 and2002 in which a gameended in a tie, and the last season where two occurred in the same season until2016.

Due to Game 7 of the1997 World Series, theChicago Bears–Miami Dolphins game atPro Player Stadium was delayed one day to Monday, October 27.

The season ended withSuper Bowl XXXII whenthe Denver Broncos defeatedthe Green Bay Packers 31–24 atQualcomm Stadium. This broke theNational Football Conference (NFC)'s streak of thirteen consecutive Super Bowl victories, the lastAmerican Football Conference (AFC) win having beenthe Los Angeles Raiders defeatingthe Washington Redskins inSuper Bowl XVIII.

• February 1, 1997: Four-time Super Bowl starting quarterbackJim Kelly announces his retirement from the Buffalo Bills.^[1]

The1997 NFL draft was held from April 19 to 20, 1997, atNew York City'sTheater at Madison Square Garden. With the first pick, theSt. Louis Rams selected offensive tackleOrlando Pace fromOhio State University.

Red Cashion and Howard Roe retired.Bill Carollo andPhil Luckett were promoted to referee.

• When a team fakes a punt and throws the ball downfield, pass interference will not be called on the two outside defenders who are actually trying to block a coverage man from getting downfield and might not even know the ball has been thrown.
• In order to reduce taunting and excessive celebrations, no player may remove his helmet while on the playing field except during timeouts, between quarters, and in the case of an injury. Violating the rule results in a 15-yard penalty.

A series ofNational Football Leaguepre-season exhibition games that were held at sites outside the United States. Three were contested in 1997, including the defendingSuper Bowl XXXI champion Green Bay Packers competing in Toronto.

Date	Winning team	Score	Losing team	Score	Stadium	City
July 27, 1997	Pittsburgh Steelers	30	Chicago Bears	17	Croke Park	Dublin
August 4, 1997	Miami Dolphins	38	Denver Broncos	19	Estadio Guillermo Cañedo	Mexico City
August 16, 1997	Green Bay Packers	35	Buffalo Bills	3	SkyDome	Toronto

ThePro Football Hall of Fame Game, in which theMinnesota Vikings defeated theSeattle Seahawks 28–26, was played on July 26, and held atTom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium inCanton, Ohio, the same city wherethe league was founded. The 1997 Hall of Fame Class included Mike Haynes, Wellington Mara, Don Shula and Mike Webster.

Highlights of the 1997 season included:

• Thanksgiving: Two games were played on Thursday, November 27, featuring theChicago Bears at theDetroit Lions and theTennessee Oilers at theDallas Cowboys, with the Lions and Oilers winning.

• Miami finished ahead of NY Jets in the AFC East based on head-to-head sweep (2–0).
• Pittsburgh finished ahead of Jacksonville in the AFC Central based on better net division points (78 to Jaguars' 23).
• Oakland finished ahead of San Diego in the AFC West based on better division record (2–6 to Chargers' 1–7).
• San Francisco was the top NFC playoff seed based on better conference record than Green Bay (11–1 to Packers' 10–2).
• Detroit finished ahead of Minnesota in the NFC Central based on head-to-head sweep (2–0).
• Carolina finished ahead of Atlanta in the NFC West based on head-to-head sweep (2–0).

• St. Louis Rams –Dick Vermeil; replacedRich Brooks who was fired after the 1996 season.
• New Orleans Saints –Mike Ditka; replaced interim head coachRick Venturi who replaced the resigningJim Mora that same year.
• New York Giants –Jim Fassel; replacedDan Reeves who was fired after the 1996 season.
• Atlanta Falcons –Dan Reeves; replacedJune Jones who was fired after the 1996 season.
• New York Jets –Bill Parcells; replacedRich Kotite who was fired after the 1996 season.
• Detroit Lions –Bobby Ross; replacedWayne Fontes who was fired after the 1996 season.
• San Francisco 49ers –Steve Mariucci; replacedGeorge Seifert who resigned after the 1996 season.
• New England Patriots –Pete Carroll; replacedBill Parcells who accepted the job to coach the Jets.
• Oakland Raiders –Joe Bugel; replacedMike White who was fired after the 1996 season.
• San Diego Chargers –Kevin Gilbride; replaced Bobby Ross who resigned after the 1996 season.

• Jacksonville Jaguars: Jacksonville Municipal Stadium was renamedAlltel Stadium after the communications companyAlltel acquired the naming rights
• San Diego Chargers: Jack Murphy Stadium was renamedQualcomm Stadium after the tech companyQualcomm acquired the naming rights
• Tennessee Oilers: The relocated Oilers moved from Houston'sAstrodome to theLiberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis
• Washington Redskins: The Redskins moved fromRFK Stadium toJack Kent Cooke Stadium in the Maryland suburbs, named in memory of team ownerJack Kent Cooke

• TheAtlanta Falcons added new striping on pants, and switched from black to red numbers on the white jerseys.
• TheBaltimore Ravens switched to a new numbers style with shadows in the back. White pants were worn with their purple jerseys instead of black pants.
• TheCincinnati Bengals started to use a brighter shade of orange on their uniforms. A secondary logo featuring a leaping tiger was added to the jersey sleeves, and another secondary logo with Bengal's head was also introduced.
• TheDenver Broncos introduced new uniforms, changing their primary color from orange to navy blue, and their royal blue helmets to navy blue. The design featured a streak running down the sides of both the jerseys and the pants: orange on the blue jerseys and blue on the white jerseys. The "D" logo with the horse coming out of it was retired in favor of a horse head with blue outlines and an orange mane, which will remain the same until the end of the2023 season.
• TheGreen Bay Packers reduced the number of sleeve stripes from five to three.
• TheJacksonville Jaguars switched from block numbers to a new style font, and added black side panels to the jerseys.
• TheMiami Dolphins introduced new uniforms featuring a darker shade of aqua and new shadows in the numbers. The dolphin in the helmet logo was also darkened and resigned to give it a more serious expression.
• TheNew York Jets discontinued wearing green pants with their white jerseys, and wore white pants for all games regardless of their jersey.
• ThePittsburgh Steelers switched from block to Futura Bold Condensed numbers and names on back on the jerseys, matching the number font on the back of their helmets. A Steelers logo patch was also added to the left side of all jerseys, as an alternative to "fixing" the traditional "missing" logo on the helmet's right side.
• ThePhiladelphia Eagles added the eagles head logo to the white jersey sleeves (they only did it to the green jerseys in 1996)
• TheSan Diego Chargers wore white pants instead of navy blue with their white jerseys.
• TheSan Francisco 49ers removed the gold trim on nameplates to just plain black.
• TheTampa Bay Buccaneers introduced new uniforms, changing their primary color from orange to red, and their white helmets and pants to pewter. Black and orange became trim colors. They also replaced the "Bucco Bruce" helmet logo with a red wind-swept flag featuring a white pirate skull and crossed sabres similar to aJolly Roger.
• The relocatedTennessee Oilers began wearing an alternative logo on the left side of all jerseys that combined their oil rig derrick logo with elements from theflag of Tennessee.

This was the fourth and final season under the NFL's four-year broadcast contracts withABC,Fox,NBC,TNT, and ESPN. ABC, Fox, and NBC continued to televiseMonday Night Football, the NFC package, the AFC package, respectively. Sunday night games aired on TNT during the first half of the season, and ESPN during the second half of the season. This was the last season to date that TNT broadcast NFL games, as well as the last for NBC until2006. When the new television contracts were signed near the end of the season, Fox retained the NFC package,CBS took over the AFC package, and ESPN won the right to televise all of the Sunday night games.

WithMike Ditka becoming the new head coach of the New Orleans Saints,Sam Wyche was named to replace him onThe NFL on NBC pregame show. NBC firedMarv Albert following Week 3 due tosexual assault charges against him;Tom Hammond replaced Albert as the network's #2 play-by-play announcer.

For TNT's final season,Mark May joinedVerne Lundquist andPat Haden in a three-man booth.

• Football Outsiders 1997 DVOA Ratings and Commentary

• "The Official national Football League: 1998 Record and Fact Book." Workman Publishing Co. New York. July 1998.
• 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)
• Steelers Fever – History of NFL Rules (Last accessed October 17, 2005)

• NFL seasons
• 1997 NFL season
• 1997 in American football

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