When Did the NFL Go to 16 Games?
Contents
A history of the NFL regular season, including the addition of a 16th game in 1978.
The NFL’s History
The NFL was founded in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association (APFA) with ten teams from four states. When did the NFL go to 16 games? In 1978, the NFL expanded to a 16-game regular season schedule.
Early Days
The National Football League (NFL) was founded in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association (APFA) with ten teams from four states. The league adopted the name National Football League in 1922. The NFL initially consisted of 14 teams. In 1932, the NFL increased the regular season to 16 games.
The Merger
In 1966, the NFL completed its long-awaited merger with the upstart American Football League (AFL). The first AFL-NFL World Championship Game was played in January 1967, pitting the NFL’s Green Bay Packers against the AFL’s Kansas City Chiefs. The Packers won easily, 35-10.
The game would come to be known as the Super Bowl. Today, it is the biggest single-day sporting event in the world.
In 1970, the NFL and AFL officially merged into one league with two conferences – the National Football Conference (NFC) and the American Football Conference (AFC). The NFL went to a 16-game regular season schedule in 1978.
The Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the biggest and most important American football game of the year. It is the annual championship game of the National Football League (NFL). The game is usually played on the first Sunday in February. The Super Bowl Sunday is considered an unofficial national holiday in the United States. It is often referred to simply as “the Super Bowl”.
The first Super Bowl was played on January 15, 1967. The Green Bay Packers, who were the defending NFL champions, beat the Kansas City Chiefs, who were the AFL champions, by a score of 35-10. Packers quarterback Bart Starr was named the game’s Most Valuable Player (MVP).
Since 1967, there have been 50 more Super Bowls. The New England Patriots have won the most championship titles, with six wins (as of 2019).
The NFL’s 16-Game Schedule
The National Football League (NFL) went to a 16-game schedule in 1978, expanding from its previous 14-game schedule. The regular season currently consists of 16 games played by each of the league’s 32 teams, for a total of 256 games. The NFL plays a 17-week schedule, which runs from the week after Labor Day to the week after Christmas.
The 1978 Season
In 1978, the NFL adopted a 16-game schedule for all teams, following a proposal by the New England Patriots. The change was implemented to create additional revenue for the league, as each team would now play two additional regular season games. This also created more parity among teams, as each team would now play every other team in the league at least once every season. The playoff format was also changed, expanding from eight teams to ten teams.
The 1982 Season
The NFL’s 16-game schedule was introduced in the 1982 season. Prior to that, the league had played a 14-game schedule since its inception in 1920. The NFL decided to increase the number of games in an effort to generate more revenue.
The move was not without its detractors, as some players and coaches felt that the extra games would lead to more injuries and wear and tear on players’ bodies. However, the league has continued to use a 16-game schedule, with two bye weeks for each team, ever since.
The 1987 Season
The National Football League (NFL) went to a 16-game regular season schedule in 1987. The NFL had been playing a 14-game schedule since 1978. The additional regular season games were added to accommodate the league’s expansion to 28 teams with the addition of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks in 1976.
The 16-game schedule remained unchanged until 2002, when the NFL expanded again, this time to 32 teams with the addition of the Houston Texans. To accommodate the additional teams, the NFL added two more regular season games, bringing the total to 18. The current 18-game schedule is divided evenly between home and away games.
The NFL Today
The National Football League today is very different than it was when it was first founded in 1920. In fact, it wasn’t until the late 1970s when the NFL finally switched to a 16 game season. Prior to that, the NFL season was 14 games long. So, when did the NFL go to 16 games?
The Current Schedule
The National Football League regular season originally was a 10-game affair from 1920-1932. In 1933, the NFL split into two divisions (Eastern and Western), and each team played 12 games. That remained the format until 1937, when the league expanded to an 11-game regular season with each team playing one extra game against a division foe. The 12th game was added in 1946, meaning each team played six division foes and five other opponents. The league remained at 12 games through the 1977 season.
The Playoffs
The NFL Playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the end of the National Football League’s regular season to determine the NFL champion. Six teams from each of the league’s two conferences qualify for the playoffs based on regular season records, and a seeded bracket system is used to pit teams against each other.
In the current system, used since the 2010 season, division winners are seeded 1–4 based on their won-lost-tied record, and the two wild card teams are seeded 5 and 6. The top two seeds receive byes into the divisional round (the top seed in each conference plays the lowest remaining seed in its conference, while the second seed in each conference plays the next-lowest remaining seed in its conference), while all other teams play opening-round games. In previous playoff formats dating back to 1966, four teams from each conference qualified for the playoffs; this was increased to five teams per conference beginning with the 1978 season.
If two or more clubs are tied in won-lost-tied percentage, ties are broken by strength of victory (the cumulative won-lost-tied record of all teams beaten by each club), then by strength of schedule (the cumulative won-lost-tied record of all opponents played by each club).
The Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the biggest and most important American football game of the year. It is the annual championship game of the National Football League (NFL). The game is played between the winner of the American Football Conference (AFC) and the winner of the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFC team is chosen by winning the NFC Championship Game, while the AFC team is chosen by winning the AFC Championship Game. The Super Bowl is usually played on a Sunday in early February.
