1994 NFL season

Infobox NFL
year = 1994


imagesize = 188px
caption = NFL 75th season anniversary logo
NFLchampion = San Francisco 49ers
regular_season = September 4, 1994-December 26, 1994
playoffs_start = December 31, 1994
AFCchampion = San Diego Chargers
NFCchampion = San Francisco 49ers
sb_name = XXIX
sb_date = January 29, 1995
sb_site = Joe Robbie Stadium, Miami, Florida
pb_date = February 5, 1995

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 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.

This was also the first season that the then-fledging FOX Network televised NFL games. FOX took over the National Football Conference package from CBS. 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.

The season ended with Super Bowl XXIX when the San Francisco 49ers defeated the San Diego Chargers.

Major rule changes

A package of changes were adopted to increase offensive production and scoring:
*The two-point conversion after touchdowns is adopted.
*The spot of the kickoff is moved from the 35-yard line to the 30-yard line.
*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 beyond the 20-yard line, the defensive team takes possession of the ball at the spot of the kick instead of the previous line of scrimmage.
*During field goal attempts and extra point tries, players on the receiving team cannot block below the waist.

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:
* While 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 simply removed all decals and striping from their regular hard-shell helmets.
* All jerseys displayed the player's last name on the back side, though this practice did not become standard until 1970 [http://www.packers.com/history/fast_facts/uniform_history/] .
* Many of the uniforms worn were not completely accurate displays of previous team uniforms. For example, the Buffalo Bills throwback contained a red helmet with a white buffalo logo. However, the actual historic uniform displayed a white helmet with a red buffalo logo. In 2005, the Bills began wearing an accurate representation of their 1960s throwbacks as their alternate uniform.
* In most instances the fonts and typestyles used were only approximate matches at best, although the Houston Oilers' throwbacks were completely accurate replications, including typefaces, of their first uniforms in 1960.

Some teams continued to wear theirs throughout the season, including the Detroit Lions and the San Francisco 49ers. They proved to be so popular that the 49ers, the New York Jets, and the New York Giants eventually returned to wearing them full-time, in slightly modified forms, soon afterwards. And 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.

Throwback weekend games

*Arizona: 9/18 (at Cle), 10/30 (Pit)
*Atlanta: 9/18 (Atl), 9/25 (at Wsh)
*Buffalo: 9/18 (at Hou), 9/26 (Den)
*Chicago: 9/18 (Min), 9/25 (at NYJ), 10/31 (GB)
*Cincinnati: 9/18 (NE)
*Cleveland: 9/18 (Arz)
*Dallas: 9/19 (Det)
*Denver: 9/18 (Raiders), 9/26 (at Buf)
*Detroit: 9/19 (at Dal), 10/9 (SF), 11/24 (Buf), 12/17 (Min)
*Green Bay: 9/18 (at Phil), 9/25 (TB), 10/2 (at NE), 10/31 (at Chi)
*Houston Oilers: 9/18 (Buf)
*Indianapolis (Baltimore Colts): 9/18 (at Pit), 10/23 (Wsh)
*Kansas City: 9/18 (at Atl), 9/25 (Rams)
*LA Raiders: 9/18 (at Den), 9/25 (SD)
*LA Rams: 9/18 (SF), 9/25 (at KC)
*Miami: 9/18 (NYJ), 9/25 (at Min)
*Minnesota: 9/18 (at Chi), 9/25 (Mia)
*New England: 9/18 (at Cin), 10/2 (GB), 10/9 (at NYJ)
*New Orleans: 9/18 (at TB), 9/25 (at SF), 10/2 (NYG)
*NY Giants: 9/18 (Wsh), 10/2 (at NO), 11/21 (at Hou), 11/27, 12/4 (at Cle), 12/11 (Cin), 12/18, 12/24 (Dal)
*NY Jets: 9/18 (at Mia), 9/25 (Chi), 10/9 (NE)
*Pittsburgh: 9/18 (Ind), 10/30 (at Arz)
*Philadelphia: 9/18 (GB)
*San Diego: 9/18 (at Sea), 9/25 (at Raiders), 10/9 (KC), 12/5 (Raiders)
*San Francisco: 9/18 (at Rams), 9/25 (NO), then remainder of season starting with 10/9 game (at Det)
*Seattle: 9/18 (SD)
*Tampa Bay: 9/18 (NO), 9/25 (at GB)
*Washington: 9/18 (at NYG), 9/25 (Atl)

Final standings

Final regular season standings

"W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, PCT = Winning Percentage, PF= Points For, PA = Points Against"

"Clinched playoff seeds are marked in parentheses and shaded in green"

Individual

Awards

References

* "NFL Record and Fact Book" (ISBN 1-932994-36-X)
* [http://www.nfl.com/history/chronology/1991-2000 NFL History 1991-2000] (Last accessed October 17, 2005)
* [http://nflhistory.net/linescores/pdf/1994.pdf 1994 season in details]
* "Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League" (ISBN 0-06-270174-6)
* [http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Stadium/3028/ NFL 75th Anniversary Throwbacks]