Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

I agree, and I might expand that period to five years by including 1979. The year before we had what at the time was the best Super Bowl ever played, between the two best teams of the decade. By comparison, 1979 was sort of blah, and the next few years after seemed to lack compelling characters and ...

Mark Lee was an undersized bump-and-run throwback who didn't mind getting in receivers' grills and mixing things up. The official reason for his ejection in the '85 Bears game was pushing Walter Payton over the bench, but replays showed that Payton actually dragged Lee over the bench by the facemask.

Well, this is the unpopular opinion thread. So kudos for being in the proper spirit of things. That’s a whopper. Fans are a peculiar lot. I can't imagine the joy of my team winning a championship being outweighed by anger that they weren't given enough respect beforehand -- and then stewing in that...

If it’s significant that this year ends with a 5, the two conference champions will be on the Packers’ schedule: In 1975, Green Bay played both Pittsburgh and Dallas. In 1985 they played both Chicago and New England. In 1995, Dallas and Pittsburgh. In 2005, Seattle and Pittsburgh. In 2015, Denver an...

Derreck Robinson, who played defensive end for the Chargers, Dolphins, and Browns, died Aug. 13 at age 43.

It's also been 75 years since Jim Hardy threw eight interceptions in a game. It's almost impossible to imagine that happening again.

If you omit the four touchdowns the 1969 Vikings gave up via turnovers or special teams returns, their points surrendered per game falls to 7.5.

The Packers mathematically had a shot after week 11, but their locker room was so divided that it was never going to happen. The dissension came home to roost the following Sunday when they turned the ball over six times and were beaten 36-14 by an Eagles team that had lost six in a row.

For what it's worth, per Pro Football Reference, the 1973 Dolphins' strength-of-schedule rating was -0.47, with 0.0 being average (the lower the number, the easier the schedule). The 1972 team's was -4.27, by far the easiest in the NFL.

Haven't a number of players who were on both teams said that the '73 squad was better than the 17-0 group? Maybe that's anecdotal, but the '73 team had a notably tougher schedule and dominated its post-season opponents in a way the '72 team didn't.