Favorite season in NFL history?

[JohnH19]

Another tidbit from the '69 season ... two U.S. pre-season games were played in Montreal that year. Both games were played at Jarry Park, home of the Montreal Expos. It marked just the second & third occasion that a pro football game featuring two U.S. teams was played outside the continental United States (the Bears met the N.Y. Giants in Toronto on 8/15/60). While ticket sales for the upcoming Aug. 23 Raiders vs. Packers game at Winnipeg have reportedly been slow, they should have no problem topping the sad attendance numbers given for the two '69 games played in Montreal:

August 25, 1969 (Monday Night) - Detroit Lions vs. Boston Patriots (attendance 8, 212)

September 11, 1969 (Thursday Night) - Pittsburgh Steelers vs. N.Y. Giants (attendance 12, 724)

We may not beat those attendance numbers by much as the ticket prices are astronomical. The top price seats are around $450 and the cheapest are $75. The $75 seats sold quite quickly and they have recently reduced six thousand $164 tickets to $75.

Our stadium seats over 33,000 and I'll be surprised if 20,000 tickets will be sold. My son thinks he can get some free tickets or I won't be going.

[Retro Rider]

We may not beat those attendance numbers by much as the ticket prices are astronomical. The top price seats are around $450 and the cheapest are $75. The $75 seats sold quite quickly and they have recently reduced six thousand $164 tickets to $75.

Our stadium seats over 33,000 and I'll be surprised if 20,000 tickets will be sold. My son thinks he can get some free tickets or I won't be going.

20,000 was the expectation for each of the 1969 pre-season games at Montreal but they wound up with just over 20,000 total for both games. I thought there would be more interest in Winnipeg for the August 23rd match up but ticket prices sound a bit steep. Plus, there is no guarantee that Aaron Rodgers will even play:

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap300000 ... -preseason

For me, it was 1976, and here are some of the storylines that made it memorable for me:

The Build-Up
• The spirited, festive summer that seemed to have competition and celebration in the air with the Bicentennial, the Olympics (with Bruce Jenner and Sugar Ray Leonard), the Carter/Ford campaign, the undefeated Indiana hoops team, the sensational Mark Fidrych, and the classic Celtics/Suns Finals game.
• The importance of pre-season football magazines, then in its heyday with titles like Prolog, Pro Football Illustrated, Street & Smith’s Pro Football, Football Digest, Pro Quarterback, Football Forecast, Petersen’s Pro Football, Pros Football, Pro Football Weekly. They would all come out at about the same time and just light up the magazine rack at the local stationary store. Once you got one in your hands, football season had begun.
• The anticipation of the return from the WFL of Csonka, Kiick, Warfield, Hill with new teams.
• The Steelers gunning for their third straight title with all their key pieces intact.
• The intrigue of the rumored trade of OJ to Los Angeles.
• The free agency signings (a very odd concept at the time) of John Riggins, Jean Fugett, John Gilliam, Ed Marinaro, Ahmad Rashad and others.
• The promise of Hank Stram saving New Orleans with his new rookie Thunder and Lightning backfield of Muncie and Galbreath.
• The Giants shutting out the Steelers 17-0 in pre-season and setting New York alight with optimism.
• The pre-season return of Duane Thomas to the Cowboys.

And FWIW, Tokyo, Japan hosted the first NFL game played outside of North America on this date in 1976. The St. Louis Cardinals defeated the San Diego Chargers before 38,000 "roaring Japanese fans."

https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=s ... 0%2C641158

[BD Sullivan]

1976 also had:

*The odd preseason for the Jets, in which they played two games in three nights after a hurricane delayed the first game two nights.
*The brutal Browns-Steelers game in Cleveland, where Sipe got knocked out the game and Bradshaw was sacked via the piledriver by Turkey Jones. The 18-16 Browns win was the first of eight wins in nine games for them and was the last loss by the Steelers until the conference championship--thanks to an incredible defensive effort.
*The Broncos finishing the season by winning five of their last six--setting the stage for their Orange Crush season the following year.
*The Colts playoff loss that thankfully was a rout, considering it might have resulted in a major tragedy due to a plane crashing in the upper deck.
*Bill Belichick's first year as an actual NFL assistant with the Lions.

[Retro Rider]

1976 also had:

*The brutal Browns-Steelers game in Cleveland, where Sipe got knocked out the game and Bradshaw was sacked via the piledriver by Turkey Jones. The 18-16 Browns win was the first of eight wins in nine games for them and was the last loss by the Steelers until the conference championship--thanks to an incredible defensive effort.

And Cleveland won with the dentist Dave Mays subbing for Brian Sipe at QB. Don Cockroft kicked 3 field goals of 40+ yards for the Browns in that game. I will never forget the film of Bradshaw on the ground flopping like a fish. Dead ball era football at it's best! George Atkinson's deliberate forearm smash to the head of Lynn Swann in week one was another defining moment of the 1976 season:

https://www.nytimes.com/1977/07/23/arch ... -noll.html

[Dusty Sloan]

- 1982 (yes, it was only 9 games, but there was an increased sense of urgency when the strike was over, and the playoff format probably won't ever been seen again).

- 1987 (I am in the minority here - the strike games were...intriguing).

- 1989.

[sheajets]

1976 also had:

*The odd preseason for the Jets, in which they played two games in three nights after a hurricane delayed the first game two nights.
*The brutal Browns-Steelers game in Cleveland, where Sipe got knocked out the game and Bradshaw was sacked via the piledriver by Turkey Jones. The 18-16 Browns win was the first of eight wins in nine games for them and was the last loss by the Steelers until the conference championship--thanks to an incredible defensive effort.
*The Broncos finishing the season by winning five of their last six--setting the stage for their Orange Crush season the following year.
*The Colts playoff loss that thankfully was a rout, considering it might have resulted in a major tragedy due to a plane crashing in the upper deck.
*Bill Belichick's first year as an actual NFL assistant with the Lions.

I believe Jerry Glanville was on that 76 Lions staff too. Maybe Joe Bugel as well?

[BD Sullivan]

1976 also had:

*Bill Belichick's first year as an actual NFL assistant with the Lions.

I believe Jerry Glanville was on that 76 Lions staff too. Maybe Joe Bugel as well?

The power of connections was evidence in Belichick getting hired here: Lions HC Rick Forzano had been both an assistant and HC at Navy, where Belichick's father was a scout/coach. Ironically, Forzano got canned after four games in favor of Tommy Hudspeth.

[Reaser]

We may not beat those attendance numbers by much as the ticket prices are astronomical. The top price seats are around $450 and the cheapest are $75. The $75 seats sold quite quickly and they have recently reduced six thousand $164 tickets to $75.

Our stadium seats over 33,000 and I'll be surprised if 20,000 tickets will be sold. My son thinks he can get some free tickets or I won't be going.

Game went off without a hitch ...

... those who went saw something something unique, at least.