Between 1987 and 1996, the defending SB champ always started on the road all but 1 instance. It's a far cry from the SB Champs getting Opening Night all to themselves.
I never understood it- I mean, the Cowboys won 3 titles in 4 years and not once did they get to open up at home (Ironically, the 1992 team hosted defending SB champ Washington)
Why did they do it? Beginning with the 1997 Packers, other than the Bucs and 2nd Ravens title, it's gone back to the way it should be.
Also, looking back, if you could redo those schedules, who would have been a good opponent for those champs to start against?
1987 Giants- Just give them Dallas/Washington at home. Why send them to Chicago/
1988 Redskins- Browns
1989 49ers- Remember how their Saints games flip-flopped sites because of the earthquake? I'd have put the Candlestick game in week 1 on MNF and saved the Superdome game for November.
1990 49ers- Giants game would have been too big to start out of the gate, so.... maybe Redskins or Browns?
1991 Giants- Oddly enough, this was the one time in this stretch the champ started home.
1992 Redskins- Put the Denver game at RFK in week 1
1993 Cowboys- Move the Eagles game from December to here
1994 Cowboys- the Lions game that was in week 3- just put it here
1995 49ers- The Vikings game from December
1996 Cowboys- GB game would have been a bit too big, but.... IDK
2003 Bucs- Have them host the Giants or Cowboys. You could have just sent the Jets to Philly instead of Washington and had the Linc open up on Thursday
Oh, and I'll also throw in the 1985 49ers (Seattle) and 1984 Raiders (Chargers).
Not gonna bring up last year's Ravens. That was a different beast.
SB Champs opening on the road
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BD Sullivan
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Re: SB Champs opening on the road
The '88 Browns-Redskins game would have gotten much more hype than when they ended up playing in late November. Before the start of that game, both had pretty ho-hum records: Cleveland at 7-5 was two games out of first place; Washington was 6-6, in fourth place one game behind THREE teams at 7-5: NYG, Philly and "new" Phoenix Cardinals.
Maybe if they had played, Bernie Kosar wouldn't have hurst his elbow, like he did against KC. With regard to the Skins, I think the precedent had been set the year before: the defending Super Bowl champ played a road game on Monday night against the previous year's champ. In '87, it was Giants at Cards.
Maybe if they had played, Bernie Kosar wouldn't have hurst his elbow, like he did against KC. With regard to the Skins, I think the precedent had been set the year before: the defending Super Bowl champ played a road game on Monday night against the previous year's champ. In '87, it was Giants at Cards.