Most boring NFL season?

[Ten Minute Ticker]

"Boring" is definitely a function of age. I don't get into NFL seasons anywhere near like I did when I was younger.

[CSKreager]

1970 ... a season which only stands out as the first post-merger, and the worst Super Bowl of them all ..

1970 may not be the best NFL season ever, but IMO its far from being the worst. The same exact thing, IMO, about Super Bowl V. A game I would still like to see in its entirety - pre-game and commercials included and the halftime show which already is all accessible; just no 4th Q with commercials along with no post-game show (Virginia giving the Colts the Trophy) which, of course, I want to see all that as well!

Football can be ugly sometimes. Hard-hitting game causing all those turnovers. Big D was real close to making it 20-6 at one point, but it turned out a competitive game scoreboard-wise all the way to that last, successful, game-winning/final play FG-attempt. And, aesthetically albeit superficially, Dallas wearing blue contrasting the Colts' white under the Miami sun does it for me (it wouldn't look/'feel' the same the other way around).

Yes, an apparently un-pretty game, which didn't make the Colts players feel any better even in victory - the dark cloud of SBIII along with '64 & '67 forever hanging over their heads, not to mention any of them being named the game's MVP. I guess their take on winning that SBV Ring is the equivalent of Peyton's take if he only ever won a Super Bowl in that final year of his, 2015.

SB V wasn't even the worst Super Bowl played in Miami! That honor goes to XXIX or II

[Ten Minute Ticker]

For me I lost interest in the NFL through the 1997 season. No Houston Oilers, the Tennessee Oilers just felt... off. The Browns changing to the Ravens also killed something. Like something just wasn't right. And I got bored with Aikman vs Young vs Favre, I got bored with Favre especially he was everywhere in 1997 I mean EVERYWHERE. I lost interest but still watched in 1997 and remember watching Barry get 2,000, remember the resurrection of the Bucs with their new unis early in the season. Somehow missed Warren Moon's comeback season(Seahawks games didn't come on here much back then, if ever). But as 1997 played out I started to miss the glory days(for me) of 91-93 from when I was a little kid, I missed those old uniforms from that period and the players and look/feel of the game. But 1998 I lost interest and stopped watching, I missed all of those playoffs and only watched bits and pieces of Super Bowl XXXIII, was just not interested. I'm looking back now and starting to realize I missed a pretty good season in the NFL that year(98), damn you 97.

I can identify with this, but for different reasons.

I agree completely that 1997 was a Rubicon in terms of major transition all at once. Losing the Browns was a major blow, especially given that I had spent breaks from college in NE Ohio at the time.

It was also just weird having the Ravens, Tennessee Oilers and the still new Jaguars, Panthers and St. Louis Rams all in a very short period of time. To me, it didn’t seem very “big league” to essentially trade L.A. (twice), Houston and Cleveland for Memphis/Nashville, Jacksonville, Charlotte and St. Louis, which never struck me as a great football city. Baltimore and Oakland being back seemed right, but so much of it didn’t.

Being a Packer fan, my interest in them and their Super Bowl contention of the time made up for the whiplash change in ‘97, but the ‘99 season was when I felt it. The whole league seemed upside down with new contenders. Nothing seemed very “normal”.

And let’s face it, life situations dictate interest too.

If I boiled adulting situations down to NFL seasons, I got my first full-time job in ‘97, got married in ‘99, had my first kid in ‘02, and got my career-long job that had me working on a lot of Sundays in ‘04. Now some of those Sundays were being at NFL games for work, so my interest was relatively high from ‘02-‘14-ish, but that part of the job ended at that point, and my non-Packer interest has only been passing since.

[Apbaball]

1973 was a good call but I still believe if Calvin Hill wouldnt have gotten hurt in the playoff game against the Rams, Dallas would have beaten the Vikings and faced Miami again in a grudge match.
Weirdly, I think I would have rather seen the Vikings lose a tough game to Dallas, than get blown out by the Dolphins. That SB was weird because it seemed the Dolphins offensive line just took over from the get-go and mentally, the Vikings never left Texas Stadium ...

The Vikings kicked the Cowboys' butts. Outgained them by 150 yards. If Hill plays and gains 100, take Newhouse' 50 away, they still get outgained by 100. Hill wouldn't have been nearly enough.

Bob Lilly was also out. Vikings ran some different things in the first half and Cowboys defense couldn't get off the field. Only 3 drives apiece in the first half, 10-0 Vikings. Staubach didn't do much. Pearson had been a starter for half a season and was doubled in the game, leaving an aging Hayes and a rookie DuPree.

Staubach didn't do much because he suffered a concussion against the Rams the week before. Probably wouldn't have played if current protocols were in place.

[CSKreager]

For me I lost interest in the NFL through the 1997 season. No Houston Oilers, the Tennessee Oilers just felt... off. The Browns changing to the Ravens also killed something. Like something just wasn't right. And I got bored with Aikman vs Young vs Favre, I got bored with Favre especially he was everywhere in 1997 I mean EVERYWHERE. I lost interest but still watched in 1997 and remember watching Barry get 2,000, remember the resurrection of the Bucs with their new unis early in the season. Somehow missed Warren Moon's comeback season(Seahawks games didn't come on here much back then, if ever). But as 1997 played out I started to miss the glory days(for me) of 91-93 from when I was a little kid, I missed those old uniforms from that period and the players and look/feel of the game. But 1998 I lost interest and stopped watching, I missed all of those playoffs and only watched bits and pieces of Super Bowl XXXIII, was just not interested. I'm looking back now and starting to realize I missed a pretty good season in the NFL that year(98), damn you 97.

I can identify with this, but for different reasons.

I agree completely that 1997 was a Rubicon in terms of major transition all at once. Losing the Browns was a major blow, especially given that I had spent breaks from college in NE Ohio at the time.

It was also just weird having the Ravens, Tennessee Oilers and the still new Jaguars, Panthers and St. Louis Rams all in a very short period of time. To me, it didn’t seem very “big league” to essentially trade L.A. (twice), Houston and Cleveland for Memphis/Nashville, Jacksonville, Charlotte and St. Louis, which never struck me as a great football city. Baltimore and Oakland being back seemed right, but so much of it didn’t.

IMO 97 felt like a Rubicon for football in a good way with the AFC finally winning it all. I never bought into the idea that the NFL had a golden era because the NFC never lost on Super Sunday.

Quite frankly, the NFL needed a break from NFC monotony.

[7DnBrnc53]

IMO 97 felt like a Rubicon for football in a good way with the AFC finally winning it all. I never bought into the idea that the NFL had a golden era because the NFC never lost on Super Sunday.

Quite frankly, the NFL needed a break from NFC monotony.

It did. And, to tell you the truth, the NFC teams that won weren't as good as people think from 1984-96. That's why I call it the SB myth era.

[SeahawkFever]

IMO 97 felt like a Rubicon for football in a good way with the AFC finally winning it all. I never bought into the idea that the NFL had a golden era because the NFC never lost on Super Sunday.

Quite frankly, the NFL needed a break from NFC monotony.

It did. And, to tell you the truth, the NFC teams that won weren't as good as people think from 1984-96. That's why I call it the SB myth era.

Out of curiosity, were the NFC teams who won those Super Bowls the best ones that were there each year?

[Brian wolf]

The NFL's best team won it all in 1984, 85, 86, 89, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, and 96. Only 87, 88, and 90 were years the best team didnt win it all. But who was the best in 1988? The Niners easily handled the teams with better records in the postseason. I still felt the 94 Cowboys were better than the Niners but they lost both games to them. They were simply out-coached.