Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

How was Houston the final wild card team over Seattle in 1990 when they each had 9-7 records and Seattle beat Houston head-to-head?

Houston was 8-4 in AFC games and Seattle was 7-5, but wouldn't the head-to-head tiebreaker come first?

Yes, you'd think it would have been down to allowing their heads-up match to decide. Especially with Pittsburgh, also 9-7, out of the way with a 6-6 conference record!

Knox messed up those first 3 games by going with, of all things, the run and shoot! They go 9-4 from there, beat the Bengals convincingly, beat the Oilers, and the double feather-in-cap...sweeping Kansas City (surviving Derrick Thomas's 7 sacks at Arrowhead! again, sacks aren't everything)!

At Chicago in the opener who were not at all the 11-5 team they'd end up actually finishing as in that weak division, then at home against the Raiders who they still barely lost to, and then allowing Broncos at Mile High to beat them in OT to make it 0-3. Had it been 'Ground Chuck' from the start, you'd like to think a couple wins out of that which may have possibly led them to not just a playoff berth, but...a 2nd-seed??

It wasn’t the losses to Miami/Raiders after the 0-3 that sunk Seattle

A come from ahead loss to Minnesota and an inexplicable 17 point blowout at home to Dan Henning’s mediocre Chargers did them in

(CIN/HOU beat SD)

philadelphia97 wrote: ↑Mon Dec 30, 2024 4:12 pm How was Houston the final wild card team over Seattle in 1990 when they each had 9-7 records and Seattle beat Houston head-to-head?

Houston was 8-4 in AFC games and Seattle was 7-5, but wouldn't the head-to-head tiebreaker come first?

Pittsburgh was also 9-7 so it came down to conference record. Houston had 8 wins, Seattle 7 and Pittsburgh 6.

A come from ahead loss to Minnesota and an inexplicable 17 point blowout at home to Dan Henning’s mediocre Chargers did them in.

I don't think the 1990 Chargers were mediocre. They just lacked a QB. That year, they had Billy Joe Tolliver as the starter. He had 2,574 passing yards, 16 TD's, 16 INT's, and a 68.9 rating in 15 games.

7DnBrnc53 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 01, 2025 6:32 am

A come from ahead loss to Minnesota and an inexplicable 17 point blowout at home to Dan Henning’s mediocre Chargers did them in.

I don't think the 1990 Chargers were mediocre. They just lacked a QB. That year, they had Billy Joe Tolliver as the starter. He had 2,574 passing yards, 16 TD's, 16 INT's, and a 68.9 rating in 15 games.

And Anthony Miller still made a Pro Bowl despite said QB trouble

Ten Minute Ticker wrote: ↑Wed Jan 01, 2025 5:01 am

philadelphia97 wrote: ↑Mon Dec 30, 2024 4:12 pm How was Houston the final wild card team over Seattle in 1990 when they each had 9-7 records and Seattle beat Houston head-to-head?

Houston was 8-4 in AFC games and Seattle was 7-5, but wouldn't the head-to-head tiebreaker come first?

Pittsburgh was also 9-7 so it came down to conference record. Houston had 8 wins, Seattle 7 and Pittsburgh 6.

When breaking ties with multiple teams, tie breakers are applied to find who the top team is in the group. In this case Houston. Then tie breakers are reapplied to break ties of teams 2 through X in the group. If there was another wild card team making the playoffs this year, it would have been Seattle over Pittsburgh based on conference record because they didn't play head to head. If Pittsburgh finished 8-8 or less, it would be only a two way tie between HOU and SEA that SEA would win based on head to head.

So basically the Steelers bumped the Seahawks out of a wild card spot by muscling themselves into the tie in the standings between the Oilers and Seahawks.

Common opponents records or points differential also comes to play in that tie-breaker scenario ... thats one reason teams would try to run up certain scores against divisional or conference foes.
Still, head to head should have the final say.

According to what I read, Seattle needed the Steelers to beat the Oilers to make the playoffs, but when the Oilers won, that eliminated Seattle and Pittsburgh, helping the Bengals win the division. Seattle would have been a better game against the Bengals, who whipped the Oilers, 41-14.

When the Oilers beat the Steelers, I believe that they saved Sam Wyche's job for one more year.

Earlier that year, when the Bengals visited Seattle, there was a situation where some players were accused of sexual assault.

And, when Paul Brown had to go back to Seattle for hearings, he got pneumonia in the rain (and that led to his eventual demise).

That was the incident that led to the Bengals' demise in the 90's.

Thanks for the info, 7D ... youre right, this rape case may have sent the Bengals organization downhill. Wyche said he was fired, but others claim that he was disgruntled and embarrased by his players and wanted out ...