1981 NFL season

1981 National Football League season

The 1981 NFL season was the 62nd regular season of the National Football League. The season ended with Super Bowl XVI when the San Francisco 49ers defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 26–21 at the Pontiac Silverdome in Michigan.

The 1981 NFL Draft was held from April 28 to 29, 1981 at New York City's Sheraton Hotel. With the first pick, the New Orleans Saints selected running back George Rogers from the University of South Carolina.

Cal Lepore, the line judge for Super Bowl III and referee for the Miracle at the Meadowlands, retired prior to the 1980 season. He would later become supervisor of officials in the United States Football League and a replay official in the NFL when it was adopted in 1986. Tom Dooley, who was assigned Super Bowl XV as line judge at the end of the 1981 season, was promoted to referee to replace Lepore.

It is illegal for any player to put adhesive or slippery substances such as the product "Stickum" on his body, equipment or uniform. This rule is known as both the "Lester Hayes Rule" and the "Fred Biletnikoff Rule" since both players were notorious for using sticky substances to make it easier for them to intercept/catch passes. An offensive player who comes into the game wearing an illegal number for the position he takes must report to the referee before the start of the next play. The penalty for an ineligible receiver who touches a forward pass is a loss of down. The penalty for illegal use of hands, arms, or body (including holding) is reduced from 15 yards to 10 yards. The penalty for intentional grounding is modified: loss of down and 10 yards penalty from the previous spot, or if the foul occurs more than 10 yards from the line of scrimmage, loss of down at the spot of the foul. Officials began wearing numbers 21 through 25 within their position groups after going no higher than number 20 in 1979 and 1980.

July 1, 1981: Linebacker Rusty Chambers, the Miami Dolphins leading tackler in 1978 and 1979, died in an automobile accident.

From 1970 to 2001, there were three divisions (Eastern, Central and Western) in each conference. The winners of each division, and a fourth "wild card" team based on the best non division winner, qualified for the playoffs. The tiebreaker rules were changed to start with head to head competition, followed by division records, records against common opponents, and records in conference play.

Baltimore finished ahead of New England in the AFC East based on head to head sweep (2–0). San Diego finished ahead of Denver in the AFC West based on better division record (6–2 to Broncos' 5–3). Buffalo was the second AFC Wild Card based on head to head victory over Denver (1–0). Detroit finished ahead of Green Bay in the NFC Central based on better record against common opponents (4–4 to Packers' 3–5).

Denver Broncos: Dan Reeves replaced the fired Red Miller. Houston Oilers: Bum Phillips was fired and replaced by Ed Biles. New Orleans Saints: Bum Phillips joined the Saints after being fired by the Oilers. Dick Nolan was fired after a 0–12 start in 1980, and Dick Stanfel took over as interim. Washington Redskins: Joe Gibbs replaced Jack Pardee.

The Cincinnati Bengals made significant modifications to their uniforms for the first time since the team's debut in 1968, discontinuing the design similar to the Cleveland Browns' jerseys. Orange and black tiger stripes adorned the shoulder stripes of the jersey and the side striping of the pants. Black tiger stripes were also added to the orange helmets. The Dallas Cowboys darkened the shade of their blue jerseys from royal to navy blue, with the numerals becoming silver. The Cowboys wore this blue jersey through 1994. The Houston Oilers resumed wearing blue pants with their white jerseys after a one season hiatus; in addition, the team also changed their face masks from gray to red. The Los Angeles Rams switched from gray to navy blue face masks.

This was the fourth and final year under the league's broadcast contracts with ABC, CBS, and NBC to televise Monday Night Football, the NFC package, and the AFC package, respectively. The league then negotiated to have all three networks renew their deals for another five years. John Madden became the lead color commentator for CBS, replacing Tom Brookshier who moved into a play by play role. However CBS Sports executives debated on whether Madden should be paired with incumbent lead play by play announcer Pat Summerall or should #2 announcer Vin Scully be promoted to the role. To resolve the situation, both Scully and Summerall were paired with Madden in four week stretches. Scully was paired with Madden during the first four weeks of the season while Summerall was primarily covering the US Open Tennis Championships. Then Summerall called games with Madden while Scully covered the Major League Baseball playoffs for CBS Radio. After the eighth week of the NFL season, CBS Sports executives decided that Summerall had better chemistry with Madden than Scully did. Scully was later assigned as a consolation prize the NFC Championship Game. After the season, he would move to NBC to cover Major League Baseball and golf, but he decided to never call NFL games again.