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1989 NFL season

The 1989 NFL season was the 70th regular season of the National Football League. Before the season, NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle announced his retirement. Paul Tagliabue was eventually chosen to succeed him, taking over on November 5.

Due to damage caused by the Loma Prieta earthquake to Candlestick Park, the New England Patriots at San Francisco 49ers game on October 22 was played at Stanford Stadium in Stanford.

The NFL instituted a new "free agent" system for this season, Plan B, which allowed teams to have the first chance on re-signing 37 of their players. If a team did not make a deal and that player signs elsewhere, the team would receive compensation; it would be used until 1992.

The season ended with Super Bowl XXIV where the 49ers defeated the Denver Broncos 55–10 at the Louisiana Superdome.

Player movement

Transactions

  • March 27: The Kansas City Chiefs sign Defensive Tackle Dan Saleaumua as a free agent.
  • March 28: The Washington Redskins sign Tight End Ken Whisenhunt as a free agent. Whisenhunt would become an NFL head coach, leading the Arizona Cardinals to an appearance in Super Bowl XLIII.
  • March 31: The San Francisco 49ers sign Wide Receiver Mike Sherrard as a free agent.
  • April 13: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers sign Kicker John Carney as a free agent.
  • June 13: The 49ers sign quarterback Steve Bono as a free agent.

Trades

  • May 30, 1989: The Phoenix Cardinals traded David Treadwell to the Denver Broncos.
  • June 5, 1989: The Dallas Cowboys traded Steve DeOssie to the New York Giants.
  • August 7: The Dallas Cowboys trade quarterback Scott Secules to the Miami Dolphins.
  • August 18: The Chicago Bears trade quarterback Jim McMahon to the San Diego Chargers
  • August 30: The San Diego Chargers trade punter Ralf Mojsiejenko to Washington
  • September 4: The New York Jets trade center Guy Bingham to the Atlanta Falcons.
  • September 6: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers trade defensive end Ron Holmes to the Denver Broncos

Draft

The 1989 NFL draft was held from April 23 to 24, 1989, at New York City's Marriott Marquis. With the first pick, the Dallas Cowboys selected quarterback Troy Aikman from the University of California, Los Angeles. Selecting third, the Detroit Lions drafted Barry Sanders, who would retire as the NFL's second all-time leading scorer (since broken).

Referee changes

Fred Silva retired during the 1989 off-season. He joined the NFL in 1968 as a line judge before being promoted to referee in 1969. Games that he officiated include Super Bowl XIV and the Freezer Bowl.

Dale Hamer, the head linesman for Super Bowl XVII and Super Bowl XXII, and Howard Roe were promoted to referee. In addition to replacing Silva, an extra 16th officiating crew was added to help handle the weekly workload of 14 games.

Walt Coleman was hired as a line judge. He was promoted to referee in 1995 and was a crew chief through 2018.

Major rule changes

  • After a foul that occurs inside the last two minutes of the first half and inside the last five minutes of the second half or overtime, the game clock will start at the snap, instead of when the ball is spotted and the referee signals it is ready to be played.
  • New rules were enacted, including loss of timeouts or five-yard penalties, to handle the problem of crowd noise when it becomes too loud for the offensive team to hear its signals.
  • If a receiver and a defender eventually establish joint control of a pass, the ball will be awarded to whoever was the first player to establish control of the ball.
  • While not a rule "change" per se, the "hurry up offense" was recognized as fully legal, and penalties for delay of game would be called against teams whose defenders faked injuries in order to slow down the tempo, unless those teams called for timeouts.

1989 deaths

Preseason

American Bowl

A series of National Football League pre-season exhibition games that were held at sites outside the United States, a pair of games in 1989 were contested in London, England and Tokyo, Japan.

Hall of Fame Game

The Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, in which the Washington Redskins defeated the Buffalo Bills 31–6, was played on August 5, televised nationally by ABC and held at Fawcett Stadium in Canton, Ohio, the same city where the league was founded. The 1989 Hall of Fame Class included Mel Blount and Terry Bradshaw, teammates on four Super Bowl championship teams with the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1970s, Art Shell, a member of the Oakland Raiders Super Bowl XI and Super Bowl XV teams, plus Willie Wood, who captured five NFL championships, including Super Bowl I and Super Bowl II with the Green Bay Packers.

Regular season

Scheduling formula

Highlights of the 1989 season included:

Final standings

Tiebreakers

  • Indianapolis finished ahead of Miami in the AFC East based on better conference record (7–5 vs. Dolphins' 6–8).
  • Houston finished ahead of Pittsburgh in the AFC Central based on head-to-head sweep (2–0).
  • Philadelphia was first NFC Wild Card ahead of L.A. Rams based on better record against common opponents (7–3 to Rams' 5–4).
  • Minnesota finished ahead of Green Bay in the NFC Central based on better division record (6–2 vs. Packers' 5–3).

Playoffs

Statistical leaders

Team

Awards

Coaching changes

Offseason

In-season

Uniform changes

  • The Dallas Cowboys removed the elliptical blue circles with the player's number from the hip area of the pants.
  • The Green Bay Packers removed the "G" helmet monogram from the striping of the jersey sleeves.
  • The Kansas City Chiefs began wearing their white pants with their white jerseys, discontinuing their red pants. It was the first time the Chiefs wore white pants with their white jerseys since 1967. The red pants returned in 2000.
  • The Miami Dolphins introduced aqua pants to be worn with their white jerseys. They were not worn again in 1989 after a 39–7 loss at Houston in week four, but returned full-time in 1990.
  • The Phoenix Cardinals added the flag of Arizona, being superimposed on the sleeve stripes of their white jerseys.

Television

This was the third and final year under the league's broadcast contracts with ABC, CBS, NBC, and ESPN to televise Monday Night Football, the NFC package, the AFC package, and Sunday Night Football, respectively. O. J. Simpson was named as the sole studio analyst for NBC's NFL Live!, joining host Bob Costas. NBC also hired the then-recently retired head coach Bill Walsh to join Dick Enberg on the network's lead broadcast team, replacing Merlin Olsen as the network's lead color commentator; Olsen left for CBS after this season.

References

  • NFL Record and Fact Book ()
  • NFL History 1981–1990 (Last accessed December 4, 2005)
  • Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League ()