The 1971 NFL season was the 52nd

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the majo ...

. The Boston Patriots changed their name to New England Patriots to widen their appeal to the entire

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

region after moving to their new stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, located between

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

and

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts ...

. The season ended with Super Bowl VI when the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divis ...

defeated the

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team p ...

at Tulane Stadium in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

. The Pro Bowl took place on January 23, 1972, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum; the NFC beat the AFC

Draft

The 1971 NFL Draft was held from January 28 to 29, 1971 at

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

's Belmont Plaza Hotel. With the first pick, the New England Patriots selected quarterback Jim Plunkett from

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...

New officials

Three referees--Walt Fitzgerald, Bob Finley and George Rennix--retired following the 1970 season. Bob Frederic,

Dick Jorgensen Richard M. Jorgensen (April 12, 1934 – October 10, 1990) was an American football official in the National Football League (NFL) for 22 years, through the 1989 season, the last 19 years as a referee. Jorgensen's officiating career was highligh ...

and

Fred Wyant Frederick Mount Wyant Jr. (April 26, 1934 – March 20, 2021) was an American football quarterback who went on to serve as an official in the National Football League (NFL) for 27 years from 1966 through 1992, with 19 of those years (1971–19 ...

were promoted to fill those vacancies.

Rich Eichhorst Richard A. "Ike" Eichhorst (born October 21, 1933) is an American retired professional basketball player from St. Louis, Missouri who played one game with the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the St. Louis Hawks during the 19 ...

, a back judge in 1970, resigned to concentrate on officiating college basketball; he was replaced by Don Orr, who officiated in the league through 1995.

Major rule changes

*Teams will not be charged a time out for an injured player unless the injury occurs inside the last two minutes of a half or overtime (since ). *Missed field goal attempts which cross the goal line can be run back. Previously, only those which fell short of the goal line could be returned; those which broke the plane of the goal line resulted in an automatic

touchback In American football, a touchback is a ruling which is made and signaled by an official when the ball becomes dead on or behind a team's own goal line (i.e., in their end zone) and the opposing team gave the ball the momentum, or impetus, to trav ...

Division races

Starting in 1970, and until 2002, 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, record against common opponents, and records in conference play. More tiebreakers were provided in 1971 because, in 1970, reversing just one game’s outcome would have led to a coin toss between Dallas and Detroit for the NFC wild card berth.

National Football Conference

American Football Conference

Final standings

Tiebreakers

*New England finished ahead of N.Y. Jets in the AFC East based on better point differential in head-to-head games, 13 points.

Playoffs

Awards

Coaching changes

Offseason

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division ...

: John Rauch resigned and was replaced by Harvey Johnson, who previously served as the team's interim head coach in 1968. *

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conferenc ...

: Blanton Collier resigned and was replaced by

Nick Skorich Nicholas Leonard Skorich (June 26, 1921 – October 2, 2004) was an American football player and coach. Skorich played guard at Bellaire High School and the University of Cincinnati before joining the United States Navy in 1943. After the end ...

. *

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. It is the t ...

Phil Bengtson John Phillip Bengtson (July 17, 1913 – December 18, 1994) was an American football player and coach. He was a longtime assistant coach in college football and the National Football League (NFL), chiefly remembered as the successor to Vince Lom ...

was fired and replaced by

Dan Devine Daniel John Devine (December 23, 1924 – May 9, 2002) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach at Arizona State University from 1955 to 1957, the University of Missouri from 1958 to 1970, and the Univer ...

. *

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston from its founding in 1960 to 1996 before relocating to Memphis, and later Nashville, Tennessee becoming the Tennessee Titans. The Oilers began play in 1960 a ...

: Wally Lemm resigned and was replaced by Ed Hughes. * Los Angeles Rams: Tommy Prothro became the Rams' new head coach after George Allen left the team. * New England Patriots:

John Mazur John Edward Mazur (June 17, 1930 – November 1, 2013) was an American gridiron football player and coach. He was played college football as a quarterback at the University of Notre Dame. Mazur served as head coach for the New England Patriots ...

began his first full season as Patriots head coach. He replaced Clive Rush after seven games into the 1970 season due to medical reasons. *

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

: J. D. Roberts began his first full season as Saints head coach. He replaced Tom Fears, who was fired after a 1-5-1 start in 1970. * St. Louis Cardinals:

Bob Hollway Robert Hollway (January 29, 1926 – March 13, 1999) was an American football player and coach. He played college football for the University of Michigan and was a member of Michigan's undefeated 1947 and 1948 teams. He thereafter served as an ...

replaced Charley Winner. * San Diego Chargers:

Sid Gillman Sidney Gillman (October 26, 1911 – January 3, 2003) was an American football player, coach and executive. Gillman's insistence on stretching the football field by throwing deep downfield passes, instead of short passes to running backs or ...

returned to the field after sitting out half of the 1969 season and all of the 1970 season due to poor health. *

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) ...

: George Allen was named as Washington's head coach. Vince Lombardi was diagnosed with terminal cancer in late June before the 1970 season, dying on September 3. Offensive line coach Bill Austin served as Washington's head coach for 1970.

In-season

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquar ...

: Lou Saban left the team after a 2–6–1 start. Offensive line coach Jerry Smith served as interim for the remaining five games. *

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

: Jerry Williams was fired after three games. Ed Khayat was named as replacement. * San Diego Chargers:

again left the field after serving as head coach for 10 games. Harland Svare replaced Gilman.

Stadium changes

* The newly renamed New England Patriots moved from

Harvard Stadium Harvard Stadium is a U-shaped college football stadium in the northeast United States, located in the Allston neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. The stadium is owned and operated by Harvard University and is home to the Harvard Crimson footb ...

to their new home field, Schaefer Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts. * The Chicago Bears moved their home games from Wrigley Field to

Soldier Field Soldier Field is a multi-purpose stadium on the Near South Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Opened in 1924 and reconstructed in 2003, the stadium has served as the home of the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) since ...

. * The

moved their games from Franklin Field to Veterans Stadium. * The

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's Nationa ...

moved from Kezar Stadium into Candlestick Park. * The

moved after their first two regular season home games from the Cotton Bowl to Texas Stadium. * 11 teams played their home games on artificial turf in 1971. This was up from 7 teams in the NFL in 1970. The teams were: Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Houston, Miami, New England, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis and San Francisco.

Uniform changes

* The Atlanta Falcons switched their primary jerseys from black to red * The Chicago Bears adopted a second white jersey with block numbers * The New York Jets wore a modified white jersey in the first half of the season which did not have green stripes over the shoulders * The Oakland Raiders switched from silver to black numbers on their white jerseys * The

added alternate jerseys with no striping or TV numbers for hot games

Television

This was the second year under the league's four-year broadcast contracts with ABC, CBS, and NBC to televise ''

Monday Night Football ''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, ...

'', the NFC package, and the AFC package, respectively.

Frank Gifford Francis Newton Gifford (August 16, 1930 – August 9, 2015) was an American football player, actor, and television sports commentator. After a 12-year playing career as a halfback and flanker for the New York Giants of the National Foo ...

's contract with CBS expired. He was then hired by ABC to serve as play-by-play announcer for ''MNF'', while Keith Jackson returned to call college football for the network.

Jack Whitaker John Francis Whitaker (May 18, 1924 – August 18, 2019) was an American sportscaster who worked for both CBS and ABC. Whitaker was a decorated army veteran of World War II. He fought in the Normandy Campaign and was wounded by an artillery s ...

and

Pat Summerall George Allen "Pat" Summerall (May 10, 1930 – April 16, 2013) was an American football player and television sportscaster who worked for CBS, Fox, and ESPN. In addition to football, he announced major golf and tennis events. Summerall ann ...

replaced Gifford as hosts on '' The NFL Today'', which was still a pre-recorded pregame show. At NBC, Al DeRogatis and Kyle Rote swapped color commentator positions, with DeRogatis joining Curt Gowdy as the network's lead broadcast team and Rote joining Jim Simpson at #2.

References

* ''NFL Record and Fact Book'' ()
NFL History 1971–1980
(Last accessed December 4, 2005) * ''Total Football: The Official Encyclopedia of the National Football League'' () {{NFL seasons

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses ( February 25, July 22 and August 20) and two total lunar eclipses ( February 10, and August 6). The world population increased by 2.1% this year, the highest increase in history. Events J ...