The STRANGEST PLAYOFF SCENARIO in NFL HISTORY | 1982 Steelers

After the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the New England Patriots during week 8 (week 16) of the strike-shortened 1982 NFL season, the Steelers players and fans celebrated, as they thought they had clinched a playoff spot thanks to reporters, and thanks to league and team press releases. There was just one small problem. That was a complete lie, and the Steelers hadn't actually clinched a spot yet, as there was still a scenario where they could've missed. This is the story of how this oversight happened, as well as what has to be the strangest playoff situation in the history of the NFL
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#nfl #steelers #nflplayoffs #playoffs #nflthrowback #pittsburghsteelers #football #sports #highlights
Members of the 1982 Steelers:
Terry Bradshaw
Cliff Stoudt
Jeff Quinn
Walter Abercrombie
Russell Davis
Franco Harris
Greg Hawthorne
Rich Moser
Frank Pollard
Jim Smith
John Stallworth
Lynn Swann
Calvin Sweeney
Willie Sydnor
Bennie Cunningham
John Rodgers
Emil Boures
Larry Brown
Steve Courson
Rick Donnalley
Tunch Ilkin
Tyone McGriff
Ted Petersen
Ray Pinney
Mike Webster
Craig Wolfley
Tom Beasley
Gary Dunn
John Goodman
Bob Kohrs
Edmund Nelson
Keith Willis
Craig Bingham
Robin Cole
Jack Ham
Bryan Hinkle
Jack Lambert
David Little
Mike Merriweather
Guy Ruff
Loren Toews
Fred Bohannon
Mel Blount
Ron Johnson
Donnie Shell
Anthony Washington
Sam Washington
Dwayne Woodruff
Rick Woods
Mike Webster
Gary Anderson
John Goodson
Craig Colquitt
Ken Dallafior
Ernest French
Mark Malone
John Mayer
Sal Sunseri
Sidney Thornton
Frank Wilson
Chuck Noll (coach)
Art Rooney (owner)

[@rustyshackleford1114]

Something similar happened in Arena Football back in 1999 when both the Buffalo Destroyers and Orlando Predators were told that they were both still alive for the final playoff spot in the league. Then, before the Destroyers last game of the year, the league informed Buffalo just before the game that they were eliminated and that the spot went to Orlando. Buffalo was deflated, lost their last game, and Orlando made it all the way to the Arenabowl, where they lost to the Albany Firebirds, whose best player was "Touchdown" Eddie Brown - Antonio Brown's dad.

[@jetfan925]

The Destroyers only got 1 win from that season.

[@theknightswhosay]

🤔

[@KnightBoat]

You mentioned no Chiefs-Seahawks matchup. But Packers-Bears wasn't played either. Thus ending what had been the longest continuous annual rivalry in NFL history. Now that title belongs to Packers-Lions, who did meet in 1982.

[@DolFan316]

Fun fact: going into the finale VS the Colts, the Dolphins had just 5 TD passes all season. They had 3 in that game.

[@johnreese3797]

The Dolphins passing game ranked dead last in the league that year. However, the defense was first and their running game was third.

[@patsfball3710]

And Tom Brady threw 5 in 2nd quarter against titans and 6 in game once

[@johnreese3797]

@@patsfball3710 Tom Brady could not have lasted in that era. The league did not protect and coddle quarterbacks back then.

[@patsfball3710]

@@johnreese3797 been watching football all my life. Hardest hit ive ever seen was Brady hit at buffalo look it up. Helment shot off brady popped right up. Brady probably one of the toughest players in nfl

[@johnreese3797]

@@patsfball3710 Go watch Leonard Marshall's hit on Montana. Nearly ended his career. If that happened today Marshall would have been fined, suspended and probably banned from the league. Back then football was played by men. Marshall wasn't even flagged. The refs actually tell players "lay off Tom". Or" be careful with Brady". You're not allowed to touch the QB or really play defense at all anymore. It's really unwatchable. I don't know how old you are but today's game is trash.

[@CTubeMan]

“The Steelers both made and missed the playoffs at the exact same time.” Was this Schrodinger’s playoff scenario? Washington won the Super Bowl at the end of the 1982 season. Ten years later they would be involved in a playoff scenario in which they could win and miss the playoffs, or lose and make the playoffs (which Cleveland also faced in 2007). This unofficial Official Jaguar Gator 9 historian will remind everyone you made a video about that scenario.

[@MH_0015]

This would make a lot of sense, but that's not true at all since this scenario SHOULD HAVE ALREADY BEEN KNOWN by the NFL. No Schrodinger's Cat actually happened here. Just the NFL being dumb.

[@CTubeMan]

@@MH_0015 Watch at 16:35.

[@EvanEscher]

How was Cleveland clinch with a loss in 2007?

[@CTubeMan]

@@EvanEscher If Tennessee lost as well.

[@EvanEscher]

@@CTubeMan ah I see. Because the Browns were playing an NFC team on week 17, if they lost, their AFC record would remain unchanged at 7-5, and if the Titans had lost to the Colts, their AFC record would have been 6-6, which means the Browns would have won on that tiebreaker. So you're basically saying that it didn't matter if the Browns had won or lost to the 49ers on week 17, they just needed a resting Colts team to lose to the Titans. I don't think this scenario could happen today because everyone plays divisional opponents on the last week of the season

[@ronaldwayne7092]

There was a time when the reverse happened: a team was declared eliminated when they weren't. IIRC, the NFL said the Broncos were out, but a scenario existed where they could have made it if another team tied TWICE. This would have been in the late 90s or early 2000s, I think. The NFL seems worse at this than if you spiked the ball into the card in the upper-right corner on every play.

[@82dorrin]

The 1999 Denver Broncos. They could still have made the playoffs after losing to Kansas City, but it would have required two Baltimore ties. It all became moot when they lost to Jacksonville the next week.

[@rustyshackleford1114]

Speaking of the Broncos, I would love JGto do a video on their 1985 team that finished 11-5 - and STILL didn't make the playoffs.

[@DolFan316]

@@rustyshackleford1114 They lost to the 12-4 Raiders in OT twice and to the 12-4 Dolphins at home...who were just 4-4 on the road that season. Simple as that.

[@xopgoat10]

“Which is still somehow more yards than the giants put up on Sunday against the bears” *you really could have gone through the vid without saying that*

[@tygrkhat4087]

The Bills swept the Dolphins in 1966, the first year of their existence. The Bills then proceded to go 0-15-1 for the next 16 seasons in Miami. The streak would be broken in 1983 with a 38-35 overtime Bills victory.

[@havelthedeadinside1799]

JESUS 16 YEARS?

[@tygrkhat4087]

@@havelthedeadinside1799 The Bills were 4-12 against the Dolphins in the same time span.

[@FusionCyborg]

@@tygrkhat4087 Correction: The Buffalo Bills were 5-28-1 (~0.152*) against Miami from 1967 (1st meeting.) to 1983 (2nd meeting.), which included a 20 lose streak to Miami from 1970 (1st meeting.) to 1979 (2nd meeting.). *Tie excluded from calculation because ties were not included in the calculation when the tie was achieved in 1968 (Ties wouldn't begin to be calculated as half-win half-loss until 1972.).

[@tygrkhat4087]

@@FusionCyborg True, but I was calculating between wins in the Orange Bowl. Yes, the Bills won in Miami in 1983; but the Dolphins won the rematch in Buffalo.

[@johnreese3797]

@@FusionCyborg They didn't beat the Dolphins again in Miami until 1983.

[@marcdaley]

Why do I have a feeling the league office was drawing straws to see who would play the role of Steve Harvey in this scenario?

[@matthewconnors1011]

The Steelers, already with Franco Harris on the roster, drafted three RBs, amazingly all out of Baylor, in four drafts. Greg Hawthorne 1st rd 1979; Frank Pollard 11th rd 1980; Walter Abercrombie 1st rd 1982. Pollard ironically had the best career as a tailback, leading the 1980s Steelers in rushing. Hawthorne lined up all over at RB, WR and even TE, his career marred by injuries. Abercrombie, drafted in the unenviable position as Franco's heir apparent, had great hands and was a terrific receiver out of the backfield and fans even pleaded with Chuck Noll to turn him into a WR. I don't know how to verify it, but I'd love to know how often an NFL team has drafted three of the same skill position players from the same school in a four-draft interval.

[@DolFan316]

This comment deserves way more likes besides mine 👏👏👏

[@quantumfootball]

The Dolphins drafted Ohio State WRs Ted Ginn Jr., Brian Robiskie, and Brian Hartline in consecutive years.

[@rustykuntz94]

I was a little too young for this but I do remember the Steelers crazy 1989 scenario in the last 3 weeks (even in the final week) to get into the playoffs and needing so many things to play out right & of course win their last 3 games and it all happened. That was the year they started 0-2 losing by something like a combined score of 96-10 in the 2 losses.

[@bkjbearcat78]

Another interesting fact about the 82 NFL strike. It was also one of the main factors that created the USFL. The owners thought spring football was then a new concept that would work. And people were mad at the NFL because of this strike.

[@epholson97]

What a great & extremely informative video, yet again! Much appreciated!

[@ShakeItLittleTina]

16:02 Well we came really fucking close with the Chargers/Raiders almost tying. It’s not exactly the same but it’s as close as I think we could’ve gotten

[@nasetvideos]

I remember when all of this happened. You captured this perfectly! Great video.

[@teen_laqueefa]

I enjoy your comments on many of these

[@McConkey_Productions]

I always see you this guy is dedicated

[@jaimetrevino6163]

🏈🏈🏈 Yup

[@EliteCustomGamer]

This isn't really related, but one time I played a full franchise season in NHL 17, the game told me three games before my season that I clinched a playoff spot. I proceeded to lose the last three games and then combined with a bunch of other scenarios, I missed the playoffs. I was so pissed for the game lying and losing out to miss the final wild card by a single point. On the other hand it'd be absolutely nuts if the Steelers missed.

[@BD-1-And-Only]

Me to my girlfriend: In order to understand why I cheated on you, you need some context…

[@deansch6089]

Why/how did this happen? Simple. Computers. They were still a bit of a novelty. Excel didn't exist. The League probably had a couple nerds in the office calculating it by hand and they were only human.

[@joeylawn36111]

and there was no "lying" involved....

[@bwburke94]

Counting MNF, there were only 8 AFC games left (no non-conference games were in the makeup week), but that's still 6,561 possibilities including ties.

[@alice_evermore]

The 1982 was crazy with the strike and all its effects, but also special for the Raiders, because it was our first year in LA with rookie Marcus Allen. - Great memories!

[@2themoon863]

Come to think of it Marcus Allen never played in Oakland-but how many players played their college and NFL careers in the same stadium?

[@alice_evermore]

@@2themoon863 Good Question. Off the top of my head, I can think of Don Meredith playing for SMU and Dallas in the Cotton Bowl...

[@geoffreyhooker9005]

@@2themoon863 Allen did play in Oakland when the Kansas City Chiefs visited in 1995-96-97.

[@leogetz3570]

Besides the regionally televised playoff games in 82, the conference championship games were played on separate days. Very weird year indeed

[@EpicTyphlosionTV]

I can hear young Urinatingtree screaming in the distance

[@kyle1910]

The conference record scenario you mentioned was the 4th tiebreaker in the ad hoc 1982 rules. That season the order was: 1. head-to-head (must be sweep if 3 or more teams) 2. conference record (if each tied team played an equal number of conference games 3. common opponents (each tied team has to play a minimum of 3 games against the same opponents for this to apply) 4. conference record (regardless of number of conference games played) 5. net points against all opponents 6. net TDs against all opponents 7. strength of schedule 8. coin toss

[@kyle1910]

Also the league thst year slotted more than one team info their respective playoff seeds with the same tiebreaker step, unlike what they normally do. That is evidenced by the fact that MIN, ATL, STL and TB were seeded 4-7 in that order based on all of them having distinct conference records. But had they just slotted MIN and put the remaining teams in separate tiebreakers to fill seeds 5-7, then ATL still would have been five but TB would have been 6 with better common opponents record than STL

[@jmb01550]

The only situtation that happened was for the final week was NE beating Buffalo to send the Pats to their 1st Playoff trip since 1978.

[@fatfingergaming5246]

As a Bills fan, the minute you said "Buffalo needed to win against Miami in the Orange Bowl on Monday night", I knew the Steelers didn't wait too long to celebrate. 🤣

[@DolFan316]

I guarantee you more than a few Steelers fans had to change their pants after the Bills went up 10-0 though 🤣

[@2themoon863]

How about a video about the time when an inter conference final night Monday Night Football game happened-which was a de facto elimination game for BOTH Cincinnati and Minnesota (loser is out) and something like ten teams in both conferences were in, out, or swapped seeding depending on the result of an inter-conference game!

[@big8dog887]

This is slightly off-topic, but since you opened a video about playoff scenarios with this years Eagles, it should be mentioned that the new "Super Wild-Card" format has taken the teeth out of what would have been a very exciting regular season finale. The Dallas Cowboys play at Philadelphia on prime-time on Saturday night, the Cowboys are 11-5, the Eagles are 9-7. Dallas could finish as high as the #2 seed, and under the old playoff format, that would have meant a first round bye. Now there isn't that much difference between #2 and #4 (which is the Dallas loss scenario). Meanwhile, under the old format, only 6 teams made the playoffs, and the Eagles sit at #7, which would make the Dallas game a must-win. As it stands now, though, the Eagles have clinched, and, though they might move up in seeding, they're still a wildcard playing on the road the following week, no matter what. So the Dallas-Philly game should have a playoff atmosphere, but instead, is close to meaningless.

[@DolFan316]

At least the Eagles made the playoffs. My team could sweep the Patriots for the first time in 21 seasons after having their longest win streak in 15 years, and it'll mean nothing.

[@Dawellgamer]

Keep on making these vids I love to watch

[@TheY2AProblem]

And another wacky scenario involving the Steelers playoff chances never happened again.

[@thepolarphantasm2319]

Dude getting stiffarmed on astroturf in the 80s looked like an electric football character

[@deanhagerman6843]

What a cluster, thank god they eventually made they playoffs

[@MichaelSIngle-gn9qz]

Did anyone else have a meltdown when he said 1982 was 40 years ago? I sure did.

[@CTubeMan]

Not our guy Scott Conner!

[@marcus813]

I was only a baby when this went down, so I didn't know about this clusterfark. Thank goodness this kind of hot mess wouldn't happen today!

[@CC-rb1yf]

Hopefully someone makes a video about the 1989 Steelers who made playoffs after several teams lost final game. Thats a crazy clinching scenario

[@DolFan316]

Christmas '82 was one of my best ever. I was 9, I got to visit my DolFan grandparents in south Florida, I got that AT-AT, Castle Grayskull AND a record of The Hobbit (the Ralph Bakski movie version) and then 2 days later my team won what was a HUGE game at the time over the Bills 😁 I didn't get to say up to watch though. Either that or I was too nervous.

[@lawnshark025]

When I hear you speak on this video, you either have a setting on your mic where it only records if the sound hits a certain threshold, or you're chopping out all of the empty space where there's no dialogue in post while editing. Whatever it is, the effect it has is super obvious and a bit jarring. Just letting the audio go the whole time would sound a lot more natural even if there's background noise.

[@deansch6089]

It was called week 17 because the season was pushed back a week in order to play 9 games instead of 8.

[@markbrian7179]

The Super Bowl Tournament of 1982 put everyone out of whack.

[@jeremycrandall2899]

Jim Mora musta been in charge of figuring out playoff scenarios for the league office that year.😊

[@VanillaLimeCoke]

A few years ago, this site listed scenarios on how this team needed certain things to happen in order for them to make the playoffs. It listed a scenario from a game in the opposite conference. 😳

[@njdxnjdx]

Yes that can happen if the tiebreakers go to strength of schedule.

[@pgraynyc]

@@njdxnjdx or strength of victory

[@thelawofsteve]

This almost happened at the end of the 2013 season. The Steelers needed an entire series of ridiculous things to happen in order to sneak into the playoffs and it fell apart at the end of the Sunday Night game. For context, the Steelers needed a win AND needed losses by the Ravens, Dolphins, and then San Diego Chargers. The Chargers played the Chiefs and the Chiefs were poised to win the game. They had (K) Ryan Succop in range and the entire city of Pittsburgh started celebrating too early. The kick didn't go in. Officials missed an illegal formation penalty that would have given the Chiefs another kick but nobody really cared except for Pittsburgh. A decade later and I'm still not sure Succop is welcome in Pittsburgh. There was even a lawsuit filed against the NFL by residents of Pittsburgh who were upset at their officiating. Obviously the lawsuit went nowhere. The last day of the 2013 season was an emotional roller coaster.

[@davesimms8825]

I don’t mean to be too picky but being wrong is not lying. Lying has to be on purpose.

[@zacktobin8026]

You should do a video on the weird ending between the patriots and dolphins in 2000. The game was declared over for 30 minutes before they were brought back for one final Hail Mary

[@MichaelClark-uw7ex]

What I find impossible was that none of the fans, press nor the team itself ever bothered to look at the stats and figure out where they stood?

[@ECG3485]

This vid should go under the series "Dumb Decisions Made By the NFL" 😆

[@DolFan316]

That '82 Fins-Bills game is on YT BTW.

[@michaeloptv]

So they weren’t in because of a scheduling conflict 😑😧 The NFL is truly bizzare and I hope nothing like this ever happens again!!

[@dentonyoung4314]

This year's Steelers are involved in a pretty interesting playoff race themselves. They can be eliminated (among other ways) if the LV-LA game ends in a tie. But the NFL hasn't effed up and announced anything incorrect about the playoff race.

[@2themoon863]

I’m still trying to understand how Miami at 8-8 has been eliminated yet Baltimore at 8-8 is still alive in the playoff race? And if I understand this right, if the Colts lose, Ravens win, Chargers-Raiders winner wins and Miami wins, all four are at 9-8…yet only Miami is already eliminated???

[@Nathannorris744]

@@2themoon863 Tiebreak.

[@Jason_Maier]

@Official JaguarGator9 Soon as I saw this, I clicked. You know, the 1982 NFL Strike season just keeps on giving. How about the 0-8-1 Baltimore Colts; the absolute lowlight of the season being they were shutout in back to back weeks (which is very rare in NFL history). And the first round of the playoffs regionally televised for the first and only time ever; although if the NFL goes to 16 playoff teams it could happen again. And the conference championship games on separate days because CBS had prior broadcasting commitments.

[@jasonglasser1621]

I feel like if league officials have told a team they're in, they should be obligated to honor it even if the complex tiebreaker scenario would otherwise eliminate said team

[@spencerhiginbotham7538]

At least the league told them before their final game. When I opened this video, I was thinking they might have rested their starters in the last game and then found out that they missed the playoffs because they lost. Now that would be a contraversy.

[@okolo22000]

You plugged 4 of your previous videos in this one alone (and did your famous catch phrase as well.)

[@TeddyBelcher4kultrawide]

He played the kindergarten music and he never played a down a football in his life

[@williambryant6175]

It’s Schroedinger’s playoff spot! Lol

[@ricknibert6417]

The Falcons unofficially won the NFC West but played on the road in the first round after Minnesota stunned Dallas the final Monday.

[@TheReviewingNetwork]

I mean, they're kind of dicking the Steelers around this year with a similar scenario because they're not only asking the Steelers to win against the Ravens and the Jaguars to beat the Colts...but they also need the last game of the season, Chargers-Raiders, to NOT go to a tie in the end...in a situation where both teams could just take a knee every play for 4 quarters and they would be both in and screw the Steelers out of a playoff spot. An idea that has been gaining more traction as something they should do if the slimmest chances of that happen and I hate to see that gaining more traction as something that should be done.

[@jesseleblanc1199]

That tie scenario only comes into play because the Steelers couldn't figure out how to beat the lions ....so out Steelers had more to do with the strange tiebreaker than the league does....now here's to hoping Ben gets a playoff game

[@nowionlywantatriumph]

I think the “Chargers @ Raiders can’t end in a tie” for the 2021 Steelers could be hilarious if everything *does* come to pass, and that San Diego and Oakland just play for a tie Sunday night.

[@benjaminbrown1620]

It would be the inverse of the 2018 Titans Colts finale. Where the steelers would have got in if those teams tie

[@toddbiesel4288]

San Diego? Oakland?

[@Dalton1294]

If JAX somehow upsets the Colts and the Chargers and Raiders tie, both LAC and LV would be in and Indy would be out

[@alexg9601]

@@toddbiesel4288 Most of us grew up watching them as the SD Chargers and the OAK Raiders, it's not uncommon for people to still call them their old names

[@toddbiesel4288]

@@alexg9601 I guess that's easy for many people to do if they knew them as that for many years.

[@stevenbauer4799]

Do a video on how crazy the ending to the 2004 season was. afc was pretty cut and dry. In nfc when 8-8 rams won on final sunday over jets in ot they jumped from 9th in nfc to 5th and 8-8 vikes losing to skins dropped to sixth as 8-8 saints got bumped from 6th out of playoffs on the last sunday of the season based on rams and vikes having a better conf. record than saints in tie breaker scenario. Rams won their last two games. Vikes lost their last two games. And even with saints winning finale over car. that eliminated panthers rams jumped them and vikes beat them out. An nfc finish so crazy even 7-8 car,. 6-9 lions, and 6-9 cowboys still had a shot at playoffs going into final week as 10 of 16 nfc teams were still alive last week. Craziest finish in a six team conference playoff ever. Then to top it all off 8-8 vikes and 8-8 rams won on w c weekend at division champ pack and seahawks the following week before falling at nfc title game opponents eagles and falcons.

[@2themoon863]

Or look at this year in the AFC: With two games remaining there was only two game between the #3 seed and the #13 seed-and there now seems to be a possibility of a scenario that if Chargers-Raiders ends tied BOTH make the playoffs and either Colts or Tavens are out-and Miami could finish 9-8 and they are already out (yet Baltimore at 8-8 is still alive!).

[@stevenbauer4799]

@@2themoon863 Stranger things have happened. What if jag beat colts then bolt/lv loser could get in. If that game ties with colt loss i believe ravens/steelers both could get in. Or what if steelers tie again?

[@EvanEscher]

In 2004, the Saints kind of got screwed because in a 3 way tie with STL, MIN, and NO, it went 1. STL 2. NO 3. MIN based on conference record. Since none of those teams played both of the other 2, why is it fair that they had to reset the tiebreaker?

[@stevenbauer4799]

@@EvanEscher Yep. Who knows? It had something to do with the three way tie that pushed saints out of a playoff spot. Or maybe nfl just drew names out of a hat to determine who got in in a tie breaker scenario.

[@EvanEscher]

@@stevenbauer4799 yeah I just think it's weird that all 3 teams were already sorted based on conference record, but then the tiebreakers reset after determining the first team, rendering the original tiebreaker useless

[@mountain-dewd]

My grandpa was the camera man who got hit at 9:03

[@F40PH-2CAT]

I forgot how bizarre 1982 was.

[@triskaidekathirteen724]

That Playoff game is also crazy bc....the Steelers jumped out to a 14-0 lead within a few minutes due to 2 turnovers on successive kickoffs....then fell behind 14-17 I think....then went ahead 28-17.....then lost it late in the 4th quarter 28-31 😢

[@andrewpadaetz5549]

1970 was far worse when the NFC was one game away (Giants-Rams) from a coin flip to determine the Wild Card. Giants win (instead of losing 31-3) and the Cowboys/Lions would have either had a coin flip to determine the WC or (if a lawsuit filed in Milwaukee was determined to have merit and a judge blocked the coin flip), a WC playoff before the divisional round.

[@andrewpadaetz5549]

JG9 did post a video about this scenario a while back...only item not delved into was what would have happened had a judge blocked the coin toss since it did not come to pass.

[@CTubeMan]

@@andrewpadaetz5549 Have I asked you if you need to be fitted for a tweed jacket as a JG9 historian?

[@guiseppe8032]

There was a Week 17 because it was games that were initially canceled but made up. They were all divisional matchups that were originally scheduled to take place in various points in the season. I think it's the only time before 2010 that the NFL had all-divisional matchups the final week of the season.

[@adamtparker6515]

Also reminds me that 1982 was the first year of the Metrodome and we rolled out a folding table at halftime so George Benson can sing 'The Greatest Love Of All' and prior to kickoff the announcers noted that militant Doug Williams of TAM refused to shake MIN Vikings players hands as a 'sign of racial togetherness' and following that the announcers informed the TV Audience that Doug is bolting to the USFL the following spring....Ahmad Rashad retired that year which was a blow, I could see where a Player's Strike was on the horizon.

[@slibertas1996]

They are the Redskins. They’re not the Commanders of the Washington Football team.

[@christopherslovick9373]

any one else see the guy taken out at 9:04 on the sidelines?

[@stevenbauer4799]

Back when mnf was the finale and kept some teams waiting another day to see if they made/missed the playoffs. Like the final mnf game did when vikes beat boys in the metrodome put vikes at 5-4 even tho they only had a 4-1 conf. record which would have been 3-2 had they lost to boys but still had tie breaker over lions, no, and nyg who were 4-4/3-5 and played 8 nfc games. That mnf finale is the game dorsett made the longest ever (until henry tied it) 99 yd. td run. Cosell...'And there goes to-ny dor-sett'. Meredith...'oh no-99 and one half yards...' btw colts finished 0-8-1their worst season ever and got the top pick of the draft. Or the top pick that would never play for colts-john elway and the draft day circus that brought to '83 draft. And browns backed in at 4-5 losing their finale as usual at three rivers. pats beat bills who lost their last three to get in in a battle of 4-4 teams leaving bills out based on browns having a better conf. record 4-3 to bills 3-3. The uneven skeds/uneven conf games did teams no favors when it came to tie breakers when tied teams didn't face each other. And no team played all of a then 8 division games. Some only played two div. opponents or played 2-3 div. games.

[@SteveFrench_420]

The anchorman from the "Division 3 CBS coverage" video, at 2:00 had such a goofy hairdo. Even for the time.

[@dentonyoung4314]

Incidentally, it must be really nice to be a Steelers fan -- you virtually never have to support a losing team. The last time the Steelers finished below .500, Saddam Hussein still held power in Iraq. And they won't this year either, the worst case scenario is 8-8-1.

[@rustyshackleford1114]

Ever since the merger, the worst Steelers season has been 5-11.

[@WaltGekko]

If something like this happened now, the NFL would likely have tried to make up ALL of the games even if it meant the Super Bowl in this case likely would have been around April 15 or so, even if it meant having to play in mid-week (probably a lot of Tuesday and Wednesday games) late in the regular season to work around the College Basketball conference and NCAA Tournaments in the postseason. It does need to be remembered the NFL back then could not really have gone beyond a week past the original end of the regular season because CBS and NBC both had a ton of college basketball commitments the further you went into January and February and the NFL likely had the attempted to make up the games missed beyond the one week that was would have been even with Friday and Saturday nights being options (Friday nights until early March), they probably feared potential legal issues: Back then the NFL would not schedule night games in December and beyond in cold weather cities I believe out of fear of lawsuits if it was frigid conditions and someone suffered serious consequences or even died from being out in the cold at night (it needs to be remembered, the technology you now see in winter clothing was not anywhere near as advanced in 1982 as it is now, as late as 1981 the NFL when both wild card games were in the northeast had them at Noon and 3:00 PM to minimize their going into the night). Obviously, a lot of that kind of legal action now would not stand up in court like it might have back then because starting with 2001 (actually January 2002), the NFL has had prime time games in frigid or other bad weather conditions, though back then, it probably would have killed any thought of Tuesday or Wednesday night games if needed (also, the NFL was NOT the 800-pound gorilla of sports it is now AND network prime time ratings were not as dependent on live sports as they are now). Another problem back then, if they had tried to make up all the games and pushed the Super Bowl back to say March 20 or 27, there would have been MASSIVE blowback from the NCAA and elected officials of having the NFL playoffs and Super Bowl overshadow the NCAA Tournament as well as a lot of college basketball leading up to that, especially if schools had to move around games to different TV time slots to accommodate forced changes by the NFL that would have PO'ed alumni and donors who even today often plan road trips to see games in person. On top of there, there could have been situations (most notably in San Diego and San Francisco, which played on grass fields as opposed to AstroTurf that was much more common then), where teams that shared stadiums with baseball teams, especially if say the Chargers went deep into the playoffs that season could have faced legal issues if the playing surface was in less-than-ideal shape for opening day in MLB due to the football team tearing up the surface without enough time to repair the surface. That also could have led to lawsuits if a baseball player was injured on a sub-par grass field early in the season because of NFL teams playing on it. Those were the problems the NFL had with extending the 1982 season beyond when it did.

[@ericrakestraw664]

The Steelers were in a similarly crazy scenario last season where they hadn't yet clinched a playoff spot, even with an 11-0 record and the NFL playoffs having just expanded to 14 teams.

[@pullt]

To be honest, each team could just run through the tiebreak rules for each given scenario. Or the media could, or basically anyone. It's not like the league suddenly changed the rules after they were set

[@darwinblinks]

And then they blew the playoff game vs Air Coryell. Terry's last postseason game.

[@ATCguy1973]

15:08 for my favourite QB stat line from our host 👍

[@CowSaysMooMoo]

This channel continues to turn 8 minutes of info into 17 minute videos. Kind of like a red-sox yankee game.

[@luvmenow33]

I could be wrong about the year but I believe it was 2008 when the EAGLES got into the playoffs when they won their final game along with three separate games going the way they needed in that final week. Dallas lost. Oakland (who was pretty bad) won their game, and I forget the final game. I may be a bit off on the year but I absolutely remember they needed DAL to lose and two other teams to win their game along with a win of their own to make the playoffs.

[@samplautz5586]

When you get negative passing yards and still do better than another team

[@thewrench0157]

I mean, Pittsburg would’ve had something like this occur this year if the Raiders missed that game winning field goal.

[@DolFan316]

Waiting for the video of how the '80 Eagles would lose the division if the lost to the Cowboys by 25 or more in the finale...and fell behind 35-10 before "rallying" with 17 unanswered to clinch the division with a loss.

[@NeumsFor9]

2008 Eagles making the playoffs was crazy too.

[@jeffs3752]

IT'S A CONSPIRACY! NFL fans always come up with them, yet they keep watching. Hilarious.

[@benjaminbrown1620]

One thing I'd love to see is a recap of week 17 2002. And how the jets packers game had four teams playoffs life's on the line in the afc and the top 3 seeds in the nfc on it

[@Hogg342]

I agree

[@Hogg342]

@@matthewdaley746 yeah should do more seasons with multi teams viying for the playoffs and the results

[@Hogg342]

@@matthewdaley746 true

[@DolFan316]

'81 Packers started 2-6 but would've made the playoffs had the beaten the Jets in the finale, but the Jets also had to win to make the playoffs and did 28-3.

[@ThePhl4ever]

The Eagles to make the playoffs needed the 49ers to win their game which occurred.

[@adamtparker6515]

Funny as responding to odd MNF scenarios re Mets and Giants, and rereviewing the final week CBS Today for 1982 season there was a good chance the last MNF game DAL vs MIN could have been FOREFITTED due to our then new Metrodome not being able to have hole fixed. John and Pat calling the final NYG and PHI game were perplexed and could not figure out the NFC scenarios for final week Also NYG kept their head coach Perkins who said two weeks earlier Ya Im gonna coach college but im gonna hang around and coach the Giants then we will see what this new coordinator Parcells can do...

[@stevengrvp]

Wow interesting story

[@onjohns1]

Too many ads!

[@stevenbauer4799]

This doesn't even make any sense. Steelers got in with a 6-3 record in a nine game strike shortened season. Miami was 7-2 and made the s b only to get riggo-d by skins the champion of strike shortened seasons. And so what...16 teams made the playoffs in '82 with no byes. Even the lions at 4-5 as well as browns got in on the post-season festivities. That was the last playoff home game at three rivers for most of the super steeler stars of the '70's as the remnants of those teams lost to bolts 31-28 in the first round. The final remnants lost 38-10 at raiders in '83 playoffs. And so-called network 'experts' said that browns and miami were still alive late sunday when in fact they were both eliminated when raiders won at colts earlier in the day.

[@Gutbomber]

Interesting season... long time ago it was

[@BuccWylde]

The year Brady was injured, NE still posted an impressive 11-5 record but then found out they'd be only the second team in NFL history to miss the cut with 11 wins.

[@christopherbarker9140]

Cleveland won 10 games that year and missed.

[@justinmaybach6388]

@@christopherbarker9140 That was in 2007 while New England missed in 2008 but it is interesting how a team in the AFC missed with a decent record two years in a row.

[@bugsyproductions3140]

14:35 -- you actually mentioned the Steelers made the playoffs minutes earlier lol.

[@theknightswhosay]

5:26 -2 passing yards? They would have done better if they spiked the ball on every play.

[@veggieoilerfan2940]

At 10:48 Buffalo would have gotten a penalty if today’s rules would have been in place. They started out with 12 players in the huddle.

[@williammcbrayer3277]

Bradshaw kept his jersey clean.....on astroturf.

[@ROBSHOTZ]

Punishment for going on strike.

[@xander-shelton]

the stealers had the same thing happen this season with the tie scenario

[@TPaine1776]

Couldn't have happened to a more deserving team.

[@bafa7353]

IMO, the '82 Steelers had a shot at the Super Bowl if they had gotten by San Diego in the first round.

[@DolFan316]

Nah, my Fins would've beaten them. They got shut out twice that season and might've been goose-egged a third time. And yes, it would've been Steelers-Fins had they won. Steelers were the 4 seed and the Jets were #6 so they played the #1 Raiders. Had the Bengals beaten the Jets then it would've been Steelers-Raiders but that's way too many what ifs for me.

[@jimroscovius]

Maybe the Steelers officials should have been following that. This problem is on them.

[@Rockhound6165]

The Eagles got in by winning 9 games against teams with a combined 43-84 record with only the Saints being at .500. They're going to get rolled in the playoffs.

[@dimwit818]

eh, details, details lol

[@8bitorgy]

You're talking a little too fast this video.

[@scottaznavourian3720]

Would probably mean more if they actually ended up missing the playoffs?edit and they ended up 6-3 why are you only saying teams played 8 games

[@OfficialJaguarGator9]

9 games in total, but each team played a different number of games against the AFC. Pittsburgh played 8 of their 9 games against the AFC

[@scottaznavourian3720]

@@OfficialJaguarGator9 thanks

[@tex8305]

Schroedinger's Playoffs