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.

Draft

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.

New referee

Cal Lepore, the line judge for Super Bowl III and referee for the Miracle at the Meadowlands, retired after 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.

Major rule changes

Deaths

Regular season

Scheduling formula

Division races

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.

National Football Conference

American Football Conference

1981 Final Standings

Tiebreakers

Playoffs

Records, milestones, and notable statistics

Records Set

Records Tied

Baltimore Colts Defense

The 1981 Baltimore Colts were one of the worst defenses in NFL history; they set five dubious defensive records:

Statistical leaders

Team

Awards

Coaching changes

Stadium changes

The home of the San Diego Chargers, San Diego Stadium, was renamed Jack Murphy Stadium in memory of local sportswriter Jack Murphy

Uniform changes

Television

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.

Regular season game not broadcast by Network TV