NFL in a Decade: #1 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Rome kept calling him "Chris"

Everett was a decent quarterback for the Los Angeles Rams, leading the NFL in TD passes in 1988 and 1989. Jim Rome, a sportscaster with an act built around making provocative statements, took to questioning Everett's toughness, calling him "Chris", a reference to female tennis player Chris Everett.

When the quarterback was a guest on Rome's television talk show in 1994, Rome continued to call him "Chris." After Rome ignored several warnings from Everett and called him "Chris" for a third time, the quarterback tossed aside the table separating them, threw Rome to the ground, and walked off the set.

The two never patched up their differences, although Rome has often credited the incident with giving him a huge career boost because of all the publicity it generated.

Answer: St. Louis Rams

After having a losing record for the entire decade, and going only 4-12 the previous year, the 1999 Rams took the NFL by storm. Their potent offense led the league in both scoring and yards, on their way to a 23-16 Super Bowl win over Tennessee. Of the other teams, Green Bay won Super Bowl XXXI but had already won the first two Super Bowls, Denver won their first Super Bowl the next season, but then repeated, and New England lost its only Super Bowl appearance in the 1990s.

Answer: Emmitt Smith

Smith, who went on to break the NFL's all-time rushing record, was an incredible touchdown scoring machine. He rolled up 136 rushing touchdowns in the decade, throwing in 11 more receiving, to give him 147 total. Jerry Rice, his next closest challenger, had 109 total touchdowns, trailed by Cris Carter and Barry Sanders with 95 each. Smith's Cowboys teammate Michael Irvin's 58 TDs for the 1990s trailed several other players.

Answer: An incredible kickoff return for a touchdown, lifting the Tennessee Titans to a last-second playoff victory over the Buffalo Bills

The 11-5 Buffalo Bills squared off against the 13-3 Tennessee Titans in the first round of the 1999 playoffs. After trailing for much of the game, the Bills kicked a field goal with 16 seconds left, to go on top 16-15. On the kickoff, Lorenzo Neal of the Titans fielded the ball and lateraled to Frank Wycheck. Wycheck then turned and threw the ball sideways across the field to Kevin Dyson. Dyson ran for the sideline and sprinted 75 yards for a touchdown, giving Tennessee a 22-16 win.

The Bills protested bitterly that Wycheck's throw to Dyson had been an illegal forward pass, but the officials upheld the play upon review.

The Titans advanced to the Super Bowl that year; the Bills released 15 players in the offseason, including several who had been on their Super Bowl teams at the start of the decade.

Answer: Because of the substance abuse troubles of several Cowboys players

The "South America's Team" moniker was derived from the cocaine and marijuana arrests and suspensions handed to Dallas lineman Leon Lett, receiver Michael Irvin, and reserve running back Clayton Holmes, in the mid 1990s, after the team had won three NFL titles in four seasons.

The title-winning Dallas Cowboys of the 1970s had been dubbed "America's Team" by NFL Films, virtually ensuring them the wrath of every football fan whose allegiances were with a different team.

Answer: Bang the Drum All Day

Vince Lombardi certainly would have recognized the resurgent Packers of the 1990s and their winning ways, but he might have needed to adjust to the stadium atmosphere. Touchdowns in 1960s were invaribly followed by players like Boyd Dowler or Jim Taylor setting the ball down or tossing it to an official. 30 years later, Packer touchdowns were celebrated with the "Lambeau Leap" (a jump first done by LeRoy Butler in 1993, in which the player who'd scored would leap into the arms of fans in the end zone seats), accompanied by the thumping beat of Todd Rundgren's 1982 song, "Bang the Drum All Day." For any writers out there, "My Packers, Full of Cheese" is a hit just waiting to be penned!

Answer: Terrell Davis

Davis was only the fourth NFL back to rush for 2,000 yards in a season, and the almost 5,300 yards he gained in just three seasons from 1996-98 was more than any other running back had ever gained in that length of time. Davis helped his Denver Broncos team win the Super Bowl for the 1997 and 1998 seasons, and also originated the "Mile High Salute," a simple and dignified salute to the home fans after scoring a touchdown.

He sprained his knee in the fourth game of the 1999 season, returned for 2000, and retired after two marginal final years in the league.

Answer: It ended the longest period to that point in NFL history in which the number of teams remained unchanged

For the first 30 years of the NFL, the league regularly added teams or saw existing ones fail each season, sometimes even in midseason. After the failure of the 1952 Dallas Texans, the NFL never lost another team, but it continued to expand, adding the Dallas Cowboys, Minnesota Vikings, Atlanta Falcons, and New Orleans Saints in the 1960s, the entire AFL in 1970, and the Seattle Seahawks and Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1976.

After 19 seasons of unprecedented stability (not counting some teams changing cities), the NFL expanded in 1995, adding the Panthers and Jaguars.

The two franchises had the most early success of any expansion teams in league history, finishing 7-9 and 4-12 in their first season, and fielding 12-4 and 9-7 teams that went to the conference championship games the following year.

Answer: They were all from the same division

Many Bills fans might cite "frustration" as a common thread among Super Bowls XXV-XXVIII, but their opponents all came from the powerful NFC East. The New York Giants won the 1990 title by beating the Bills 20-19. The Bills then lost to the Redskins 37-24 the following year, and Dallas the following two seasons, 52-17 and 30-13. Buffalo held leads against every opponent but the Redskins, including two fourth quarter leads against the Giants, and a 13-6 halftime lead in their second game against the Cowboys.

Answer: Playing at home when the temperature at kickoff was 34 degrees or colder

Hard to say what is more incredible, Favre's cold weather quarterbacking record, or that someone bothered to compile this fact. During the 1990s, Favre lost just one cold weather game, a 1996 contest in Kansas City. On January 4, 2003, Favre's Packers lost a home playoff game to Atlanta Falcons.

It was Green Bay's first playoff loss at Lambeau in their history, but discussed almost as much was the fact that it was Favre's first loss in 36 games at Lambeau Field in which the temperature was 34 degrees or colder.