Upon Further Review: The NFL’s Replay Review
Word on the street is, it’s football time! And that means a nice tangential blog post chock-full of information swiped from other sources.
But to make it purely Review Party Dot Com, I’m only going to focus on the teams we care about, in our Midwestern enclaves. As fate would have it, the very first use of Replay Review in a regular season game was in 1986, featuring the Chicago Bears and the Cleveland Browns.
Some Actual Details
The first NFL game to be broadcast on television was on October 22, 1939, and in the years following World War II, NFL games began to be televised regularly. And as you might suspect, if you have a sport being captured on camera, there’ll be a contingent who wants to view the tapes to ensure that nothing was missed, no one was cheated, and the proper calls were being made.
Unfortunately, the technology needed to efficiently and accurately review plays wouldn’t become available until much later.
After less than impressive experimenting through the late 70s, Instant Replay got its first real test in the 1985 preseason, where it was used in 8 games. There was a debate on whether to then implement reviews into the 1985 postseason, but ultimately Instant Replay was approved for the 1986 regular season (with the stipulation that it would be voted on again each subsequent year).
And so, on September 7, 1986, on THE THIRD PLAY OF THE GAME between the defending Super Bowl Champion Chicago Bears and the Cleveland Browns, replay review was called upon to verify whether or not Browns safety Al Gross recovered a bad snap in the Chicago end zone. And the replay confirmed it, he had.
At this time, the plays reviewable were limited and all reviews came from the booth, unless the referees on field requested a review after conferring among themselves. No coaches challenges.
What About the Packers, now ‘den?
Don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten.
Just a few years later, in 1989, storied rivals the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers met in Lambeau Field for a nice, peaceful game.
As the clock wound down on a 13-7 deficit, Green Bay quarterback Don Majkowski connected with Sterling Sharpe on fourth down for a touchdown. Or an apparent touchdown, anyway.
The officials on the field had dropped a flag; the ball was in front of the line of scrimmage when thrown, making the pass illegal, negating the touchdown, and turning the ball over on downs. Bears win. Or an apparent win, anyway.
From the booth, word came that the pass was not beyond the line of scrimmage, the touchdown was good, and the following point after put the Packers on top. Packers win, 14-13. Emotions run high any time these two teams play each other, so I can only imagine what the fallout was the next morning.
Actually, I don’t have to. This game was dubbed The Intant Replay Game, and was held up as evidence of a flawed review system.
By 1991, it was over. The system was not renewed in the yearly vote.
But of course, that’s not all she wrote. By the mid-90s, instant replay was making its return. This time coaches would be able to challenge and refs would be able to review plays on the field. And, within two minutes of either half, reviews would be initiated by a replay assistant, leaving coaches to, well, coach.
Approved for 1999, teams eventually voted to make instant replay a permanent fixture, not something to be voted on every year. That said, rules and reviews are constantly changing, especially as technology improves.
All we need at this point is a time machine to go back and figure out if they got that Bears-Packers call right, or if they botched it. Science demands it.
