The Denver Broncos had been the AFC’s defining franchise in the late 1980s, reaching three Super Bowls. They had gone to the AFC Championship Game as recently as 1991. But they slipped into a comfortable mediocrity. They missed the playoffs in 1992 and parted ways with head coach Dan Reeves. New head coach Wade Phillips […]
The Raider franchise spent 13 successful years in the city of Los Angeles, from 1982-94, a stretch that included a Super Bowl title in 1983. But the team never stopped being identified with their original home of Oakland. They came back in 1995. After going 16-16 the final two seasons in L.A., the Raiders got […]
The Bobby Ross era in San Diego was already an unqualified success. After winning a national title at Georgia Tech in 1990, Ross made the jump to the NFL two years later. In 1992, the Chargers won the AFC West. In 1994, they reached what remains the franchise’s only Super Bowl. The 1995 San Diego […]
Don Shula had been a fixture in South Beach since 1970. Over the previous 25 seasons, he had produced 23 winning seasons, 15 trips to the playoffs, five Super Bowl appearances, two championships and his 1972 team remains the only undefeated Super Bowl winner. But the last Super Bowl trip was over a decade ago […]
This post is part of a series of sports history articles commemorating under-the-radar teams and moments in a given year. This article about the 1995 Indianapolis Colts remembers the last great ride for Jim Harbaugh when the veteran quarterback-turned-future coach led a Cinderella run to within one play of the Super Bowl.
A string of six straight playoff appearances and a historic streak of four straight AFC crowns had come to an end in 1994. The 1995 Buffalo Bills were looking to get back on track. They did. The Bills returned to the top of the AFC East, and while they were no longer one of the […]
The Dave Wannstedt era in Chicago was off to a promising start. In 1994, his second season, Wannstedt’s Bears made the playoffs and won a game. Midway through this season, it seemed like the 1995 Chicago Bears would continue the upward trend. But a late fade not only cost the Bears this ’95 season, it […]
The Lions were four years removed from their breakout NFC Championship Game appearance of 1991. They had made the postseason two times since, in 1993 and 1994, but were eliminated in the first round both times. The 1995 Detroit Lions, after a slow start, had all the markings of a team that was peaking at […]
It felt like the good times were back in Cleveland. After inheriting a 3-13 team in 1991, a young head coach named Bill Belichick had overseen steady improvement. In 1994, that led to a playoff appearance and advancement. The franchise’s most recent era of success—the Dawg Pound Days led by Bernie Kosar and Marty Schottenheimer […]
Dennis Green came to Minnesota in 1992 and reached the playoffs each of his first three years, including division titles in ’92 and 1994. The 1995 Minnesota Vikings were a respectable team that stayed in contention for the entire year. But in the end, this was the year Green’s playoff streak came to an end. […]
The city of Atlanta had seen playoff football only four times in their NFL history, and the most recent was 1991. June Jones, the architect of a spread-the-field passing game that is commonplace today, but was innovative back then, was hired as head coach in 1994. One year later, the 1995 Atlanta Falcons made the […]
The city of St. Louis had been without professional football since the Cardinals left for Arizona in 1988. In 1995, the Rams filled the void and began a 31-season journey as a Midwest franchise. The first edition of the St. Louis Rams started strong and gave the fan base hope. But a hard fall foreshadowed […]