Worst Rule Changes in NFL History

No sport in American history has undergone more changes than football. Some changes have been big. Others were small. All of them have made an impact on the game over the past 100-plus years.

Since 1978, the NFL has been preoccupied with rules designed to increase scoring. They have created quarterbacks who put up offensive numbers that were unthinkable in the days of Johnny Unitas and Otto Graham. These rules, meant to boost fan interest and television ratings, have changed the game, to the horror of football purists.

So why can’t the rules gods leave a good thing alone? While many rule changes are made in the interest of enhancing player safety or making the game better, they actually have made the game less safe and worse. These are the worst rule changes in NFL history.

Rule change: Penalty for defensive pass interference places the ball at the spot of the foul.

Old rule: 10 yards from the previous spot and automatic first down.

Year change was made: 1917

Why it was changed: To prevent defenses from intentionally fouling receivers to reduce big gains on pass plays.

For all the tweaking the NFL has done with various rules over the years, it’s incredible that the league has never touched one of the most punitive — and unfair — rules in the history of the sport: placing the ball at the spot of a pass interference call, even if it’s 60 yards downfield.

The spot-of-foul rule was the brainchild of football pioneer Walter Camp when the passing game was still in its infancy and defenses routinely interfered with receivers because a 10-yard penalty was preferable to a bigger gain downfield.

While the logic still holds up, the evolution of strong-armed quarterbacks and wide-open passing attacks has resulted in countless games being decided by mammoth yardage penalties on passes that may never have been caught.

Just as a foul on a slam dunk attempt in the NBA doesn’t result in a player being given the ball under the hoop, an often-subjective interference call on a bomb launched into the end zone shouldn’t result in the ball being placed on the 1-yard line for an almost automatic touchdown.

Rule change: The Pro Bowl game is revived.

Old rule: The game had been discontinued in 1942.

Year change was made: 1951

Why it was changed: Everyone loves an All-Star game.

If there’s any sport that should do without an All-Star game, it’s professional football. Even as the NFL’s popularity has eclipsed Major League Baseball and the NBA over the years, the Pro Bowl remains an All-Star dud.

The reward for excelling in the most brutal, violent of sports shouldn’t be to play one more game at the end of the year, even if it is in Hawaii. But now, players don’t even get the trip to Hawaii as the venue has moved to the mainland.

That may explain why as concern has grown over safety and injury issues over the years, players selected for the Pro Bowl increasingly don’t show up. Or try to avoid each other like the plague if they do.