In 1958, the Lions traded future Hall of Fame QB Bobby Layne to the Pittsburgh Steelers. According to legend, Layne responded to the trade by saying the Lions would "not win for 50 years". Over the next half-century, the Lions accumulated the worst winning percentage of any NFL team. In 2008, the last year of the curse, the Lions became the first team to lose all 16 regular season games.

In week 8 of his rookie season, Houston's Deshaun Watson showed his potential as the league's next superstar QB. Unfortunately, he tore his ACL in practice the following week and was lost for the year.

On August 29, 2008, Cincinnati WR Chad Johnson legally changed his name to Ochocinco ("eight five" in Spanish to match his jersey number). On July 24, 2012, Ochocinco legally changed his name back to Johnson.

Deemed a bust by the Buccaneers, Steve Young was traded to the San Francisco 49ers to serve as Joe Montana's backup. He would go on to make Montana expendable, earn league MVP honors in 1992 and 1994, earn MVP honors in Super Bowl XXIX, and retire with the highest passer rating among NFL quarterbacks with at least 1,500 passing attempts.

Favre was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons in the second round of the 1991 NFL Draft, but head coach Jerry Glanville did not approve and said it would take a plane crash for him to put Favre into the game. Favre attempted four passes for the Falcons and was intercepted twice. Following the 1991 season, he was traded to the Green Bay Packers.

Only two teams currently in the NFL, the Decatur Staleys (now the Chicago Bears) and the Chicago Cardinals (now the Arizona Cardinals), are founding members.

Peyton Manning won Super Bowls with the Indianapolis Colts in 2007 and the Denver Broncos in 2016.

Sweeping rules changes were adopted by the NFL in 1974 to add action and tempo to games: one sudden-death overtime period was added for preseason and regular-season games; the goal posts were moved from the goal line to the end lines; kickoffs were moved from the 40- to the 35-yard line; after missed field goals from beyond the 20, the ball was to be returned to the line of scrimmage; restrictions were placed on members of the punting team to open up return possibilities; roll-blocking and cutting of wide receivers was eliminated; the extent of downfield contact a defender could have with an eligible receiver was restricted; the penalties for offensive holding, illegal use of the hands, and tripping were reduced from 15 to 10 yards; and wide receivers blocking back toward the ball within three yards of the line of scrimmage were prevented from blocking below the waist.

In 1992, NFL teams played their 16 game regular-season schedule over 18 weeks for the only time in leauge history.

The Titans drove to the St. Louis 10-yard line with six seconds remaining, but on the final play of the game, Rams linebacker Mike Jones tackled Tennessee wide receiver Kevin Dyson one yard short of the goal line. This play went into NFL lore as "One Yard Short", or simply "The Tackle".