| Regular season | |
|---|---|
| Duration | September 8, 2011 – January 1, 2012 |
| Playoffs | |
| Start date | January 7, 2012 |
| AFC Champions | New England Patriots |
| NFC Champions | New York Giants |
| Super Bowl XLVI | |
| Date | February 5, 2012 |
| Site | Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, Indiana |
| Champions | New York Giants |
| Pro Bowl | |
| Date | January 29, 2012 |
| Site | Aloha Stadium, Halawa, Honolulu, Hawaii |
The 2011 NFL season was the 92nd regular season of the National Football League (NFL) and the 46th of the Super Bowl era. It began on Thursday, September 8, 2011, with the Super Bowl XLV champion Green Bay Packers defeating the Super Bowl XLIV champion New Orleans Saints at Lambeau Field and ended with Super Bowl XLVI, the league's championship game, on February 5, 2012, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis where the New York Giants defeated the New England Patriots.
Due to a labor dispute between league owners and players, a lockout began on March 11 and ended on July 25, lasting 130 days. Although it initially threatened to postpone or cancel the season, the only game that was canceled was the August 7 Pro Football Hall of Fame Game.
The 2011 season saw an unprecedented amount of passing offense: Three of the nine highest passing yardage totals of all time were established: No. 2 Drew Brees (5,476), No. 3 Tom Brady (5,235), and No. 9 Matthew Stafford (5,038); Eli Manning threw for 4,933 yards, which places him 14th all time.[1] It also saw Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers establish the all-time single-season best quarterback rating of 122.5.[2] Further cementing the modern NFL's reputation as a "passing league"[3][4][5] was that, for the second consecutive year, the league overall set a record for most average passing yards per team per game, with 229.7, breaking 2010's record by more than eight yards per game.[6] (For comparison, the league-wide average rushing yards total finished the 2011 season at 57th all-time.)
A subplot of the 2011 season was determining who would have the worst record, and therefore "earn" the right to the No. 1 overall pick in the 2012 draft. Stanford senior quarterback Andrew Luck was seen as the best quarterback prospect in years. Fans of some teams that started the season with numerous losses (notably the Indianapolis Colts) were openly rooting for their teams to "Suck for Luck."[7][8]
- ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com: For single seasons, from 1920 to 2011, sorted by descending Passing Yds, as of end of 2011 regular season.
- ^ "Aaron Rodgers Stats Summary". NFL. Retrieved October 20, 2021.
- ^ "In a passing league, what is with all these ugly QB situations?". nfl. Retrieved May 3, 2018.
- ^ Wild Shootout Sparks Start of 2011 season Archived July 28, 2013, at the Wayback Machine at National Football Post, September 9, 2011
- ^ Chase Stuart: Correction Has Arrived for N.F.L. Passing Barrage at The New York Times, October 18, 2011
- ^ Pro-Football-Reference.com: NFL Season By Season Team Offense Archived December 31, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Hank Koebler, Why 'Suck for Luck' Sucks Huffington Post, November 5, 2011
- ^ Steve Politi, 'Suck for Luck' could be best hope for NFL's worst CNN.com, October 21, 2011