The 2023-24 NFL Season proved to be another ratings boon for a league continuing to see increases. Taylor Swift mania swept the nation and the Kansas City Chiefs took down the San Francisco 49ers in an all-time classic matchup. While Mecole Hardman will go down as a hero in Chiefs lore, another problem is sweeping the league, one that Competition Chairman Rich McKay deems “concerning”.
NFL Is “Concerned” About Scoring
The NFL is a league that applauds scoring in big numbers. Sometimes, the opposite can also be true. In 2020, the NFL averaged 49 points per game between any two clubs. Looking at team scoring, close to one-half of the league cracked 400 points for the season, and two scored north of 500. The Green Bay Packers led the way by scoring 509 points, or a blistering 31.8 points per game.
2021 and 2022 started to feature declines, however. 2021 once again saw a pair of teams crack the 500-point barrier, with the Dallas Cowboys leading the way with an astounding 530 total points over the 17-game season. Tampa followed in close pursuit with 511. 2022 saw no teams score more than 500 points, and the average points per game sank from the average of 49 seen in 2020 to 43.76 in 2022.
2023 was another story entirely.
How Bad Did Scoring Get in 2023?
In 2023, scoring sank to even lower levels. While the Dallas Cowboys scored 509 points to lead the league again, other teams scored even fewer points than ever. No single team cracked an average of 30 points per game in 2023, and nearly one-third of the league failed to even score 20 points per game. The eventual Super Bowl Champion Chiefs finished by scoring just 21.8 points per game, the lowest in any season of their current dynasty.
In one particular lowlight of the 2023 NFL Season, the Minnesota Vikings and Las Vegas Raiders played the league’s first 3-0 game in sixteen seasons. A pair of teams finished the year having not even scored 14 points per game, in the New England Patriots and Carolina Panthers. Both finished the season with exactly 13.9 points per game, and both only finished with a combined six wins.
What Can Be Done?
Already, the NFL is moving to find ways to solve the scoring problem. Speaking at a conference call this past week, McKay confirmed that a set of rules designed to bring “suspense” back to kickoffs is all but confirmed. These rules also state that there will be no fair catches, which should, in the NFL’s book, foster more returns.
Onside kicks will only be allowed in the fourth quarter as well. Other changes include allowing multiple receivers to line up to return a kick.
Time will tell if these rules will foster further growth of scoring once again, for a league that has seen a decline inch ever closer to a 2009 low where teams only combined for just over 42 points a game.
To address the lowest kickoff return rate in @NFL history during the 2023 season and concern for player health and safety, the NFL Competition Committee has proposed a new kickoff rule.
If adopted by NFL clubs, the new rule will keep the excitement of kickoff returns in the… pic.twitter.com/0ltQpSrAvC
— NFL Football Operations (@NFLFootballOps) March 22, 2024
