Stats Of The Year

?The most renowned defensive lines in recent times—the Rams' Fearsome Foursome, Minnesota's Purple People Eaters, Pittsburgh's Steel Curtain—never had as many sacks in a season as the Viking line of Chris Doleman, Henry Thomas, Al Noga and Keith Millard (left) got this year. No asterisk here, either. Until 1978 the NFL played 14-game seasons, and through 14 games this year, Minnesota's front four had beaten them all, with 51� sacks.

?The Cardinals paid a total of $4.19 million in salary and bonuses this year to their four quarterbacks—the most money paid to any quarterback unit in the league—yet through the last 10 weeks of the season the Cards never ranked higher than 24th in quarterback rating.

?The 49ers are 8-0 at Anaheim Stadium when Joe Montana has started.

?Giants tight end Mark Bavaro hurt his knee early in the third quarter against San Diego in Week 7 and was lost for the season. Here's how New York's offense fared before and after that injury:

[This article contains a table. Please see hardcopy of magazine or PDF.]

?The NFC has won five straight Super Bowls by an average of 23 points. The Broncos, the top AFC candidate to go to New Orleans and the best home team of the decade, lost to the two probable NFC playoff teams on its schedule, the Giants and Eagles, and both games were in Denver.

?By midseason Bengal running back James Brooks had gone 38 straight games without losing a fumble. He fumbled seven times in his next seven games.

? Minnesota kicker Rich Karlis, who was let go by Denver before the season and took a $75,000 pay cut to sign with the Vikings, became the first kicker in history to have a 7-for-7 field goal day. He accounted for all the Vikes' offensive points in their 23-21 overtime victory over the Rams in Week 9.