The NFL instituted a new "free agent" system for this season, Plan B, which allowed teams to have the first chance on re-signing 37 of their players. If a team did not make a deal and that player signs elsewhere, the team would receive compensation; it would be used until 1992.[1][2]
March 27: The Kansas City Chiefs sign Defensive Tackle
Dan Saleaumua as a free agent.
March 28: The Washington Redskins sign Tight End
Ken Whisenhunt as a free agent. Whisenhunt would become an NFL head coach, leading the Arizona Cardinals to an appearance in
Super Bowl XLIII.
March 31: The San Francisco 49ers sign Wide Receiver
Mike Sherrard as a free agent.[3]
April 13: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers sign Kicker
John Carney as a free agent.[4]
June 13: The 49ers sign quarterback
Steve Bono as a free agent.[5]
Trades
May 30, 1989: The Phoenix Cardinals traded
David Treadwell to the Denver Broncos.[6]
June 5, 1989: The Dallas Cowboys traded
Steve DeOssie to the New York Giants.[7]
August 7: The Dallas Cowboys trade quarterback
Scott Secules to the Miami Dolphins. [8]
August 18: The Chicago Bears trade quarterback
Jim McMahon to the San Diego Chargers
August 30: The San Diego Chargers trade punter Ralf Mojsiejenko to Washington
September 4: The New York Jets trade center Guy Bingham to the Atlanta Falcons.[9]
September 6: The Tampa Bay Buccaneers trade defensive end Ron Holmes to the Denver Broncos
Fred Silva retired during the 1989 off-season. He joined the NFL in 1968 as a line judge before being promoted to referee in 1969. Games that he officiated include
Super Bowl XIV and the
Freezer Bowl.
Dale Hamer, the head linesman for
Super Bowl XVII and
Super Bowl XXII, and Howard Roe were promoted to referee. In addition to replacing Silva, an extra 16th officiating crew was added to help handle the weekly workload of 14 games.
Walt Coleman was hired as a line judge. He was promoted to referee in
1995 and was a crew chief through
2018.
Major rule changes
After a foul that occurs inside the last two minutes of the first half and inside the last five minutes of the second half or overtime, the game clock will start at the snap, instead of when the ball is spotted and the referee signals it is ready to be played.
New rules were enacted, including loss of timeouts or five-yard penalties, to handle the problem of crowd noise when it becomes too loud for the offensive team to hear its signals.
If a receiver and a defender eventually establish joint control of a pass, the ball will be awarded to whoever was the first player to establish control of the ball.
While not a rule "change" per se, the "hurry up offense" was recognized as fully legal, and penalties for delay of game would be called against teams whose defenders faked injuries in order to slow down the tempo, unless those teams called for timeouts.
Carl Monroe: On April 26, 1989, Monroe, a member of the San Francisco 49ers
Super Bowl XIX championship team, was found dead at his home at 7:58 a.m.[12]
Steve Moore: Moore, a New England Patriots
1983 NFL Draft selection, was shot and killed in October 1989, following a robbery outside a convenience store in Memphis.[13]
Wayne Moore: A member of the 1972 Miami Dolphins
Super Bowl VII championship team; Moore suffered a
heart attack at his home in
Miami on August 19, 1989, and was pronounced dead at Coral Reef Hospital that afternoon.[14]
Sherman Plunkett: A member of the Baltimore Colts' NFL championship teams in 1958 and 1959, Plunkett died on November 18, 1989.
Frank Sinkovitz: Having served as an NFL umpire from 1958 to 1983, Sinkovitz also played for the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1947 to 1952. An official for
Super Bowl XV, he died on August 6, 1989.
Stumpy Thomason: A former quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles, Thomas died on April 30, 1989.
Tommy Thompson: A quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles during the World War II era, died on April 22, 1989.
Thanksgiving: Two games were played on Thursday, November 23, featuring Cleveland at
Detroit and Philadelphia at
Dallas, with Detroit and Philadelphia winning.
Note: The San Francisco 49ers (the NFC 1 seed) did not play the Los Angeles Rams (the 5 seed) in the Divisional playoff round because both teams were in the same division.
Los Angeles Raiders:
Mike Shanahan was fired after the first four games. Assistant coach
Art Shell served as interim for the last 12 games. Shell was given the position permanently and held it through 1994, then returned for one season in 2006.
Phoenix Cardinals:
Gene Stallings was fired after the first 11 games after announcing he would resign at the end of the season, and
Hank Kuhlmann served as interim for the final five games. Stallings became coach of the
Alabama Crimson Tide, where he won the 1992 national championship.
Uniform changes
The
Dallas Cowboys removed the elliptical blue circles with the player's number from the hip area of the pants.
The
Green Bay Packers removed the "G" helmet monogram from the striping of the jersey sleeves.
The
Kansas City Chiefs began wearing their white pants with their white jerseys, discontinuing their red pants. It was the first time the Chiefs wore white pants with their white jerseys since
1967. The red pants returned in
2000.
The
Miami Dolphins introduced aqua pants to be worn with their white jerseys. They were not worn again in 1989 after a 39–7 loss at Houston in week four, but returned full-time in
1990.
This was the third and final year under the league's broadcast contracts with
ABC,
CBS,
NBC, and ESPN to televise Monday Night Football, the NFC package, the AFC package, and Sunday Night Football, respectively.
O. J. Simpson was named as the sole studio analyst for NBC's NFL Live!, joining host
Bob Costas. NBC also hired the then-recently retired head coach
Bill Walsh to join
Dick Enberg on the network's lead broadcast team, replacing
Merlin Olsen as the network's lead color commentator; Olsen left for CBS after this season.[17]