1988–89 NFL playoffs

The Eagles playing against the Bears in the famous Fog Bowl NFC Divisional Playoff game.
Dates	December 24, 1988 – January 22, 1989
Season	1988
Teams	10
Games played	9
Super Bowl XXIII site	Joe Robbie Stadium Miami, Florida
Defending champions	Washington Redskins (did not qualify)
Champions	San Francisco 49ers
Runners-up	Cincinnati Bengals
Conference runners-up	Buffalo Bills Chicago Bears
NFL playoffs ← 1987–88 1989–90 →

The National Football League playoffs for the 1988 season began on December 24, 1988. The postseason tournament concluded with the San Francisco 49ers defeating the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl XXIII, 20–16, on January 22, 1989, at Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami, Florida.

Participants

Within each conference, the three division winners and the two non-division winners with the best overall regular season records qualified for the playoffs. The NFL did not use a fixed-bracket playoff system. The three division winners were seeded 1–3 based on their overall won-lost-tied record, and received a first-round bye while the wild card teams were seeded 4 and 5, and played in the first round, dubbed the wild-card playoffs or wild-card weekend, with the 4 seed hosting. The second round, the divisional playoffs, had a restriction where two teams from the same division could not meet: the surviving wild card team visited the division champion outside its division that had the higher seed, and the remaining two teams from that conference played each other. The two surviving teams from each conference's divisional playoff games then meet in the respective AFC and NFC Conference Championship games, hosted by the higher seed. Although the Super Bowl, the championship round of the playoffs, was played at a neutral site, the designated home team was based on an annual rotation by conference.

Bracket

Note: The Cincinnati Bengals (the AFC 1 seed) did not play the Houston Oilers (the 5 seed), nor did the Chicago Bears (the NFC 1 seed) play the Minnesota Vikings (the 4 seed), in the Divisional playoff round because those teams were in the same division.

Schedule

Due to Christmas falling on a Sunday, the two wild card playoff games were held in a span of three days.

In the United States, CBS televised the NFC playoff games, while NBC broadcast the AFC games and Super Bowl XXIII.

Wild card playoffs

Saturday, December 24, 1988

AFC: Houston Oilers 24, Cleveland Browns 23

In a brutal game in which both teams combined for 22 penalties (13 for Houston, nine for Cleveland), including four personal fouls, Oilers cornerback Richard Johnson's interception set up kicker Tony Zendejas' game-clinching 49-yard field goal to give the Oilers a two-score lead with 1:54 left in the game. Houston won despite throwing three interceptions and losing their leading rusher Mike Rozier to injury after his first play of the game.

On the second play of the game, Felix Wright intercepted a pass from Warren Moon and returned it 13 yards to the Oilers 33-yard line to set up a 33-yard field goal by Matt Bahr. Houston responded with a 91-yard drive that consumed 9:44 and ended on Moon's 14-yard touchdown pass to running back Allen Pinkett. Then on the first play of Cleveland's next drive, Browns quarterback Don Strock, who was filling in for the injured Bernie Kosar and starting in a playoff game for the first time in his 16-season career, fumbled a snap and Oilers nose tackle Richard Byrd recovered the ball. Strock sprained his wrist while going after the ball on the play, and was replaced by third-string quarterback Mike Pagel. Meanwhile, Houston scored on their first play after the turnover with Pinkett's 16-yard touchdown run, making the score 14–3. They had a chance to score again near the end of the half, but Wright picked off Moon's pass in the end zone.

Pagel, now leading the Browns offense in what turned out to be the only playoff game he would play in his 11-season career, led the Browns back 71 yards on a drive that had four consecutive plays end with penalties (including a brawl between the teams) to score on Bahr's second field goal of the day. Bahr added one more field goal before the end of the half to cut the score to 14–9 at halftime.

In the third quarter, a controversial blown call occurred when Houston QB Warren Moon attempted a backward pass at his own 7 yard line. The pass ricocheted off the intended receiver and fell incomplete. Cleveland linebacker Clay Matthews recovered the assumed lateral at the Oilers' 5 yard line and went into the end zone for an apparent touchdown. Instant replay clearly showed that Moon's pass had traveled backwards and the Browns should have been either awarded a touchdown with Matthews' recovery and advance into the end zone, or given possession of the ball at the Oilers' 5 yard line. However, Houston was inexplicably granted possession of the ball at the 5 yard line, due to an inadvertent whistle stopping play, the very spot where referees agreed that Matthews had recovered the lateral for Cleveland. Later, Moon threw his third interception of the day, this one to Mark Harper, who returned it 17 yards with a facemask penalty against Alonzo Highsmith adding another 11. Cleveland took over on the Houston 11, and eventually scored on Pagel's 14-yard touchdown pass to Webster Slaughter that gave the Browns the lead, 16–14. However, the Oilers marched on a 76-yard drive in which Moon completed passes to Jamie Williams and Drew Hill for gains of 14 and 18 yards, while Pinkett had a 27-yard carry. Rookie running back Lorenzo White capped it off with a 1-yard touchdown run. After that, the Oilers stopped Cleveland on their next two drives, including Johnson's interception that set up Zendejas' 49-yard field goal, giving them a 24–16 lead with less than two minutes left in the game.

With no two-point conversion option (that would not be adopted by the league until 1994), Cleveland needed two scores to come back. Pagel led the Browns 71 yards to score on his 2-yard touchdown pass to Slaughter, cutting the score to 24–23 with 31 seconds left. Cleveland attempted an onside kick, which they failed to recover, but got another chance due to an Oilers penalty. Then the Browns recovered, but had to do it over again due to a penalty against them. Finally on the third try, Cleveland was penalized for touching the ball before it went 10 yards, resulting in a penalty that gave Houston the ball and the win.^[1]

Pagel completed 17 of 25 passes for 179 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. Wright had two interceptions.

This was the first postseason meeting between the Oilers and Browns.^[2]

Monday, December 26, 1988

NFC: Minnesota Vikings 28, Los Angeles Rams 17

Vikings safety Joey Browner recorded two interceptions in the first quarter to set up a two-touchdown lead that the Rams could never recover from. Browner also finished the game with seven tackles, had the Vikings' only sack of the day, and recovered a Rams onside kick attempt to seal the win.^[3]

Browner's first interception, on third and 17 from the Vikings 32, led to a 73-yard drive by Minnesota that featured Wade Wilson's 34-yard completion to reserve receiver Jim Gustafson and was capped by running back Alfred Anderson's 7-yard touchdown run. Then on the first play of the Rams next drive, Browner intercepted another pass from Jim Everett and returned it 14 yards to the Los Angeles 17-yard line, where Allen Rice took it in for a touchdown on the next play.

In the second quarter, the Rams had three chances to score, but only managed to get points once. First, Mike Lansford missed a 41-yard field goal attempt (later matched by a 44-yard miss by Minnesota's Chuck Nelson). Then they drove to a third and 1 on the Vikings 30 and were stopped for no gain on consecutive running plays. But just before halftime, Everett led the team 70 yards to cut the lead in half with his 3-yard touchdown pass to tight end Damone Johnson.

Minnesota took the second half kickoff and moved the ball all the way to the end zone with a 1-yard touchdown run by Anderson, increasing their lead to 21–7. The Rams countered with a 33-yard field goal from Lansford, but in the fourth quarter, Wilson completed a 44-yard pass to Anthony Carter on the LA 5-yard line. On the next play, he threw a touchdown pass to tight end Carl Hilton, giving the team a 28–10 lead and essentially putting the game out of reach. The Rams managed one more touchdown with 1:11 left in the game on Everett's 11-yard pass to tight end Pete Holohan, but Browner recovered their onside kick attempt and the Vikings ran out the rest of the clock.

Wilson finished the game with 253 passing yards and a touchdown, while Carter caught four passes for 102 yards. Rams linebacker Kevin Greene had three sacks.^[4]

To date, this was the final NFL playoff game to take place on a Monday until 2022.

This was the sixth postseason meeting between the Rams and Vikings. Minnesota won four of the previous five meetings.^[2]