Before the NFL worried about player safety, there was apparently nothing wrong with putting a giant metal obstacle right where everyone was trying to score.
Imagine watching Patrick Mahomes drop back to pass at the five-yard line. Travis Kelce breaks toward the end zone, a defender follows him, and suddenly both have to navigate around a giant yellow goalpost.
Sounds ridiculous, right?
Well, welcome to the NFL before 1974.
For decades, the league actually positioned its goalposts directly on the goal line. Not behind the end zone, where they belong today. Right there, where running backs, receivers, and defensive players were trying to make a living.
And somehow, everybody just accepted it.
A Different Kind of Goal-Line Stand
From 1933 through 1973, NFL goalposts stood at the front of the end zone. The league had moved them there to encourage field goals and reduce the number of tie games.
Apparently, nobody was particularly concerned that football players might occasionally run into them.
And these weren’t always the familiar single-support goalposts we recognize today. Until 1967, NFL goalposts commonly featured an H-shaped design with two supports.
Imagine Vince Lombardi explaining his famous Packers sweep while also reminding his players to avoid running headfirst into a steel pole.
Football was simply a different animal.
Receivers sometimes used the goalposts to create separation from defenders. Running plays had to account for them. And quarterbacks operating near the goal line had one more obstacle to worry about.
The goalpost was essentially an extra defender. One that couldn’t be blocked, couldn’t be penalized, and never needed a water break.
The NFL Finally Comes to Its Senses
By the early 1970s, kickers were becoming increasingly accurate, and the league was concerned about the growing number of field goals.
In 1973, NFL kickers converted a then-record 543 field goals.
So, in 1974, the league made a significant change.
The goalposts were moved 10 yards back, to the rear of the end zone.
The move made field goals more difficult, opened up space for offensive players, and eliminated a rather obvious safety hazard.
It was part of a larger package of rule changes intended to make football more exciting.
Imagine that. Making the game safer and more entertaining simply by removing a metal pole from the field of play.
Sometimes the Old NFL Was Just Better Television
There’s something wonderful about watching old NFL footage.
The muddy fields. The enormous shoulder pads. The quarterbacks calling their own plays. The stadiums that looked like they were constructed sometime during the Roosevelt administration.
And, of course, those goalposts sitting right on the goal line.
It’s a reminder of just how much football has changed.
Today, the NFL has sophisticated replay technology, concussion protocols, computerized analytics, and rules governing practically every movement a player makes.
Fifty-something years ago, the league was still figuring out that perhaps putting a giant metal structure in the middle of the action wasn’t the greatest idea.
Then again, this was an era when players routinely rubbed dirt on injuries and went back into the game.
A goalpost was probably the least of their concerns.
Sports Americana — Because sometimes the best sports stories aren’t about who won or lost. They’re about how wonderfully strange the games used to be.
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