The 1976

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

was the NFL's 26th annual

all-star game An all-star game is an exhibition game that purports to showcase the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or div ...

which featured the outstanding performers from the 1975 season. The game was played on Monday night, January 26, 1976, at the new

Louisiana Superdome The Caesars Superdome, commonly known as the Superdome (formerly known as Mercedes-Benz Superdome), is a multi-purpose stadium located in the Central Business District of New Orleans, Louisiana. It is the home stadium of the New Orleans Saints ...

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, with 32,108 in attendance. The final score was

NFC NFC may refer to: Psychology * Need for cognition, in psychology * Need for closure, social psychological term Sports * NFC Championship Game, the National Football Conference Championship Game * NCAA Football Championship (Philippines) * Nati ...

23, AFC 20. It was also the first Pro Bowl game played indoors. The game featured the best players in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

as selected by the league's coaches.

John Madden John Earl Madden (April 10, 1936 – December 28, 2021) was an American football coach and sports commentator in the National Football League (NFL). He served as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders from 1969 to 1978, who he led to eight pla ...

of the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

led the AFC team against an

team led by

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...

head coach Chuck Knox. The AFC's Billy "White Shoes" Johnson was named the game's

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

on the strength of a 90-yard punt return touchdown and a second punt return of 55 yards that set up a field goal. The referee was

Fred Silva Fred Silva (October 18, 1927 – December 3, 2004) was an American football official in the National Football League (NFL) for 21 seasons from 1968 to 1988. Silva was widely known for his coolness under fire on the football field and clapping ...

. Players on the winning NFC team received $2,000 apiece while the AFC participants each took home $1,500.

Rosters

The 40-man Pro Bowl squads consisted of the following players:

Offense

Defense

Special teams

Roster Notes: :bold denotes player who participated in game :Injured player; selected but did not play :Replacement selection due to injury or vacancy

Number of selections by team

Note: these numbers include players selected to the team but unable to play as well as replacements for these injured players, so there are more than 40 players in each conference.

References

{{NFL on ABC Pro Bowl

American football in New Orleans Football, American Caesars Superdome January 1976 sports events in the United States