Home teams on pace for losing record

Philip Rivers could hardly believe the sound of silence when his Indianapolis Colts played in Detroit the first time the Lions let 250 family members and friends attend.

It’s probably no surprise to the 38-year-old quarterback that the NFL is on track for home teams to have a losing overall record for the first time since before the 1970 merger.

With roughly two-thirds of teams allowing limited fans and the rest none at all because of the pandemic, hosts went 65-67-1 through nine weeks. The last time visitors had a winning record this late in the season was 1983, when home teams rallied and finished with 15 more victories.

“I can’t tell you how dead it was,” Rivers said after the Colts’ 41-21 victory over the Lions on Nov. 1. “It was unbelievable.”

The Colts aren’t exactly packing them in at home, though. Indianapolis is among 11 teams allowing fewer than 10,000 fans per game. The Dallas Cowboys have hosted the NFL’s largest crowds but aren’t anywhere close to the maximum allowable capacity of 50% in Texas.

Quarterbacks can hear themselves think — even in the game’s biggest moments — and offenses don’t have to worry about the constant disruptions to their operations normally associated with hostile environments.

If road teams end up with a winning record for the first time since 1968 and just the second time since the early 1950s, the pandemic-limited crowds figure to be the factor players and coaches point to the most.

“The home-field advantage really isn’t what it used to be when you don’t have 75- 80,000 people screaming at you,” Washington coach Ron Rivera said. “So it does take on a whole different atmosphere. Whether that’s it or not, that seems to be one of the good reasons why.”

As expected, restrictions on fans are taking a huge chunk of revenue from teams. Marc Ganis, co-founder of Chicagobased consulting group Sportscorp and a confidant of many NFL owners, estimates each team will bring in $100 million less in revenues.