page_title: 2008 NFL season
section_title: Formula
hierarchical_section_title: 2008 NFL season / Regular season / Formula
caption_attribution_description: English: New York Jets running back Thomas Jones scores a touchdown on a run while being tackled by several St. Louis Rams players.
context_page_description: The 2008 NFL season was the 89th regular season of the National Football League, themed with the slogan "Believe in Now."
  Super Bowl XLIII, the league's championship game, was at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, on February 1, 2009, with the Pittsburgh Steelers coming out victorious over the Arizona Cardinals 27–23 and winning their NFL-record sixth Vince Lombardi Trophy.
  Conversely, the Detroit Lions became the first NFL team with a winless season since the strike-shortened 1982 NFL season, finishing their season 0–16. For the first time since the NFL expanded to the sixteen game season in 1978, three teams won two or fewer games: the Lions, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the St. Louis Rams. Previously two teams won two or fewer games in 1979, 1981, 1983, 1985, 1992, and 2001. Also, for the first time since the 1985 Denver Broncos, a team finishing with an 11–5 record missed the playoffs.
  The regular season began on September 4 with the defending Super Bowl XLII champion New York Giants defeating the Washington Redskins 16–7, and concluded with the 2009 Pro Bowl on February 8, 2009, in Honolulu.
context_section_description: Based on the NFL's scheduling formula, the intraconference and interconference matchups for 2008 were:
caption: Thomas Jones scores a touchdown for the New York Jets against the St. Louis Rams in week 10 of the season
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