You’re probably aware by now, but something will happen in 2021 that hasn’t happened since 1987. This offseason the NFL announced that it would move to a 17-game, 18-week schedule for teams. In 1987, NFL teams played 15 games due to a strike and have played 16 games per season ever since.The NFL first moved to the now defunct 16-game schedule in 1978, with some hiccups such as the strike mentioned above, and a 1982 strike which led to only 9 games being played.
Overall though, since 1978 NFL stats have easy to compare to other season as for the most part 16 games have been played.