The funeral in the opening scene is that of Al's former Polk High football teammate Skippy, who was first glimpsed in the episode Hood in the Boyz (1993).
This was the first of a series of episodes that were meant to promote the NFL by focusing solely on football and featuring stars of the league, as FOX had just acquired the rights to NFL games for the first time starting with the 1994-95 TV/football seasons. Other episodes in the year before "Dud Bowl" aired also had jokes on NFL topics and poked fun at FOX's heavy promotion of its new NFL package.
This episode is not to be confused with "Dud Bowl II", which aired a year later as the 10th episode of the 10th season featuring Terry Bradshaw.
This episode was taped on November 4, 1994.