Throughout the history of the NFL, we have seen our fair share of teams that are seemingly unstoppable. These teams are exciting to watch and are Super Bowl favorites year in and year out. However, we have also seen our fair share of teams that leave watching the game through a gap in our fingers and shaking our heads. Here are the five best teams in NFL history, and the five worst.
Which NFL teams are arguably the best in history and which ones are probably the worst?
Best: 1991 Washington Redskins (Commanders)
The Washington Redskins posted a 14-2 record in 1991 on their way to the franchise’s third Super Bowl victory and fifth total championship. Washington was led by quarterback Mark Rypien who was only in his fourth year in the league. Earnest Byner led the team in rushing yards with just over 1,000 yards on the ground, and Gerald Rigs led the team in rushing touchdowns with eleven. Future Hall of Famer Art Monk didn’t even lead the team in receiving yards but still cracked 1,000. This team had seven Pro Bowl selections, the best offense in the league, and the second-best defense. Oh yeah, and they won the Super Bowl.
Worst: 1982 Baltimore Colts
The 1982 NFL season consisted of only nine games, and somehow, the Colts managed to lose eight of them. To make matters even worse, in the one game that the team didn’t lose, they tied. The Colts scored only 113 points on offense for the entire season, and the defense was ranked 26th out of 28 teams. The Colts had an 18:6 opponent to Colts passing touchdown ratio, meaning for every 18 passing touchdowns the opponents scored, the Colts only had six. The Rushing touchdown ratio was 10:4. What sets the Colts apart from other teams is the fact that in weeks eleven and twelve (because of the player strike, the NFL skipped weeks 3-10), the Colts were held to zero points on offense. The defense only allowed thirty or more points on three occasions all season, but the offense only scored twenty or more points three times during the season.
Best: 1985 Chicago Bears
The 1985 Chicago Bears are widely recognized as the best NFL defense of all time. This gritty, hard-hitting unit has gone down in the hearts of NFL fans who weren’t even alive to see them. The Bears were coached by Mike Ditka, who led his team to a 15-1 record and a Super Bowl victory. The Bears had the second-best offense in terms of points per game and the best defense. In a sixteen-game season, the Bears allowed less than 200 points. That is absolutely unheard of. Including the playoffs, the Bear’s defense allowed ten or fewer points fourteen times, four of which were shutouts. The Bears dropped one game against the Miami Dolphins on Monday Night Football but were able to bounce back and finish the season as the best defense in NFL history.
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Worst: 2008 Detroit Lions
The 2008 Lions were the first team to go 0-16 in the history of the NFL. So, congratulations, Lions fans, at last, you are first in something. The offense was towards the bottom of the NFL; however, it was the defense that was the biggest liability, letting up 517 points in the 2008 season. Only five of the sixteen losses were within one possession, ironically there was a stent where the team had four- one possession losses in a row. The defense allowed opposing offenses to drop 30 points eleven times, and the team went through three quarterbacks throughout the season. The team produced no Pro Bowlers that season.
Best: 1984 San Francisco 49ers
The 49ers posted a 15-1 record en route to winning the Super Bowl. The team produced seven Pro Bowl players and had the league’s second-best offense and defense. The team’s consistency set them apart from others that season, in addition to Joe Montana’s clutch gene during the six one-possession games that could have gone either way.
Worst: 2017 Cleveland Browns
In 2016, the Cleveland Browns were the worst team in the NFL, going 1-15. But what makes this so much worse is that in 2017 the team actually performed worse than before and was the second team in NFL history to go 0-16. The offense was atrocious and was bottom ten in yards and dead last in points scored. On the other side of the ball, the defense was middle of the pack in terms of actual yards allowed but had seemingly no red zone defense and allowed the second-most points in the entire league. Dang, the Browns couldn’t even win the title of worst defense.
Best: 2007 New England Patriots
The 2007 New England Patriots are victims of one of the greatest underdog stories in all of sports. The Patriots’ team had an unbelievably stacked roster with NFL guys like Tom Brady, Randy Moss, and Wes Welker on offense, and Mike Vrabel, Teddy Bruschi, and Vince Wilfork on defense. The Patriots finished the regular season 16-0 and were able to make the Super Bowl. Randy Moss hauled in an absurd 23 touchdowns, and Tom Brady threw 50 total touchdowns on the year. The offense cracked 30 points in 13 games, and the defense held opponents to 20 or fewer points fourteen times. Despite losing in the big game, the Patriots are widely regarded as having the most stacked roster of all time.
Worst: 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The 1976 season was an expansion year for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the team went 0-14. The Bucs had statistically the worst offense in the league, barely cracking 120 points on the entire year. The defense was the second-to-last in the NFL that season. The Buccaneers had less than 2,000 yards through the air on the year and went through three starting quarterbacks. On the ground, not a single running back cracked 600 yards. To make matters worse, the offense was shut out five times and didn’t score a touchdown until the fourth quarter of week four. However, this touchdown was actually a fumble return by the defense. The offense scored their first touchdown of the season later that game. The team’s leading receiver had only 390 yards and six touchdowns. On defense, the team allowed 412 points all year and allowed the opposing offense to drop 40 points on multiple occasions.
Best: 1972 Miami Dolphins
The Miami Dolphins are the only team in the Super Bowl era to go undefeated in the regular season and win the Super Bowl. In 1972, the Dolphins had two starting quarterbacks but also had two players eclipse 1,000 yards rushing. The defense only allowed 20 or more points on three occasions and allowed a 200-yard passer only once. The Dolphins allowed 171 points all season, and with the offense averaging the most points per game, it is no surprise that the 1972 Dolphins are regarded as the best team in NFL history.
Worst: 1942 Detroit Lions
The 2008 Lions were awful, but decades before that the 1942 Lions were just as bad. Detroit went 0-11 in 1942 and were dead last in points scored and allowed. Granted, there were only ten NFL teams at this point, but the Lions were held to only 38 points the entire season and did not score above ten points in any game. The Lions were shut out five times, and the defense wasn’t much better given the time period. Passing the ball was still relatively new in the game of football, but out of the nine players that passed the ball, the only one to throw a touchdown pass was Ned Mathews. He was listed as a Wingback and rarely saw the field. To show how bad this team actually was, the Lions’ leading passer had 258 yards, no touchdowns, and 13 interceptions. He made a Pro Bowl that year.
