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Enjoy a little statistical holiday dessert
Cold, Hard Football Facts for November 25, 2007
(Ed. Note: We realize it's been a little slow around here since Thanksgiving. We're just now sleeping off our turkey- and alcohol-induced comas and getting back on track. Enjoy this little statistical dessert here. We'll be cranking full speed again later today and for the rest of the season.)
About a year or two we took a look at the most dominant teams of the Super Bowl Era. We listed only those teams which outscored their opponents by a 2-to-1 margin or greater over the course of an entire season. Twenty-three teams made the cut.
Barring a complete collapse over the final six games of 2007, New England will become the 24th.
The list validates New England's utter dominance. But it also provides a warning for the Patriots.
VALIDATION
The single most dominant team of the Super Bowl Era to date was the 1968 Colts, who outscored their opponents by an average of 18.4 PPG. The 2007 Patriots are wiping out that margin, outscoring opponents by 25.4 PPG. How vast is that different historically?
Well, consider this: the 7.0 PPG margin between the 2007 Patriots and 1968 Colts is greater than the PPG difference between the No. 1 team on the list, the 1968 Colts (+18.4 PPG) and the No. 22 team on the list, the 1966 Packers (+12.3 PPG).
WARNING
The warning for the 2007 Patriots comes from those very same 1968 Colts who currently qualify as the most dominant team of the Super Bowl Era.
Those 1968 Colts, you might remember, lost to the Jets in Super Bowl III. As the Cold, Hard Football Facts have often noted, New York's upset of the Colts that day wasn't just spectacular because the upstart AFL beat the established NFL, it was spectacular because the upstart AFL beat the very best the NFL could throw its way.
A look down the list reveals other warnings, too: only one of the five most dominant teams of the Super Bowl Era, the 1999 Rams, went on to win a championship.
Some teams were serial offenders:
- From 1967 to 1975, the L.A. Rams gave us three of the most dominant teams in modern history. Not one of those teams even reached the Super Bowl.
- From 1969 to 1975, the Vikings also gave us three of the most dominant teams in modern history. Only one of those three teams even reached the Super Bowl, where the 1969 Vikings were stomped by the Chiefs.
Here's the complete list of the most dominant teams of the Super Bowl Era. We used a 2-to-1 scoring margin as our criteria for "dominant" because pure scoring differential would weight the list unfairly in favor of those teams which played 16 games rather than 14. We're also going to compile a list that includes every team in NFL history to outscoure its opponents by a 2-to-1 margin.
MOST DOMINANT TEAMS OF THE SUPER BOWL ERA
|
|
Team |
Record |
PF-PA |
PPG-PPGA |
PPG Difference |
Result |
|
|
2007 Patriots |
10-0 |
411-157 |
41.1-15.7 |
+25.4 |
tbd |
|
1 |
1968 Colts |
13-1 |
402-144 |
28.7-10.3 |
+18.4 |
Lost SB III |
|
2 |
1999 Rams |
13-3 |
526-242 |
32.9-15.1 |
+17.8 |
Won SB XXXIV |
|
3 |
1969 Vikings |
12-2 |
379-133 |
27.1-9.5 |
+17.6 |
Lost SB IV |
|
4 |
1968 Cowboys |
12-2 |
431-186 |
30.8-13.3 |
+17.5 |
Lost div. round* |
|
5 |
1967 Raiders (AFL) |
13-1 |
468-233 |
33.4-16.6 |
+16.8 |
Lost SB II |
|
6 |
1991 Redskins |
14-2 |
485-224 |
30.3-14.0 |
+16.3 |
Won SB XXVI |
|
7 |
1985 Bears |
15-1 |
456-198 |
28.5-12.4 |
+16.1 |
Won SB XX |
|
8 |
1984 49ers |
15-1 |
475-227 |
29.7-14.2 |
+15.5 |
Won SB XIX |
|
9 |
1996 Packers |
13-3 |
456-210 |
28.5-13.1 |
+15.4 |
Won SB XXXI |
|
10 |
1972 Dolphins |
14-0 |
385-171 |
27.5-12.2 |
+15.3 |
Won SB VII |
|
11 |
1973 L.A. Rams |
12-2 |
388-178 |
27.7-12.7 |
+15.0 |
Lost div. round |
|
12 |
1975 Steelers |
12-2 |
373-162 |
26.6-11.6 |
+15.0 |
Won SB X |
|
13 |
1976 Steelers |
10-4 |
342-138 |
24.4-9.9 |
+14.5 |
Lost AFC title |
|
14 |
1967 L.A. Rams |
11-1-2 |
398-196 |
28.4-14.0 |
+14.4 |
Lost div. round* |
|
15 |
1968 Chiefs (AFL) |
12-2 |
371-170 |
26.5-12.1 |
+14.4 |
Lost div. round** |
|
16 |
1975 Vikings |
12-2 |
377-180 |
26.9-12.9 |
+14.0 |
Lost div. round |
|
17 |
1973 Dolphins |
12-2 |
343-150 |
24.5-10.7 |
+13.8 |
Won SB VIII |
|
18 |
1970 Vikings |
12-2 |
335-143 |
23.9-10.2 |
+13.7 |
Lost div. round |
|
19 |
1969 Chiefs (AFL) |
11-3 |
359-177 |
25.6-12.6 |
+13.0 |
Won SB IV |
|
20 |
1975 L.A. Rams |
12-2 |
312-135 |
22.3-9.6 |
+12.7 |
Lost NFC title |
|
21 |
1971 Colts |
10-4 |
313-140 |
22.4-10.0 |
+12.4 |
Lost AFC title |
|
22 |
1966 Packers |
12-2 |
335-163 |
23.9-11.6 |
+12.3 |
Won SB I |
|
23 |
2000 Ravens |
12-4 |
333-165 |
20.8-10.3 |
+10.5 |
Won SB XXXV |
* In the pre-merger NFL, these teams lost what were then called the conference championships. However, these games were the equivalent of today’s divisional playoffs. The winners of the pre-merger “conference championships” would play for the NFL championship (the equivalent of today’s conference championship) and then the Super Bowl.
** The 1968 Chiefs finished in a tie with the Raiders atop the AFL’s Western Division. The two teams met in a one-game playoff to determine the division champion, who would then face the Eastern Division champion Jets for the AFL championship. The Raiders beat the Chiefs, 41-6.
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