Least dominant Super Bowl winners

Some teams waddled through the regular season like a duck with a log up its ass ... yet somehow managed henpeck their way to a Super Bowl championship. The 2006 Colts are high up on this list.

 

Here's a look at the Super Bowl champions who fielded the weakest teams in the regular season, based upon average point differential.

 

Team	Record	PPG Scored	PPG Allowed	PPG Differential
1980 Raiders	11-5	22.75	19.13	3.62
2006 Colts	12-4	26.69	22.50	4.19
1988 49ers	10-6	23.06	18.38	4.68
1987 Redskins	11-4	23.69	17.81	5.88
2001 Patriots	11-5	23.19	17.00	6.19

 

We almost could have made this list simply by looking at won-loss record. Just six Super Bowl champions have won 11 or fewer games. Four of them are represented on this list of least dominant Super Bowl winners.

 

The only teams missing are the 2005 Steelers, who went 11-5 but outscored their opponents by a healthy 8.19 PPG, and the 1967 Packers, who went 9-4-1 but outscored their opponents by 8.79 PPG.

 

Indy's remarkable postseason run this year is evident here and elsewhere. The Colts won 12 games this year, but their average game was a narrow 4.2-point victory. They also won with the worst defense ever fielded by a Super Bowl champion. Finally, the Colts are one of just six teams in history to win four games in the same postseason.

 

The 1987 Redskins were 11-4 in the strike-shortened 1987 season. The team fielded replacement players in three of those 15 games.