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All Time NFL Offense Records

(per Inside the Numbers statistics, not official NFL records)

Rankings and Records Home

Welcome. Inside the Numbers is working on updating our Past Years and Records pages. Rather than wait until we have completed updating all of our records, we will put up the records from 1990 - Present. When the 1980's are done they will be added on, and so on until we have reached 1966. Our target date for this page is: October 20th, 2008. We will keep you informed on when pages get updated on our homepage.

We have two ideas we'd like to run across you before you view these records.

1. Using offense/defense yards per game and points per game as a major factor in making football picks is a poor method. It is common to see other websites and experts justify their rankings or predictions by pointing directly to how many rush yards a team averages, or even more commonly to how many points they score per game or allow per game. Unfortunately this does not have a history of predicting which team is going to win in a matchup. If you want more details on why this is, and why we rank the teams the way we do, visit our Ranking and Prediction Comparisons page.

2. Records that only look at a team's yards/points does not accurately reflect who had the best offense/defense. This is due to rules changes over the years, and that the quality of teams also changes from year to year. There have been a lot of rules changes since 1966, particularly in the last few years that have benefited offensive stats. This skews any ranking that looks only at how many yards or points a team had without taking into consideration rule changes. Also, it does not take into account how difficult a teams schedule was, or the quality of teams in that year. Hence below you will see two sets of rankings, one which is a ranking of teams by the numbers straight up. The other is our method of viewing a teams offense. Again we like to stress our first point though, which is that these numbers, as fun as they are to view and debate, are not accurate indicators of how good a team really is.

Overall Offense by Yards and PPG

Underlined teams have notes you can view
by hovering over them

Rnk Year Team Off Pts
1 2000 Rams 6.9
2 2007 Patriots 6.7
3 1998 49ers 6.3
4 2004 Chiefs 5.9
5 2001 Rams 5.9
6 1998 Vikings 5.8
7 1999 Rams 5.7
8 2000 Broncos 5.7
9 2004 Colts 5.5
10 1998 Broncos 5.3
11 1993 49ers 5.1
12 1991 Bills 4.8
13 2006 Chargers 4.8
14 1994 49ers 4.6
15 2002 Chiefs 4.5
16 2000 Raiders 4.4
17 1997 Broncos 4.3
18 2003 Vikings 4.2
19 1992 49ers 4.2
20 2005 Seahawks 4.2

Overall Offense by ITN Ranking

Underlined teams have notes you can view
by hovering over them

Rnk Year Team Off Pts
1 2001 Rams 2.29
2 1993 49ers 2.17
3 1998 49ers 2.07
4 1999 Rams 1.96
5 2007 Patriots 1.83
6 1991 Bills 1.79
7 2000 Rams 1.79
8 1994 49ers 1.77
9 1998 Vikings 1.76
10 1992 49ers 1.76
11 1997 Broncos 1.69
12 1998 Broncos 1.64
13 2004 Chiefs 1.63
14 2000 Broncos 1.52
15 1991 Redskins 1.48
16 2004 Colts 1.48
17 2006 Chargers 1.39
18 1992 Bills 1.38
19 2003 Vikings 1.35
20 2002 Chiefs 1.31

The 2001 Rams are hands down the greatest offense since 1990. If you want balance, you got it. They are the only team since 1990 to have over 2,000 yards rushing, 4,500 yards passing, and 500 points scored. There are some other great, great offenses in this list no doubt, but when you consider competition, rule changes, and the numbers, these Rams truly played the best offense. That is why to this date, their loss in Super Bowl XXXVI to the Patriots is the 2nd biggest upset of the last two decades.

Offensive Stats by Yards and PPG

Best Regular Season Rush Offense

Rnk Year Team Rush Yds
1 2006 Falcons 183.7
2 2001 Steelers 173.4
3 2003 Ravens 167.1
4 2004 Falcons 167.0
5 2007 Vikings 164.6
6 2003 Broncos 164.3
7 2006 Chargers 161.1
8 2003 Packers 159.9
9 1990 Eagles 159.8
10 2005 Falcons 159.1
11 1998 49ers 159.0
12 2006 Jaguars 158.8
13 2005 Broncos 158.7
14 2002 Vikings 156.7
15 2002 Dolphins 156.4
16 1997 Steelers 154.9
17 2000 Raiders 154.4
18 1998 Broncos 154.2
19 2004 Steelers 154.0
20 1997 Lions 154.0

Best Regular Season Scoring Offense

Rnk Year Team PPG
1 2007 Patriots 36.8
2 1998 Vikings 34.8
3 2000 Rams 33.8
4 1999 Rams 32.9
5 2004 Colts 32.6
6 1994 49ers 31.6
7 2001 Rams 31.4
8 1998 Broncos 31.3
9 2006 Chargers 30.8
10 2000 Broncos 30.3
11 1991 Redskins 30.3
12 2003 Chiefs 30.3
13 2004 Chiefs 30.2
14 2000 Raiders 29.9
15 1998 49ers 29.9
16 1993 49ers 29.6
17 1997 Broncos 29.5
18 2002 Chiefs 29.2
19 1995 49ers 28.6
20 1991 Bills 28.6

Best Regular Season Pass Offense

Rnk Year Team Pass Yds
1 2000 Rams 327.0
2 1990 Oilers 300.3
3 2007 Patriots 295.7
4 2001 Rams 291.4
5 2004 Colts 288.9
6 1991 Oilers 288.8
7 1995 49ers 288.0
8 2004 Vikings 282.3
9 2006 Saints 281.4
10 2002 Raiders 279.7
11 2004 Packers 278.1
12 1994 Patriots 277.8
13 2005 Cardinals 277.3
14 1994 Dolphins 276.2
15 2004 Chiefs 275.4
16 1995 Lions 272.5
17 1993 Dolphins 272.1
18 1999 Rams 272.1
19 2007 Packers 270.9
20 1998 Vikings 270.5

Offensive Stats by ITN Ranking

Best Regular Season Rush Offense per ITN

Rnk Year Team Rush Yds
1 2001 Steelers 3.38
2 2006 Falcons 2.79
3 2007 Vikings 2.70
4 2004 Falcons 2.47
5 1998 49ers 2.43
6 1996 Broncos 2.36
7 2003 Ravens 2.32
8 2003 Broncos 2.19
9 1998 Broncos 2.18
10 1990 Eagles 2.17
11 1996 Steelers 2.12
12 1992 Bills 2.07
13 1994 Steelers 2.04
14 1997 Steelers 2.02
15 1997 Lions 1.98
16 2003 Packers 1.98
17 2005 Falcons 1.98
18 2005 Broncos 1.96
19 2007 Jaguars 1.93
20 2002 Vikings 1.92

Best Regular Season Scoring Offense per ITN

Rnk Year Team Rush Yds
1 2001 Rams 3.10
2 1994 49ers 3.08
3 2007 Patriots 3.03
4 1999 Rams 2.86
5 1993 49ers 2.82
6 1997 Broncos 2.70
7 1998 Vikings 2.62
8 2004 Colts 2.56
9 2000 Rams 2.50
10 1991 Redskins 2.44
11 1996 Packers 2.43
12 2006 Chargers 2.36
13 2003 Chiefs 2.11
14 1991 Bills 2.08
15 1992 49ers 2.03
16 2004 Chiefs 2.00
17 1995 49ers 1.96
18 2002 Chiefs 1.95
19 1998 Broncos 1.94
20 1990 Bills 1.87

Best Regular Season Pass Offense per ITN

Rnk Year Team Rush Yds
1 1990 Oilers 3.28
2 1991 Oilers 3.01
3 2001 Rams 2.94
4 2000 Rams 2.76
5 1993 Dolphins 2.27
6 2007 Patriots 2.25
7 2006 Saints 2.24
8 1998 Vikings 2.23
9 1993 49ers 2.17
10 2002 Raiders 2.10
11 1998 49ers 2.08
12 1990 49ers 2.06
13 2003 Colts 2.02
14 1995 49ers 1.97
15 2005 Cardinals 1.97
16 1996 Jaguars 1.92
17 2004 Colts 1.92
18 2006 Colts 1.88
19 1999 Rams 1.83
20 1997 Seahawks 1.83