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All Time NFL Team Records

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

Rankings and Records Home

Welcome. Inside the Numbers is working on updating our Rankings 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.

1990-2007

Best Team Record: 2007 New England Patriots 18-1

Worst Team Record: 2007 Miami Dolphins, 2001 Carolina Panthers, 2000 San Diego Chargers, 1996 New York Jets, 1991 Indianapolis Colts, 1990 New England Patriots 1-15

Best Post Season Record - (min 4 games): New England Patriots 17-7 (.708)

Worst Post Season Record - (min 4 games): Detroit Lions 1-6 (.143)

Best Home Record (Regular Season): Denver Broncos 106-38 (.736)

Worst Home Record (Regular Season): Cleveland Browns 49-71 (.408)

Best Home Record (Post Season - min 4 games): New England Patriots 11-1 (.917)

Worst Home Record (Post Season - min 4 games): Kansas City Chiefs 2-3 (.400)

Best Road Record (Regular Season): Philadelphia Eagles 73-70-1 (.510)

Worst Road Record (Regular Season): Arizona Cardinals 34-110 (.236)

Best Road Record (Post Season - min 4 games): Baltimore Ravens 4-1 (.800)

Worst Road Record (Post Season - min 4 games): Detroit Lions, Oakland Raiders 0-5 (.000)

Team with the most ties: Pittsburgh Steelers, Atlanta Falcons, Philadelphia Eagles, New York Giants, Washington Redskins, Baltimore Ravens 1

Greatest NFL Regular Season Team

AFC Champion - NFC Champion - Super Bowl Champion
(of their year)

Underlined teams have notes you can view by hovering over them

Rank Year Team WG RP Combined
1 2007 Patriots 110.684 840.489 3.330
2 1991 Redskins 95.357 710.851 2.537
3 2003 Patriots 85.178 770.209 2.474
4 2005 Broncos 95.181 674.225 2.416
5 2004 Steelers 85.113 739.799 2.375
6 1990 Giants 111.778 528.167 2.361
7 1992 49ers 90.000 683.542 2.317
8 2005 Colts 80.757 730.468 2.237
9 2001 Rams 75.217 770.673 2.228
10 1993 Cowboys 86.553 675.128 2.205
11 1998 Vikings 84.175 688.510 2.188
12 2004 Patriots 77.718 707.331 2.088
13 2006 Chargers 89.523 588.287 2.001
14 1994 49ers 86.251 598.772 1.954
15 1990 49ers 72.719 700.363 1.942
16 2007 Colts 73.030 692.803 1.926
17 1998 Broncos 83.430 604.096 1.901
18 1998 Jets 67.417 724.699 1.889
19 1990 Chiefs 92.133 523.611 1.860
20 2006 Ravens 79.936 609.543 1.832
21 1996 Packers 81.277 577.292 1.762
22 2003 Colts 68.449 669.230 1.737
23 1995 Cowboys 72.366 635.195 1.726
24 1990 Bills 74.214 620.209 1.724
25 2006 Patriots 70.226 643.708 1.700
26 2005 Jaguars 89.269 478.277 1.644
27 2000 Titans 65.326 657.730 1.623
28 1996 Broncos 71.650 608.070 1.622
29 1998 Falcons 80.504 533.160 1.602
30 2006 Colts 67.586 633.407 1.602
31 2004 Chargers 87.603 477.272 1.600
32 1995 49ers 70.015 613.828 1.599
33 1997 Chiefs 78.872 543.970 1.596
34 1997 49ers 82.153 517.275 1.592
35 2004 Colts 73.936 577.332 1.580
36 2002 Buccaneers 79.851 525.717 1.562
37 2002 Raiders 70.842 594.924 1.560
38 1995 Chiefs 77.578 539.684 1.550
39 2007 Jaguars 74.070 561.908 1.534
40 1999 Jaguars 83.110 491.237 1.533

Worst NFL Regular Season Team

Rank Year Team WG RP Combined
545 2007 Dolphins 3.991 25.716 -1.911
544 2001 Panthers 4.216 30.385 -1.891
543 2000 Chargers 3.991 32.958 -1.888
542 1990 Patriots 3.358 44.725 -1.866
541 1996 Jets 3.230 49.227 -1.855
540 2001 Lions 7.614 34.695 -1.793
539 1994 Oilers 7.795 36.958 -1.781
538 1992 Seahawks 7.465 42.426 -1.772
537 2005 Texans 7.860 44.821 -1.754
536 1991 Colts 3.708 80.465 -1.744
535 2006 Raiders 7.091 60.077 -1.725
534 1999 Browns 6.960 67.940 -1.703
533 2004 49ers 6.954 69.605 -1.698
532 2002 Bengals 6.968 74.671 -1.681
531 2000 Cardinals 9.051 61.755 -1.671
530 1992 Patriots 7.525 78.136 -1.657
529 1998 Eagles 9.581 64.751 -1.648
528 2002 Lions 10.552 83.383 -1.565
527 1998 Colts 9.222 102.598 -1.537
526 1996 Falcons 9.241 103.677 -1.533

There are many different ways to rank football teams, so we’d like to take a moment to explain the method we chose, and why we chose it. The most important thing to us was that our rankings best predicted who would win future games. That’s it, period. We didn’t want to rank teams based at all on how gaudy some of their wins were, or how pretty they looked in victory. If we found a ranking that focused solely on who would win future games, then very likely it would naturally reflect teams that dominated their competition as well. So we didn’t base the rankings on stats like yards per pass, rushing touchdowns, or even margin of victory. We found that if you combined how sound a team’s fundamentals were (Win Grade) with the quality of their victories (Real Points) you created a ranking system that truly made accurate predictions on who would win. Below illustrates how this combination beats margin of victory, record, and offense/defense stats as an indicator of best team.

Since 1990
  • Team with greatest Margin of Victory at end of regular season: 30 post season wins and 6 correct Super Bowl champions
  • Team with best record at end of regular season (ties to MOV): 25 post season wins and 5 correct Super Bowl champions
  • Team with the highest ranked offense and defense at the end of regular season: 30 post season wins and 6 correct Super Bowl champions
  • Team with greatest ITN Combined Ranking at end of regular season: 33 post season wins and 8 correct Super Bowl champions

For more info on measuring up our stats visit the Ranking and Prediction Comparisons page. Or you can join in the debate with other people on the ranking of great regular season teams. Join the debate!

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Greatest NFL Post Season Team

AFC Champion - NFC Champion - Super Bowl Champion
(of their year)

Underlined teams have notes you can view by hovering over them

Rank Year Team WG RP Combined
1 2005 Steelers 22.728 567.555 3.642
2 1990 Giants 38.932 350.779 3.589
3 2000 Ravens 30.142 422.170 3.385
4 2007 Giants 22.785 515.590 3.383
5 1997 Broncos 26.050 420.374 3.113
6 2004 Patriots 25.626 369.587 2.829
7 1992 Cowboys 24.429 337.862 2.592
8 1994 49ers 31.730 212.244 2.427
9 2002 Buccaneers 22.396 303.777 2.289
10 1996 Packers 27.385 235.905 2.267
11 1998 Broncos 25.602 250.385 2.226
12 1991 Redskins 27.050 230.541 2.218
13 2001 Patriots 19.193 327.594 2.203
14 2006 Colts 13.685 394.001 2.185
15 2003 Panthers 22.013 268.620 2.087
16 1999 Titans 16.610 328.496 2.042
17 1995 Cowboys 24.281 222.191 1.998
18 2003 Patriots 18.938 262.418 1.858
19 1992 Bills 14.827 245.634 1.509
20 1999 Rams 13.992 232.365 1.388
21 1990 Bills 15.873 193.088 1.311
22 1993 Cowboys 12.206 208.150 1.151
23 1997 Packers 10.248 231.041 1.141
24 1995 Colts 13.350 184.331 1.104
25 1998 Falcons 9.163 230.873 1.070
26 2001 Rams 12.638 180.605 1.040
27 2005 Seahawks 15.868 126.893 0.976
28 1995 Packers 12.564 167.287 0.968
29 2006 Patriots 8.071 216.829 0.929
30 2001 Eagles 12.784 155.637 0.923
31 2005 Panthers 8.994 198.226 0.894
32 2007 Chargers 10.222 178.864 0.876
33 1996 Jaguars 8.218 200.722 0.857
34 1993 Bills 11.710 144.467 0.798
35 2007 Patriots 7.126 192.093 0.743
36 1994 Chargers 4.941 216.584 0.727
37 1993 Chiefs 4.840 200.352 0.638
38 2003 Colts 6.323 178.911 0.625
39 1992 Eagles 8.135 119.443 0.441
40 2004 Jets 5.921 147.337 0.440

Worst NFL Post Season Team

AFC Champion - NFC Champion - Super Bowl Champion
(of their year)

Underlined teams have notes you can view by hovering over them

Rank Year Team WG RP Combined
216 1990 Chiefs -7.075 -13.907 -1.210
215 1995 Chiefs -7.130 -5.799 -1.172
214 1995 Lions -6.743 9.991 -1.068
213 1998 Cowboys -6.925 12.431 -1.067
212 2007 Buccaneers -4.718 -1.805 -0.997
211 2004 Chargers -3.943 0.443 -0.936
210 2001 Bears -2.392 -14.307 -0.911
209 1992 Steelers -3.034 -2.269 -0.891
208 2005 Giants -3.856 9.299 -0.886
207 1995 Falcons -2.396 -9.244 -0.885
206 1992 Vikings -2.684 -5.545 -0.885
205 1997 Jaguars -3.281 4.806 -0.871
204 2002 Packers -3.044 1.922 -0.871
203 1990 Raiders -7.133 58.379 -0.848
202 1991 Jets -2.544 0.048 -0.848
201 2001 Buccaneers -4.579 27.277 -0.841
200 1992 Chiefs -3.768 18.892 -0.831
199 2007 Colts -1.947 -3.627 -0.828
198 1992 Saints -2.992 11.017 -0.821
197 1996 Eagles -2.703 9.289 -0.811

We wipe the slate clean when analyzing the greatest post season teams of all time, meaning that what a team did in the regular season does not count at all. Then we use what each team accrues over the post season with Win Grade and Real Points to determine the quality of that post season team. If you believe that the greatest teams of all time are based only on what they did in the post season (we do not) then these rankings are what you’re looking for. We are pretty sure that these rankings are going to be the subject of some heated debate, but we aren’t trying to rank the most popular teams. We stand by our rankings 100%, and welcome any comments on them, positive or negative.

How did we do on predicting the post season? Visit Ranking and Prediction Comparisons to find out. Defend your team! Or send love/hate messages about these rankings at Great Post Season NFL Teams. Well maybe not love/hate, but you know what we mean. Join the debate!

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Greatest NFL Complete Season Team

AFC Champion - NFC Champion - Super Bowl Champion
(of their year)

Underlined teams have notes you can view by hovering over them

Rank Year Team W-L WG RP Combined
1 1990 Giants 16-3 150.710 878.946 3.598
2 2007 Patriots 18-1 117.810 1032.582 3.259
3 1991 Redskins 17-2 122.406 941.393 3.135
4 2004 Patriots 17-2 103.344 1076.918 3.053
5 2003 Patriots 17-2 104.116 1032.627 2.961
6 1994 49ers 16-3 117.981 811.016 2.719
7 1998 Broncos 17-2 109.031 854.481 2.630
8 2005 Steelers 15-5 80.619 1077.660 2.560
9 1996 Packers 16-3 108.662 813.198 2.521
10 1997 Broncos 16-4 96.209 913.312 2.496
11 1993 Cowboys 15-4 98.759 883.278 2.477
12 2000 Ravens 16-4 98.790 877.864 2.465
13 2006 Colts 16-4 81.271 1027.407 2.451
14 2002 Buccaneers 15-4 102.247 829.494 2.421
15 2001 Rams 16-3 87.855 951.278 2.407
16 1995 Cowboys 15-4 96.647 857.386 2.368
17 1992 Cowboys 16-3 95.732 848.974 2.327
18 1999 Titans 16-4 85.638 914.798 2.269
19 1990 Bills 15-4 90.087 813.297 2.117
20 2004 Steelers 16-2 82.915 842.645 2.032
21 1998 Falcons 16-3 89.667 764.033 1.986
22 2007 Giants 14-6 68.085 953.232 1.981
23 2006 Patriots 14-5 78.297 860.537 1.976
24 2005 Broncos 14-4 91.722 725.057 1.935
25 1998 Vikings 16-2 91.033 723.656 1.917
26 1992 49ers 15-3 89.308 733.510 1.903
27 2003 Colts 14-5 74.772 848.141 1.869
28 1997 Packers 15-4 77.281 825.444 1.867
29 1999 Rams 16-3 100.716 610.720 1.850
30 1990 49ers 15-3 78.652 798.317 1.831
31 1992 Bills 14-6 71.439 836.201 1.767
32 2005 Colts 14-3 82.159 739.766 1.763
33 2005 Seahawks 15-4 94.960 598.307 1.694
34 1993 Bills 14-5 69.310 807.085 1.649
35 1998 Jets 13-5 70.416 792.976 1.638
36 2003 Panthers 14-6 72.950 750.958 1.590
37 2001 Patriots 14-5 76.057 721.869 1.586
38 2002 Raiders 13-6 74.046 736.906 1.579
39 2006 Chargers 14-3 89.634 593.824 1.567
40 1997 49ers 14-4 87.950 589.208 1.519

We describe the greatest NFL team of all time as the team that played best from the first snap on week one until the final second ticks off the Super Bowl clock. Win Grade and Real Points look beyond yardages, time of possession, and popularity into the core of each team to find what really makes them win week after week. Going into the Super Bowl, the team with the greater ITN Combined Ranking has won 15 of the last 18 championships. The three teams that lost, the 2007 Patriots, 2001 Rams, and 1999 Titans lost by a combined 13 points. Consider that the margin of victory in the Super Bowl over the same period of time is 13 points. The Titans drove to the 1 yard line before running out of time, the 2007 Giants took the lead from the Patriots with 35 seconds left on the clock, and the 2001 Patriots kicked the game winning field goal as time expired. No system is perfect or ever will be, and that’s what we love most about sports, but if we are putting money on the line for the greatest team in the last two decades, we’re putting it on the 1990 Giants.

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Greatest NFL Combined Post Seasons Team

Rank Team Wins WG RP Combined
1 Patriots 17 91.838 1650.004 2.749
2 Cowboys 12 60.240 1193.775 1.501
3 Giants 10 64.237 1060.827 1.407
4 Steelers 13 57.961 1133.539 1.375
5 Packers 12 64.270 1015.983 1.348
6 Bills 10 55.450 794.678 0.875
7 Eagles 10 52.140 798.633 0.813
8 Broncos 9 46.444 827.896 0.736
9 49ers 10 51.943 717.606 0.702
10 Colts 9 33.933 850.767 0.511
11 Redskins 7 43.284 677.528 0.472
12 Panthers 6 33.447 534.759 0.083
13 Ravens 5 31.204 512.944 0.008
14 Rams 6 27.782 537.224 -0.030
15 Titans (Oilers) 6 21.321 601.329 -0.076
16 Dolphins 6 21.546 517.649 -0.183
17 Falcons 5 20.206 479.810 -0.260
18 Buccaneers 5 19.964 474.235 -0.272
19 Vikings 5 22.103 426.509 -0.292
20 Chargers 5 11.687 495.902 -0.412
21 Raiders 6 12.666 423.125 -0.489
22 Seahawks 4 21.364 226.915 -0.571
23 Jaguars 5 6.353 439.665 -0.596
24 Jets 3 10.770 312.394 -0.674
25 Bears 4 12.461 209.995 -0.775
26 Saints 2 2.751 168.935 -1.027
27 Cardinals 1 4.353 98.008 -1.088
28 Chiefs 3 -10.580 325.000 -1.093
29 Browns 1 5.440 64.251 -1.111
30 Bengals 1 2.364 86.766 -1.144
31 Lions 1 -3.635 151.434 -1.181
32 Texans 0 0.000 0.000 -1.307

Greatest NFL Combined Complete Seasons Team

Rank Team Regular Season Wins Post Season Wins Super Bowl Wins Combined Average
1 Patriots 159 17 3 0.508
2 Steelers 174.5 13 1 0.500
3 Broncos 171 9 2 0.467
4 Cowboys 163 12 3 0.425
5 Packers 171 12 1 0.404
6 49ers 166 10 1 0.402
7 Eagles 163.5 10 0 0.346
8 Chiefs 166 3 0 0.320
9 Colts 155 9 1 0.260
10 Titans (Oilers) 158 6 0 0.241
11 Jaguars 113 5 0 0.227
12 Giants 151.5 10 2 0.217
13 Bills 156 10 0 0.182
14 Dolphins 156 6 0 0.116
15 Vikings 157 5 0 0.101
16 Ravens 96.5 5 1 0.024
17 Redskins 137.5 7 1 0.022
18 Chargers 138 5 0 -0.059
19 Raiders 134 6 0 -0.109
20 Panthers 97 6 0 -0.154
21 Buccaneers 134 5 1 -0.181
22 Bears 138 4 0 -0.181
23 Seahawks 143 4 0 -0.200
24 Jets 127 3 0 -0.230
25 Rams 126 6 1 -0.253
26 Saints 133 2 0 -0.280
27 Falcons 127.5 5 0 -0.347
28 Lions 119 1 0 -0.465
29 Bengals 106 1 0 -0.649
30 Browns 89 1 0 -0.685
31 Texans 32 0 0 -0.781
32 Cardinals 101 1 0 -0.795

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