Weakest playoff team, '78-thru-'89

[74_75_78_79_]

In the twelve NFL seasons that was the 5-playoff-teams-per-conference era, what was the weakest team that made it beyond Week #16?

Of course let's exclude '82 and only mention '85 Browns if you think they aren't the worst. Being coached by Marty, and almost beating Dolphins on road, being a contender the following few years could very well get them off the hook.

[7DnBrnc53]

The 1983 Broncos would have to be a candidate:

1.They allowed more points than they scored (327 to 302).
2. They were 26th in total offense, and 21st in total defense.
3. They lost four games by 14 or more points.

[ChrisBabcock]

Going back and reviewing, I think I've got to give it to the '78 Falcons. They did beat Philly in the WC round though. Got outscored by 50 in the regular season and it doesn't look like they had much punch on either side of the ball. The defense only came up with 12 interceptions. 6 by Roland Lawrence who was probably their best defensive player during that era.

I'll give honorable mention to both 1989 AFC WC teams. Houston got outscored by 47 in the regular season but that's skewed by thrashings at the hands of the Chiefs and Bengals. Pittsburgh got outscored by 61. 92-10 in the first 2 games contributed to that. 10 TD passes was pretty pathetic.

[Todd Pence]

It's between the 1978 Falcons (maybe the luckiest team of all time, although they did play a helluva game against Dallas in the playoffs - certainly putting up a much better fight than the Rams would next week) and the 1979 Bucs.

[Rupert Patrick]

I would think the 1986 Chiefs would have to be on the short list.

The 1981 Bucs were also a very weak team, weaker than the 1979 Bucs in my opinion.

[BD Sullivan]

Through 11 weeks of the 1983 season, the Steelers were 9-2 and in the midst of a seven-game winning streak. However, they lost four out of their last five games, getting outscored, 115-44 in the four losses. Then, in their one playoff game, they got drilled by the Raiders, 38-10

[Todd Pence]

One other consideration to the teams thus far would be the 1987 Vikings, but their resume is skewed negatively by their awful strike team, arguably the worst outside of the Giants.

[L.C. Greenwood]

Going back and reviewing, I think I've got to give it to the '78 Falcons. They did beat Philly in the WC round though. Got outscored by 50 in the regular season and it doesn't look like they had much punch on either side of the ball. The defense only came up with 12 interceptions. 6 by Roland Lawrence who was probably their best defensive player during that era.

I'll give honorable mention to both 1989 AFC WC teams. Houston got outscored by 47 in the regular season but that's skewed by thrashings at the hands of the Chiefs and Bengals. Pittsburgh got outscored by 61. 92-10 in the first 2 games contributed to that. 10 TD passes was pretty pathetic.

That 1989 Steelers team really did turn things around after that horrible start. Beat Cleveland on the road, upset Houston in the WC game, and pushed the heavily favored Broncos to the limit in the divisional round, losing by a single point. Had the Steelers pulled out the Denver game, they would have faced the Browns again in Cleveland with the AFC title in the balance.

[74_75_78_79_]

Going back and reviewing, I think I've got to give it to the '78 Falcons. They did beat Philly in the WC round though. Got outscored by 50 in the regular season and it doesn't look like they had much punch on either side of the ball. The defense only came up with 12 interceptions. 6 by Roland Lawrence who was probably their best defensive player during that era.

I'll give honorable mention to both 1989 AFC WC teams. Houston got outscored by 47 in the regular season but that's skewed by thrashings at the hands of the Chiefs and Bengals. Pittsburgh got outscored by 61. 92-10 in the first 2 games contributed to that. 10 TD passes was pretty pathetic.

That 1989 Steelers team really did turn things around after that horrible start. Beat Cleveland on the road, upset Houston in the WC game, and pushed the heavily favored Broncos to the limit in the divisional round, losing by a single point. Had the Steelers pulled out the Denver game, they would have faced the Browns again in Cleveland with the AFC title in the balance.

'78 Falcons makes playoffs but not Gritz Blitz from the year before, go figure.

Yes, still some anemic stuff for the '89 Steelers after that '92-10' start. You had that 27-0 drubbing at the Astrodome in Week #7, Denver whipping them in the regular season game at Mile High two weeks later, and then the third shutout suffered at hands of a now-bad Bears team the week after that. The 5-1 finish from there along, of course, with what happened in the playoffs ought to propel them out of the conversation.

For the longest time I felt losing that Denver playoff was a blessing being that I think they win at Cleveland the following week which means they would have been the ones to be embarrassed by the Niners instead. Inspired by a couple previous posts, I changed that thought recently. Of course it wouldn't have been close on the final scoreboard, but Noll would have slowed the game down just enough to keep things somewhat respectable (maybe even an early Steeler-lead or two) well enough into the second half. Echoing what's been said already by someone here, a hypo-Pitt/SF SBXXIV likely plays out like their regular season match at Candlestick the following year ('respectable' 20-pt-loss; or maybe 13 being Foster wouldn't yet be around to muff up a kickoff-return, lol). Yeah, not saying it just because they're my favorite Steeler team, but they really shouldn't be on this list.

Through 11 weeks of the 1983 season, the Steelers were 9-2 and in the midst of a seven-game winning streak. However, they lost four out of their last five games, getting outscored, 115-44 in the four losses. Then, in their one playoff game, they got drilled by the Raiders, 38-10

Yes '83 Steelers a different story. That 1-5 skid especially Turkey Day and divisional round demolitions to Lions & Raiders respectively. That 9-2 start was inflated by defense doing most of the scoring along with a little luck (win at Seattle an example if memory serves well). This Steeler installment at least very worthy of a mention even if quite a few teams get the 'nod' instead. Very likely not mentioned at all had #12 not been out.

One other consideration to the teams thus far would be the 1987 Vikings, but their resume is skewed negatively by their awful strike team, arguably the worst outside of the Giants.

Yeah, they're really an 8-4 team. And then you have their playoff-run! Yes, Burnsie's Bunch FAR from this thread. If they just escape RFK...1987 (Vikings & Twins) forever heralded in the TCs.

[Rupert Patrick]

Going back and reviewing, I think I've got to give it to the '78 Falcons. They did beat Philly in the WC round though. Got outscored by 50 in the regular season and it doesn't look like they had much punch on either side of the ball. The defense only came up with 12 interceptions. 6 by Roland Lawrence who was probably their best defensive player during that era.

I'll give honorable mention to both 1989 AFC WC teams. Houston got outscored by 47 in the regular season but that's skewed by thrashings at the hands of the Chiefs and Bengals. Pittsburgh got outscored by 61. 92-10 in the first 2 games contributed to that. 10 TD passes was pretty pathetic.

The 1978 Falcons are an oddity in that they gave up more than twice as many points as they gave up the year before (290 vs 129), yet won two more games and made the playoffs while they didn't make the playoffs in the first season. Go figure.