Best conference playoff field in terms of record

[lastcat3]

What has been the best conference playoff field in terms of record that there has been thus far? I thought up this question because in a recent season I did on my Front office Football video game the two Wild Card teams ended up being 12-4.

The records for the field were.

seed #1 Detroit 12-4
#2 New York 12-4
#3 Carolina 11-5
#4 St. Louis 10-6
#5 Minnesota 12-4
#6 Green Bay 12-4

Minnesota ended up winning the Super Bowl

What are some of the best playoff fields in terms of record that there has been in real life?

[Rupert Patrick]

In 1980 all five AFC teams went 11-5; made for some interesting tiebreakers.

[Bryan]

In 1980 all five AFC teams went 11-5; made for some interesting tiebreakers.

yeah, and 1980 NFC had a wildcard matchup of 11-5 LA at 12-4 Dallas.

[Rupert Patrick]

I have databases which have this kind of data where I can pretty quickly throw something like this together. It should come as no surprise that the top five conferences with the best winning percentage were all from the 1970-77 era, where there was one wild card. Those are, in order:

1 - 1975 NFC 47-9-0 .839 (LA, MIN, STL, DAL)
2 - 1972 AFC 45-10-1 .813 (MIA, PGH, OAK, CLE)
3 - 1976 AFC 45-11-0 .804 (OAK, BAL, PGH, NE)
4 - 1973 NFC 44-12-0 .786 (LA, MIN, DAL, WAS)
5 - 1976 NFC 42-12-2 .768 (LA, MIN, DAL, WAS)

It makes sense, then, to examine them by the number of teams per conference. The five weakest four-team playoff conferences from 1970-77 are:

1 - 1970 AFC 37-16-3 .688 (BAL, OAK, CIN, MIA)
2 - 1972 NFC 39-16-1 .705 (WAS, GB, SF, DAL)
T3 - 1971 AFC 39-15-2 .714 (MIA, KC, CLE, BAL)
T3 - 1974 NFC 40-16-0 .714 (MIN, LA, STL, WAS)
T3 - 1977 NFC 40-16-0 .714 (DAL, MIN, LA, CHI)


In the five-team-per-conference era (1978-89 except for 1982), the five strongest conferences are:

1 - 1986 NFC 60-19-1 .756 (CHI, NYG, SF, WAS, LA)
2 - 1984 AFC 59-21-0 .738 (MIA, PGH, DEN, LAR, SEA)
3 - 1987 NFC 55-20-1 .733 (SF, CHI, WAS, NO, MIN)
4 - 1989 NFC 58-22-0 .725 (SF, NYG, MIN, LA, PHI)
T5 - 1978 AFC 56-24-0 .700 (PGH, NE, DEN, MIA, HOU)
T5 - 1980 NFC 56-24-0 .700 (PHI, MIN, LA, DAL, ATL)
T5 - 1985 NFC 56-24-0 .700 (CHI, DAL, LA, NYG, SF)

The five weakest conferences of the five-team-per-conference era are:

1 - 1989 AFC 47-32-1 .594 (DEN, CLE, BUF, HOU, PGH)
2 - 1978 NFC 50-29-1 .631 (DAL, LA, MIN, ATL, PHI)
3 - 1987 AFC 47-27-1 .633 (DEN, CLE, IND, SEA, HOU)
4 - 1979 NFC 51-29-0 .638 (DAL, LA, TB, PHI, CHI)
5 - 1983 AFC 52-28-0 .650 (MIA, LAR, PGH, SEA, DEN)

The 1982 eight-team conferences:

1982 AFC 49-23-0 .681
1982 NFC 43-28-1 .604

The five strongest conferences of the six-teams-per-conference format from 1990-2017:

1 - 2004 AFC 73-23-0 .760 (PGH, NE, IND, NYJ, SD, DEN)
T2 - 1998 NFC 71-25-0 .740 (MIN, ATL, SF, ARZ, GB, DAL)
T2 - 2001 NFC 71-25-0 .740 (SLR, PHI, CHI, GB, SF, TB)
T2 - 2003 AFC 71-25-0 .740 (NE, IND, KC, TEN, BAR, DEN)
T2 - 2005 AFC 71-25-0 .740 (DEN, IND, NE, PGH, JAX, CIN)
T2 - 2007 AFC 71-25-0 .740 (DEN, SD, IND, JAX, PGH, TEN)

The five weakest conferences of the six-teams-per-conference format from 1990-2017:

T1 - 2004 NFC 59-37-0 .615 (PHI, ATL,SLR, MIN, GB, SEA)
T1 - 2006 NFC 59-37-0 .615 (CHI, NO, PHI, SEA, DAL, NYG)
3 - 1999 NFC 60-36-0 .625 (SLR, TB,VMIN, WAS, DET, DAL)
4 - 2002 AFC 60-35-1 .630 (OAK, TEN, PGH, NYJ, IND, CLE)
T5 - 1993 NFC 61-35-0 (DAL, SF, NYG, GB, DET, MIN)
T5 - 1995 NFC 61-35-0 (DAL, SF, DET, PHI, MIN, ATL)