The 25 best teams to miss the playoffs 1978 to 2019

[Citizen]

Thanks ... Hadnt seen those last second highlights in years. Did you feel Poole got both feet down for the TD ? Hard to believe a Culpepper/Moss team would collapse like that

Minnesota had at least a share of first place in the NFC North from the opening whistle of the first game until the last play of the final game. They blew a 17-6 lead with 2:15 to play to a rookie quarterback on the league’s worst team, knocking themselves out of the playoffs and letting their bitterest rival steal the division.

Leave it to the Vikings.

[Mark]

http://www.quirkyresearch.com/2018/12/2 ... r-systems/

[Mark]

In retrospect I think losing out in 1979 was the best thing to happen to Washington. If Pardee had kept his job past 1980 I do not see them having the type of success they had with Joe Gibbs.

[sheajets]

Here's a weird one...coming in at 7-9. The 1993 Phoenix Cardinals

They were 9th in the league in points for, and had the 7th ranked defense in football.

Yet 7-9. They lost EIGHT GAMES by one touchdown or less. Their biggest loss of the season was 28-14 to San Fran week 8

[GameBeforeTheMoney]

The 1979 Washington Redskins were minutes away from clinching a playoff berth in their final game of the season against the Dallas Cowboys, but Roger Staubach engineered one of his great comebacks and the Redskins lost 35-34 to finish 10-6. They were tied with the Bears for the final playoff spot, but Chicago won the tie-breaker based on points scored in the season when they beat the Cardinals that same day 42-6. John Riggins broke off a 66-yard run to put the Skins up 34-21 in the fourth quarter, and was so discouraged by the loss it's been said that's why he sat out the following season. After the game, Harvey Martin opened the door to the Redskins' locker room and threw in a crying towel. The Cowboys-Redskins rivalry was a much bigger deal back then, and that loss was a particularly painful one.

Are you referring to net points in a season or strictly total points? If it is total points when did they get rid of that tiebreaker? They still have net points but it is all the way down towards the bottom of the tie breaker list and extremely rarely (if ever) gets to that point.

This is a very super useful historical tiebreaker chart. Enjoy! And thanks to whoever put this together if it's one of us or someone who reads this! It's been very helpful.

http://www.quirkyresearch.com/2018/12/2 ... r-systems/


As for 79 Wash, they also blew a large lead late against the Oilers in Week 1. Either close out would have gotten them in the playoffs.

[7DnBrnc53]

1985 San Diego Chargers

They finished 8-8 on the season, but they lost three games (@Minnesota, @Denver, & @Houston) in the final seconds or in OT.

They were 25th in points allowed (435), but they had 40 sacks (paced by Lee Williams' 9), and 26 interceptions (paced by Danny Walters' 5). Also, CB John Hendy made the all-rookie team, and Jeff Dale, another rookie, looked like a keeper at FS.

As for the offense, it was explosive as usual (#1 in points & yards). Fouts and Wes Chandler were the only Pro-Bowlers because they had a committee at RB (Buford McGee, future Pro Bowler Gary Anderson, Little Train James, and Tim Spencer) and TE (Holohan and Sievers had 42 and 41 receptions, respectively, and Winslow only started six games).

[Brian wolf]

What also hurt Pardee was the Redskins 1978 season, where the team started 6-0, even beating the Cowboys by the score of 9-5 on MNF ... When the team beat the Giants to go 8-3, expectations for the division and playoff berth were high but the team collapsed, losing their last five games.

In 1979, after a convincing victory over the Cowboys --Hollywood Henderson's last with Dallas--the Redskins get upset by the Giants, which helps keep the Cowboys in the divisional race. Had they beaten the Giants or Pokes, they easily would have made the playoffs. These two seasons had to have left a bitter taste with owner Jack Kent Cooke, who had enough after the 1980 season.

[sheajets]

A more recent one. 2015 New York Jets, our only enjoyable season since 2010. Fitzmagic, promising first year with Bowles. Decker/Marshall being an incredible 1-2 punch at receiver, and one final year of Revis being Revis

They went 10-6 and lost out on the final playoff spot due to a tiebreaker. 9th best defense in football, 11th best offense. 5 of our 6 losses were by 1 TD or less (though they pulled out a few undeserved wins too, like the one vs the Giants)

I really feel if that team could've made the playoffs we could've gone toe to toe with anybody in the AFC. Alas Fitzpatrick turned into a pumpkin vs Buffalo on the road vs a team Rex motivated all week to ruin our season. Was all downhill for Bowles from there.

Also has to be said the 1991 Jets were probably among the worst teams to make the postseason, though they did surprisingly hang tough with the Oilers in the Astrodome.

[Bryan]

1985 San Diego Chargers

They finished 8-8 on the season, but they lost three games (@Minnesota, @Denver, & @Houston) in the final seconds or in OT.

They were 25th in points allowed (435), but they had 40 sacks (paced by Lee Williams' 9), and 26 interceptions (paced by Danny Walters' 5). Also, CB John Hendy made the all-rookie team, and Jeff Dale, another rookie, looked like a keeper at FS.

As for the offense, it was explosive as usual (#1 in points & yards). Fouts and Wes Chandler were the only Pro-Bowlers because they had a committee at RB (Buford McGee, future Pro Bowler Gary Anderson, Little Train James, and Tim Spencer) and TE (Holohan and Sievers had 42 and 41 receptions, respectively, and Winslow only started six games).

I remember Fouts getting hurt in midseason and Mark Herrmann of Purdue getting some starts and throwing for like 350 yards each game. I always thought that was like the best illustration of how good Don Coryell' system was...even Mark Herrmann could excel in it!

Hendy and Dale ended up kind of sucking for the Chargers. The Chargers actually had a really tough front seven on defense from the mid-80's all the way through the mid-90's, but the secondary was typically one of the worst in the league. If there is a father-son HOVG, I would nominate the Billy Ray Smiths.

[Ness]

Would have been interesting to see the Chargers making the playoffs in 1985, especially with Lionel Little Train James having become a staple in the offense at that time, and coming off his best year. Alas, the defense just could not give them a break. Finishing number one in points and yards as an offense should be enough for any team to get into the post season. Shame, because that was the last year that the Chargers offense popped off in the Coryell era. Tough year, because even if the Chargers won a couple more games, Denver still have a strong year, and was exiled from the playoffs too. But hey at least we got 8-8 Cleveland waving the flag of the AFC Central.