Weirdest Teams of All Time

[sluggermatt15]

How about the 2022 Minnesota Vikings?

-3 point differential but finished 13-4 as NFC North Division champs! 11 of their 13 victories were by one possession. But their four losses were ALL by double digits!

[CSKreager]

How about the 2022 Minnesota Vikings?

-3 point differential but finished 13-4 as NFC North Division champs! 11 of their 13 victories were by one possession. But their four losses were ALL by double digits!

They were the polar opposite of the 2021 Buffalo Bills, who won every game that season by double digits but could not win a one possession game to save their lives

[74_75_78_79_]

I'm surprised no Cardinal teams have been mentioned yet! Plenty of 'weird' ones. Here's a few...

1970: Sweep SB-bound Dallas yet get swept by non-playoff Giants. Look like a juggernaut Wks #7-thru-#9 by a combined 113-0 (last of those three 38-0 over Dallas at Cotton Bowl, MNF) yet after going another two weeks without a loss (6-6 tie at KC, then win over Eagles; now 8-2-1), they suffer the 0-3 collapse - no playoffs - and finish the following year with the same record that they finished with the year prior, 4-9-1.

1983: Minus-54 point-differential yet finish 8-7-1. 1-5 start, 5-1 finish. So many lopsided losses, even to a bad KC team. In addition to getting blown-out twice by Dallas, they also get blown-out by both NFCC-participants - twice vs Wash, once vs SF. Yet they beat both AFCC-participants down the stretch, Seahawks and at Raiders! Their tie was midseason vs a real bad Giants team (Tuna's first year) and in their next meeting with them (during that very 5-1 finish), they barely get it done. Two winning seasons sandwiched this unspectacular one.

1993: 7-9 but, with the help of a +57PD, statistically better than the previous or next example given. Most lopsided loss by just 14 to SF although, yes, Cards rallied from 28 down to make it that very final score (sort of the same in their close on-the-scoreboard losses to Dallas). Still, Cards split with playoff-bound Giants, split with a no longer playoff-caliber but still respectable Eagles, and gave NFC Central-winner Detroit a good game in both their affairs that year (both finished 5th year prior).

1998: Minus-53. Basically a 'twin' of '83; only they actually made playoffs. Get blown out both times to Dallas and also get swept by 8-8 Giants. Didn't even beat a .500 team all season. All nine wins were strictly against teams that finished with losing records (6 wins or less). Most lopsided of them was by 14, second-most-lopsided by 13; all the (7) remaining was by either 3 or 2 pts (again, all vs teams 6-10 or less). Yet they blugeon Dallas at Dallas in the 'Big 3's final playoff game and then - FWIW - were still in the game at 15-1 Minnesota one week later after three quarters.

2008: 9-7, just +1PD. 6-0 in a bad division, 3-7 outside it. After starting 7-3 (beating playoff-bound Miami and 9-7-to-be Dallas early, but getting blasted at Jets), they lose by 8 at home to Giants and then lose three more games down the stretch by a combined 130-41, the final of those blowouts penultimate week at Foxboro to Cassel's Pats, 47-7! Then comes the post-season and...well, you know the rest!

Yes, plenty of weird Cardinal teams. Who else?

When I mentioned the '70 Cardinals finishing 4-9-1 the year prior and also the following year, what I failed to add was that they finished with that same exact record of 4-9-1 in '72 & '73 as well! What are the odds of that? Three straight/four-of-five seasons with the same amount of wins? Okay. But including a tie each time...

[ChrisBabcock]

How about the 2022 Minnesota Vikings?

-3 point differential but finished 13-4 as NFC North Division champs! 11 of their 13 victories were by one possession. But their four losses were ALL by double digits!

As described, their 13-4 record was done with mirrors. They will almost certainly regress back to 8 or 9 wins this year.

[CSKreager]

1984 Chargers

0-8 vs the AFC West
7-1 vs literally the rest of the NFL (including wins over Miami and Chicago)