LUCKIEST single-season teams?

[RichardBak]

It's always fun to speculate about coulda, woulda, shoulda, but success most often is the end product of talent, preparation, and execution. Sure, a team can get lucky and win a game it should've lost thanks to a bad call or a dropped pass, but by and large, successful teams manufacture their own "luck".

[Saban1]

True. Long term successful teams like the Giants of 1956-63 or Packers of 1960-67 may have lucked into a league or conference championship some years but being in contention year in and year out gives a team more opportunities to luck out.

[rhickok1109]

So far as I know, Seneca the Younger didn't coach football or any other sport, but he pretty well summed it up: ducunt volentem fata, nolentem trahunt, translated as "Luck is preparedness meeting opportunity. Branch Rickey put it more succinctly and somewhat more obscurely: "Luck is the residue of design."

[74_75_78_79_]

The '78 Steelers and the '89 Forty Niners were both..."lucky" also! Same with those un-'sexy' early-'00s Pats, the '90 G-men, '72 Dolphins, etc!

Noll, Walsh, Belichick, Parcells, Shula...I'm seeing a pattern!

[JKelly]

Based on various reasons that others have used for whichever team and year they picked, I'll say it..... the 1972 Dolphins.

1.) Schedule had only one team with a winning record the declining 8-6 Chiefs.
2.) They caught the Vikings 7-7 early in the schedule so it was still warm in Minnesota.
3.) The Vikings had there worst season of the decade.
4.) Temperature in Pittsburgh for Championship game in January 60 degrees.
5.) Sonny Jurgenson during the 72 season ruptured his achilles and was not the starting QB for the Redskins in the Super Bowl.
6.) Earl Morrall didn't have to throw the ball.

[7DnBrnc53]

I know that I am reviving another old thread, but bear with me.

Another 90's Bills team that should be on here is 1993:

Week 2: Dallas was missing Emmitt, but they still could have won this game. Kevin Williams had a key fumble on a punt in the fourth quarter (that led to a go-ahead FG), and Aikman threw an ill-advised pass over the middle with 15 seconds left that was intercepted by Matt Darby (they had the ball at the ten, and should have played for the FG, even though Lin Elliott missed two that day).
Week 5: They get a fluky INT return for a TD by Henry Jones, and Aaron Pierce fumbles a ball out of thin air late in the game in the red zone with the Giants down 17-14 and a chance to send the game into OT at the very least.
Week 15: The Eagles had four fumbles, including one that led to a Steve Christie FG that broke a 7-7 tie in the fourth quarter. Also, they played against Bubby instead of Randall Cunningham, and Matt Bahr missed two FG's, including a 45-yarder at the gun.
Week 16: They got to play against Scott Mitchell and Steve DeBerg instead of Marino. Dolphins were only down by six at halftime, but five turnovers were too much as they played a sloppy game.
Week 17: Thurman Thomas got awarded for a TD when he fumbled it before the ball crossed the plane. Also, Cary Blanchard missed three FG's.

[CSKreager]

2003 Carolina Panthers

9 of their 11 wins were by 6 points or less

[Brian wolf]

2019 Chiefs ... they didnt have to face the Ravens, Patriots or Packers in postseason. Had Shanahan simply ran the ball more with Mostert and Samuel with a ten point lead, instead of trying to to make an MVP out of Garoppolo, the 49ers would have beaten them in the SB.

[CSKreager]

The 2001 Bears would certainly qualify. Their 13-3 season was a big fluke.

Week 2: They were down 10-3 going into the fourth quarter, and the score was tied at 10 with 6:38 left when the Vikings tried a fake punt that failed. The Bears got the ball on the Minnesota 45, and went down to get a TD to take the lead. The Vikings had a late drive going, and had a second and three on their own 48 when a holding call negated a 17-yard Culpepper connection to TE Byron Chamberlain.

Week 4: Down 13-6, the Cardinals had two drives in Chicago territory short-circuited by a penalty and a fumble (returned 69 yards for a TD by R.W. McQuarters). That turned out to be the difference (the Cardinals had 16 first downs to 13 for Chicago, and they out-gained them 288-253. They also won the turnover battle (3 to 1), but the one fumble was costly, as I just described.

Weeks 7-8: These wins against the 49ers and Browns in OT are the prime example of what a fluke team this 01 Bear team really was.

In Week 7, the 49ers increased their lead to 31-16 on a 40-yard Jose "baby" Cortez FG after a 7+-minute root canal drive (they had a 3rd and 3, but Garcia went deep to TO and overthrew him). The Bears went on to score 15 unanswered points in regulation, and send the game into OT. In the extra frame, the Bears got a fluky INT TD on the first play from S Mike Brown after the ball went up in the air off of TO.

In Week 8, the Browns had a 21-7 lead over the Bears with 32 seconds left. The Shane Matthews Band hit Marty Booker with a TD pass to cut it to seven. Then, after getting an onside kick on a fluky bounce, tied the game on a Hail Mary pass that James Allen caught off a deflection. They also win in OT with another deflected pass returned for a TD by S Mike Brown.

Week 12: They trailed the 0-10 Lions 10-6 before taking a 13-10 lead with 5:37 left on a Leon Johnson TD run. The Lions (led by QB Mike McMahon) drove the ball down to the Bear 21 before they had three incompletions (one on third down to Johnnie Morton was overturned) and a missed Jason Hanson 40-yard FG.

Week 15: The Redskins were trailing 20-13 late in the game and had a first and ten on Chicago's 12 when Tony Banks completed a nine-yard pass to Rod Gardner. The Bears were called for defensive holding, but instead of having a first and ten at the six, they took a second and one at the three. They weren't able to get it in, and Chicago held on.

The 2001 Bears are the first team that came to mind when I read the topic title. I remember picking them to lose to the Eagles in the playoffs, then going back on my pick at the last moment. I was none too surprised when they lost, anyway.

The Bears losing that game did surprise me as Philly basically made the playoffs by default because the NFC East was awful

[CSKreager]

This category is perfect for the 1995 Chiefs:

Week 2: The Giants had a 17-3 lead in the fourth quarter and blew it, losing 20-17 in OT. In the fifth quarter, they had a chance to recover a fumble around their own 15, but they blew it.
Week 3: The Raiders had a 17-7 lead going into the fourth quarter that they blew. In OT, they had a pass complete to the KC 28 that was called back because of holding. Then, on the next play, the official got in the way of Tim Brown, allowing James Hasty to return the INT 64 yards for the game winner.
Week 6: In OT, Lewis Bush dropped an INT that would have put the Chargers fairly deep in KC territory.
Week 12: With the game heading into OT, Oiler RB Todd McNair fumbles, and Mark Collins returns it 34 yards for a TD.

Kansas City wasn’t even the luckiest team that year!

That was Indianapolis, who could easily have been 5-11

Not one but TWO 20 point comebacks

The 49ers leaving 6 points on the scoreboard

a nearly 100 yard pick 6 on the last play before halftime