Worst playoff team in NFL history?

[SeahawkFever]

If we are including teams that participated in a tiebreaker pre-Super Bowl era to have been in the playoffs, the 1947 Steelers deserve a mention.

Though to be fair their team stats are weighed down greatly by two massive losses, and they were about average from the looks of it in the other games of their season.

Interestingly, the 46 Steelers had the league’s MVP in Bill Dudley and traded him, and by record they got better in 1947 and if we are counting the tiebreaker, they made their lone playoff appearance pre-Chuck Noll.

One of them sounds like a team that was heavily reliant on one player, and the other sounds middling.

[CSKreager]

The 2004 Rams were truly an awful team. They were at 6-8 with two games to go, and they had five losses of 17 points or larger. Yet not only did they make the playoffs at 8-8, they won a playoff game! Then they got crushed by Atlanta in the divisional round.

When I looked at the opposing win percentages of one conference vs the other in every season, 2004 came out as one of the most imbalanced in favor of the AFC.

Consider that two 8-8 teams in the same season in the same conference made the playoffs and won a game when they got there.

And that felt really strange as in the sandwich years of 2003/2005 every NFC playoff team won at least 10 games and the interconference H2H was far less inbalanced: a respectable 34-30 compared to 04’s 44-20

The NFC wasn’t as bad in 03 and was much better in 05 so what the hell happened in between?

[SeahawkFever]

The 2004 Rams were truly an awful team. They were at 6-8 with two games to go, and they had five losses of 17 points or larger. Yet not only did they make the playoffs at 8-8, they won a playoff game! Then they got crushed by Atlanta in the divisional round.

When I looked at the opposing win percentages of one conference vs the other in every season, 2004 came out as one of the most imbalanced in favor of the AFC.

Consider that two 8-8 teams in the same season in the same conference made the playoffs and won a game when they got there.

And that felt really strange as in the sandwich years of 2003/2005 every NFC playoff team won at least 10 games and the interconference H2H was far less inbalanced: a respectable 34-30 compared to 04’s 44-20

The NFC wasn’t as bad in 03 and was much better in 05 so what the hell happened in between?

Were any players or quarterbacks of note injured in 2004 on the NFC side?

[conace21]

When I looked at the opposing win percentages of one conference vs the other in every season, 2004 came out as one of the most imbalanced in favor of the AFC.

Consider that two 8-8 teams in the same season in the same conference made the playoffs and won a game when they got there.

And that felt really strange as in the sandwich years of 2003/2005 every NFC playoff team won at least 10 games and the interconference H2H was far less inbalanced: a respectable 34-30 compared to 04’s 44-20

The NFC wasn’t as bad in 03 and was much better in 05 so what the hell happened in between?

Were any players or quarterbacks of note injured in 2004 on the NFC side?

There weren't any notable QB injuries in the NFC, unless you count Rex Grossman. Marc Bulger missed two games with an injury, and Chris Chandler went 0-2. Matt Hasselbeck also missed two games with an injury, and Trent Dilfer went 2-0.

In the AFC, Steve McNair injuries cost him half the season, and the Patriots were so decimated at defensive back, they had to use Troy Brown as a nickel back on defense.