What NFL season had the least clear favorite in the preseason?

[SeahawkFever]

Every season in the NFL there are pre-season predictions and teams that are expected to go all the way.

Out of curiosity, in what NFL seasons (if any in particular) did there appear to be the least consensus on who the best team going in was and why?

[JuggernautJ]

I would hazard a guess that few expected the (previously) 5-5 Akron Pros to move from the Ohio League to the APFA/NFL and have the league's first undefeated season (at 8-0-3) and win the inaugural championship.
Despite protests from the Decatur Staleys and Buffalo All-Americans.

[JuggernautJ]

It is an interesting but difficult question.

I don't know exactly how to define the parameters of the question.
Are we looking for an unexpected champion (like the 1981 49ers)? Or are we looking at a season where there were no group of teams that had the best (perceived) chance to win? Or a year where no one team was expected to win it all?
Cases could be made for each of these.

Seasons which had dominant teams (or dynasties that dominated several years) would have to be eliminated.
Lombardi's Packers (for example) would probably have been a "favorite" for years; especially after their incredible season of 1962.

And we've been discussing (in another thread) how the 70's were almost always won by the same 3-4 teams in each conference.
In the early to mid 1990s the playoff games between the 49ers and Cowboys were called the "real" super bowl and these teams were probably considered heavy preseason favorites... those would be examples of season that don't fit the criteria.

I would think any year pre parity or in which there wasn't a dominant team or teams could have a case made as the "least likely" to have a favorite.

One way we might quantify the answer is to look at all "the odds" given by Vegas, etc. to find a season without a team or teams to be heavily favored.

[SeahawkFever]

It is an interesting but difficult question.

I don't know exactly how to define the parameters of the question.
Are we looking for an unexpected champion (like the 1981 49ers)? Or are we looking at a season where there were no group of teams that had the best (perceived) chance to win? Or a year where no one team was expected to win it all?
Cases could be made for each of these.

Seasons which had dominant teams (or dynasties that dominated several years) would have to be eliminated.
Lombardi's Packers (for example) would probably have been a "favorite" for years; especially after their incredible season of 1962.

And we've been discussing (in another thread) how the 70's were almost always won by the same 3-4 teams in each conference.
In the early to mid 1990s the playoff games between the 49ers and Cowboys were called the "real" super bowl and these teams were probably considered heavy preseason favorites... those would be examples of season that don't fit the criteria.

I would think any year pre parity or in which there wasn't a dominant team or teams could have a case made as the "least likely" to have a favorite.

One way we might quantify the answer is to look at all "the odds" given by Vegas, etc. to find a season without a team or teams to be heavily favored.

I meant no one team was perceived to have the best chance going in, or rather the most teams viewed as having near equal chance to win it all going into the season.

[ShinobiMusashi]

I've been talking/thinking about the 2002 season a lot recently and got to believe that season falls into the topic of this thread. Going into a new division alignment, the best team in the NFL the Rams just got beat by the Patriots in the Super Bowl. Remembering now I just don't think people at that time were expecting the Rams to be world beaters in 2002 like they were in 2001, or that people though the Patriots would turn into what they did. I'm sure the Eagles had a lot of hype. I remember seeing the Buccaneers play the Texans that preseason and don't remember anybody hyping them up like Super Bowl contenders that year. Seems like it was a wide open season going into 2002.

[Oszuscik]

I've been talking/thinking about the 2002 season a lot recently and got to believe that season falls into the topic of this thread. Going into a new division alignment, the best team in the NFL the Rams just got beat by the Patriots in the Super Bowl. Remembering now I just don't think people at that time were expecting the Rams to be world beaters in 2002 like they were in 2001, or that people though the Patriots would turn into what they did. I'm sure the Eagles had a lot of hype. I remember seeing the Buccaneers play the Texans that preseason and don't remember anybody hyping them up like Super Bowl contenders that year. Seems like it was a wide open season going into 2002.

I know I still expected the Rams to dominate going into 2002 and was shocked when they started the year 0-5 with Kurt Warner tossing 1 TD against 8 INTs before getting injured. When that happened it felt like the entire NFL was wide open. Peyton Manning wasn't quite PEYTON MANNING yet, and the defending champ Patriots started the year 3-4 and missed the playoffs. I think at that time everyone felt they were a one-year wonder the previous season, a team that got lucky with the Tuck Rule call and then played great football for their final two games. Kind of a feel-good story that a team named the Patriots won the Super Bowl the year of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. So 2002 was very interesting in that the dominant Rams' run was over and nobody knew what the Patriots would become. It was an exciting season with a wide-open field.

[JWL]

2002 is as good a choice as any year. I don't recall a clear cut favorite.

That summer I was in Las Vegas and did three $20 futures bets for the Eagles, Titans, and Jets to win the Super Bowl. Obviously, two of these were sure to be wrong. I was hoping one would be good. Considering the Jets played in the final Divisional Round game and the other two went to conference title games, I did choose three of the final five teams. Alas, none went to the Super Bowl. I haven't made such bets since.

I particularly liked the 10-year stretch of 1997-2006. Some big name quarterbacks were retiring (Marino, Elway) and some other ones were on their way up (P. Manning, Warner, Brees). The Cowboys and 49ers were down and some downtrodden teams were up. It seemed more wide open in those years as to who could win the Super Bowl each year than it had been before or since.

[SeahawkFever]

2002 is as good a choice as any year. I don't recall a clear cut favorite.

That summer I was in Las Vegas and did three $20 futures bets for the Eagles, Titans, and Jets to win the Super Bowl. Obviously, two of these were sure to be wrong. I was hoping one would be good. Considering the Jets played in the final Divisional Round game and the other two went to conference title games, I did choose three of the final five teams. Alas, none went to the Super Bowl. I haven't made such bets since.

I particularly liked the 10-year stretch of 1997-2006. Some big name quarterbacks were retiring (Marino, Elway) and some other ones were on their way up (P. Manning, Warner, Brees). The Cowboys and 49ers were down and some downtrodden teams were up. It seemed more wide open in those years as to who could win the Super Bowl each year than it had been before or since.

Could 2008 also fall into this range? Patriots had their amazing 2007 regular season before being beat by the Giants in the Super Bowl.

But in 2008, Brady was out for the year, and was it viewed as wide open then?

Giants had a really good regular season the following year themselves (top by my score% in fact), but I don’t think people would have viewed them as clear favorites after a Super Bowl upset win like that if you say the 01 Pats weren’t viewed as clear favorites either.

[CSKreager]

1999

Elway’s retirement made 3peat talk for DEN impossible

The Falcons seemed to have “yeah but” one hit wonder vibes

Safe to say the Rams were the longest of longshots

[Jay Z]

1971? Colts were not the strongest champion and were aging. I can see Colts, Dolphins, Raiders, Chiefs getting support from AFC. Cowboys had lost so many times by that are they the favorite? Vikings also in the mix at least.

1981? Raiders are another veteran team, 11-5 wild card. Wound up not making the playoffs as veteran offense fell off big time. Probably a lot of Charger picks I suppose. No one picking 49ers/Bengals.