Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Who's best in a 5-team division? '81 Bears & '84 Eagles immediately come to my mind but I'm sure there are better ones.

Who's best in a 4-team div? '89 Bengals are the first to come to mind and I'm less sure there are better candidates.

Who's best in a 5-team division? '81 Bears & '84 Eagles immediately come to my mind but I'm sure there are better ones.

I'll go with the 1999 Patriots. Started off 6-2 and finished 8-8. The expansion 1995 Panthers get an honorable mention. Finished 7-9, had a 4 game winning streak, and knocked off the defending champs at Candlestick.

5-9 Oilers, 1976?

6-8 Browns 1977?

7-9 Chiefs 1979?

7-9 Cardinals 1981?

The 1989 Bengals are easily the top cellar-dweller of all time (in a 4- or 5-team division), with their 500 records and TRIPLE DIGIT positive point differential (admittedly padded in the late-season rout over Houston). Following them, here is how I rank the other nine in this category to come up with a top 10.

2002 Chiefs
2007 Eagles
2008 Saints
1999 Broncos
1977 Browns
1990 Vikings
1999 Patriots
2013 Rams
1970 Bears

The 1989 Bengals are easily the top cellar-dweller of all time (in a 4- or 5-team division), with their 500 records and TRIPLE DIGIT positive point differential (admittedly padded in the late-season rout over Houston).

They were in the hunt for the division championship going into the last week of the season.

One of the hardest teams to figure out in NFL history.

1984 Chargers (7-9): Got off to a 4-2 start before winning only three more games the rest of the year, but were in one of the toughest divisions ever (with 13-3 Denver, 12-4 Seattle, and the defending World Champion Raiders). They ended Miami's dreams of another perfect season, and lost two times to AFC West champ Denver by a combined six points.

Had Cincy made playoffs in '89, no reason not to think they would have been even MORE dangerous than the 'Burgh. All the way back to the Bowl, perhaps, and if they gave SF a game the year before...or would the 'familiarity' aspect have been gone being that it wouldn't have been Walsh whom Wyche would be coaching against this time?

All this and I didn't even mention NO ICKEY.

JohnTurney wrote: 6-8 Browns 1977?

Losing Sipe for the season in Week 9 killed whatever hopes the Browns had of winning what was was a winnable division. After he went down in a loss, they went 1-4 the rest of the way--only beating the weak Giants.

1955 Detroit Lions.

Detroit played in 3 straight championship games in the years before 1955 and came back to nearly win the Western Conference in 1956 and won the NFL Championship in 1957. One conclusion: The Detroit Lions were not as bad in 1955 as their record would indicate. They got off to a bad start in 1955 due to injuries and whatever. The Lions of that era would not play as hard once they were out of contention and they lost their first 6 games that year.