Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

How would you rank #4 through #12? Didn't exactly take a rocket scientist to figure who was 1-2-3 that regular season.

This was a year when NFC depth fell off by recent years (There weren't any 1992 Eagles/Saints or 1993 Giants equivalents that kept pace with the Big Two) and you could argue the AFC had more depth THAT YEAR as opposed to the underwhelming NFC field outside of you-know-who.

1. 49ers
2. Cowboys
3. Steelers
4. Browns (Yes, they didn't beat PIT, but beating Dallas IN Dallas and at the time 7-2 Philly counts for something. #1 scoring defense in a pretty wide-open year)
5. Dolphins (Shula's last legit SB threat)
6. Chargers (Other than KC, they didn't exactly beat anyone that stood out, but they were resilient
7. Vikings (Had a nice resume of wins- GB/CHI/DET/MIA/BUF. And say what you want about week 17, but they DID beat SF)
8. Patriots (Hottest team down the stretch West of SF)
9. Bears (Little controversial, but they did beat DET/MIA/BUF and for what it's worth a sneaky decent Arizona team)
10. Chiefs (Bit of a talent dropoff from '93, but they did beat SF/CLE/Raiders)
11. Packers
12. Cardinals

1) Forty Niners
2) Cowboys
3) Steelers
4) Dolphins
5) Browns
6) Patriots
7) Chargers
8) Vikings
9) Lions
10) Packers
11) Chiefs
12) Bears

Cards losing to Bears albeit in OT kept them out. Like Bears (and also Cards), the two 9-7s that didn't make the playoffs - Giants & Raiders - also allowed more total pts than they scored. Not counting the finale over Dallas, the only above-500 team who the G-men beat was at Cleveland. Raiders just had two such wins (@NE & @SD).

1. 49ers
2. Cowboys
...and then everyone else
3. Steelers
4. Browns... A Football Life episode of this era of the Browns was interesting. Could Belichick have done here what he did with the Patriots later?
...and then everyone else
5. Dolphins
6. Chargers
7. Patriots... red hot finish
8. Vikings
9. Packers
10. Giants... 6-0 finish gets them this spot
11. Lions
12. Chiefs