Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

The ’85 Steelers come to mind. 7-9 yet 379 PF, 355 PA.

What others can you think of?

It's happened 59 other times from 1933 to 2017.

1963 KC Chiefs had 5-7-2 records with 347-263. It wasn't the close losses so much as the blowout wins. Closest win was 21 points over the Oilers. Other victory margins were 52, 31, 32, 48. An all or nothing offense, scored 50 on the Broncos twice while being held to 7 or fewer in four games. Started 2-7-2 before winning their last three. A tumultuous year for the team, as they moved from Dallas this year, and Stone Johnson was killed in a preseason game.

1981 Falcons were 7-9 and 424-355. They did have some close losses. A five point loss, 3 threes, 2 twos, and a one. Also a three and four point victory. So 2-7 at five or less.

Couple of interesting .500 teams. 1989 Bengals. 1988 team went 12-4, and made the Super Bowl, with 448-329. 1989 team had the same margin, 119 points, at 404-283, which should lead to more wins, as it's the same margin but scores are lower. Again here, it's more a case of blowout victories. 56-23 over the Buccaneers and 61-7 over the Oilers.

1950 Eagles. Went 6-6 on 254-141. This is the team that lost 35-10 to the Browns opening night in a famous game. Gave up 20 points to the Rams in a game they won 56-20. Otherwise, no more than 14 points given up in any game. Other losses were by 2, 4, 4, 6, and 2 points. They outgained the opposition in 4 of those 5 losses, but turned the ball over 21 times to the opponent's 5. It was all or nothing for turnovers for this team. The week after the Browns opener, they got 12 turnovers in a victory over the Cardinals. That ties the record. May be remembered as the game Jim Hardy threw eight INT. Also had another 9 turnover victory against the Redskins. Still finished minus in turnover margin for the year, 45-48.

Whether it’s a below-500 team with plus-PD or an above-500 with minus, a lopsided game or two (or more) is usually the culprit. 7-9 Steelers being on the plus side was mainly a product of that opener vs Indy, Mark Malone’s tour de force moment - passing for 5 TDs and running for another in a 45-3 schlacking!

Opposite applies to the ’89 Steelers! Take away those infamous first two games and you got positive point-differential instead.

The 2017 Bills are a great example of the opposite. 9-7 record with a 302-359 PF/PA thanks to back to back butt kickings at the hands of the Saints and Chargers by a combined 101-34 score.

What about above .500 teams with a negative point differential? The 1986 Jets come to mind, as do the 1989 Steelers and Oilers.

Todd Pence wrote:What about above .500 teams with a negative point differential? The 1986 Jets come to mind, as do the 1989 Steelers and Oilers.

’86 Jets negative pt-diff...yes, product of those final 5 games - each one a lopsided loss. Thing with them was they weren’t your typical above-500 with that issue, not typical in that they weren’t just a game above even which seems to be the case with all examples so far. These guys were 10-6! What other examples of well-above-500s with this notoriety?

Or...well-below-500s (like, say, a 6-10 or 5-11) with positive pt-diff? Wait, I got one - the ’82 Forty Niners. 3-6 they were yet a +3 PD. And no ridiculous lopsided victory either. Most was by 13 at KC in Week #8 (27-14); most-lopsided loss was by 10, home vs Atl (7-17), the week before.

Todd Pence wrote:What about above .500 teams with a negative point differential? The 1986 Jets come to mind, as do the 1989 Steelers and Oilers.

2011 Giants

1971 Bengals didn't really come close to finishing .500 (4-10), but had a 284-265 point differential.

Bryan wrote:1971 Bengals didn't really come close to finishing .500 (4-10), but had a 284-265 point differential.

Not sure you’re going to find a positive PD team any further below-500. Not sure you can find a negative PD with a better win-%age than ’86 Jets either.