When the Cincinnati Bengals laid a giant egg at home last month in their Wild Card Playoff game against the Jets, no one was too surprised. The Bengals had lost much of the steam they had built up after surging past the Ravens and Steelers in the middle of the season. They still won the division but it was inevitable that they wouldn’t go too far. This “dead on arrival” playoff team phenomenon is nothing new. It has happened many times in the past decade when a team limps into the playoffs. Occasionally, a presumed DOA team will shock everyone (like the 2008 Cardinals), but typically it is pretty predictable when they go one and done. This week’s America Loves Countdowns® series looks back at ten such teams from the past decade.
2007 Steelers
Mike Tomlin’s first season in Pittsburgh started out with a lot of promise. The Steelers had some big wins while FWP and the defense put up big numbers. However, by December, the team was finished. DE Aaron Smith suffered a season-ending injury and the defense suddenly couldn’t stop the run (a REALLY bad trait if you want to win in January). FWP and other key players also got hurt, leading to a spirited but still expected loss at home to Jacksonville in the Wild Card round.
2000 Rams
St. Louis opened up defense of its first Super Bowl title with six straight wins. Their offense that year was arguably one of the best in NFL history. They put up over 500 points and led the league in most major offensive categories. The problem was that their defense was putrid. In week 8 of that season, St. Louis scored 34 points against Kansas City and still lost the game by 20! By the time January hit, the horrible defense had caught up with them and they lost their opening playoff game to the Saints despite the fact that they scored four touchdowns.
2006 Chiefs
Many Steelers fans remember how defending-champion Pittsburgh lost 6 out 7 games in the middle of the 2006 season to ruin any shot they had at the post-season. The lone victory during that stretch not only came against the Chiefs, but the Steelers struggling offense actually posted 45 points against them as well. Somehow this K.C. team finished the season 10-6 and made the playoffs, mostly behind the running attack of Larry Johnson (Penn State sucks). They were quickly disposed of in the opening round by the Colts.
2004 Seahawks
Seattle posted some good teams during the decade, but they also largely benefitted from playing in pro football’s weakest division. After the 2002 realignment, Seattle moved from the AFC West to the NFC West where three very bad teams – the 49ers, Rams, and Cardinals – were made available for the Seahawks to beat up on. During the 2004 season, Seattle stumbled into the division title with a 9-7 record despite losing both regular season games to the Rams, their only other competition for the division. The Rams benefitted from a weak NFC in general and they squeezed into the playoffs with an 8-8 record. This set up a showdown of undeserving playoff teams in Seattle during the Wild Card round. For the third time that season, the Seahawks lost to the Rams. The third loss was especially brutal because WR Bobby Engram (Penn State sucks) dropped the game-tying TD pass in the final seconds to end Seattle’s sub-par season.
2007 Titans
In today’s NFL, it’s not very often that you can finish in 3rd place in your division and still qualify for the post-season. The 2007 Titans were able to do just that. Their playoff hopes seemed dead after dropping four out of five late in the season. Fortunately for them, the schedule gods gave them a break. Two of their final three games were against the Chiefs and Jets, each of whom were 4-12 teams. The other game was against the Colts, who rested all of their starters because they had already clinched the AFC’s #2 seed. Thanks to those games, the Titans squeezed into the playoffs, where they were only able to score all of 6 points in a loss at San Diego.
2004 Broncos
Like many DOA playoff teams, the 2004 Denver squad started the season strong but then faltered. After winning five out of their first six games, they lost five out of the next eight. During that stretch they lost to bad teams such as Oakland and Cincinnati. They made the playoffs thanks to a win in the season’s final week over an Indianapolis team who was resting its starters (seems to be a pattern on this list). The following week in the AFC Wild Card round, the Broncos had to face that same Colts team with its starters playing. It was no contest as Peyton Manning and company throttled Denver 49-24.
2008 Vikings
In 2008, Minnesota was a one-man team. RB Adrian Peterson led the NFL with 1760 yards rushing. The rest of the team was very mediocre. The offense was led by the dynamic QB duo of Tavaris Jackson and Gus Frerotte, who celebrated his 74th birthday during training camp of that year. Peterson’s skills and a weak division (one that featured the NFL’s first ever 0-16 team) helped Minnesota build a 9-6 record heading into the last game of the regular season, where they needed to beat a Giants team that was resting its starters in order to make the post-season. They won that game, then predictably dropped their first playoff game at home to Philadelphia.
2003 Cowboys
Dallas fans will always remember this decade for their team’s annual December collapses. The Quincy Carter-led 2003 team seemed destined for big things after starting the season 7-2. However, they would only win three more times before the end of the year, stumbling into the playoffs as a wild card. They had to travel to Carolina to play the eventual conference champion Panthers. It was 26-3 before the Cowboys got into the endzone. The “just happy to be there” Cowboys were no match for the red hot Panthers.
2001 Buccaneers
Steelers fans will remember the 2001 Bucs as the team that Lee Flowers famously referred to as “paper champions”. Indeed, Tampa Bay proved that any acclaim it got as pre-season Super Bowl favorites was unwarranted. They stumbled through the regular season and finished with a 9-7 record. The two NFC wild card teams that year (Green Bay and San Francisco) each posted 12-4 records. Fortunately for Tampa, the 2001 season was the last one in which three wild card teams qualified for the playoffs, so they made it in. Their season ended just as everyone had expected, with a loss in their first playoff game at Philadelphia (a team that also beat them the week before as well, just for good measure).
2006 Giants
No team defined “dead on arrival” better than the 2006 New York Giants. The season started off well enough. QB Eli Manning finally seemed to be coming into his own while RB Tiki Barber was still producing at a high level in his final NFL season. Then November hit, and the bottom fell out for the Giants. They posted a 2-6 record in the season’s second half. Amazingly, they still made the playoffs with an 8-8 record thanks to their early season hot streak. Philly ended their misery in the Wild Card round. There was a silver lining for the Giants however. New York – just like four other teams on this list – made it to the Super Bowl the following season. So take pride in that Bengals fans – maybe your team is next!