Which Team Would Win This Tournament of Best Ever Teams to Miss the Playoffs?

[Destructo Spin]

7 hours ago, footbull3196 said:

To be completely honest, they’re not even the team from the NFC from that season that I would consider putting in the bracket if I had to do it over again.  The 1988 Giants would have been my choice.  359-304 point differential (as compared to the Saints 312-283), and had Phil Simms with a pretty good season for the time period, as well as a 1000 yard rusher in Joe Morris and 1000 yard receiver with Lionel Manuel.  Don’t forget about Mark Bavaro at TE.   And the Giants defense was stout as well since they still had LT, Leonard Marshall, Carson, Pepper Johnson, Carl Banks, etc

But one of their losses was a really bizarre sequence of events.  Against the Eagles in Week 12, they lost 23-17 in overtime after the Eagles lined up for a FG attempt only to have it blocked.  But the ball bounced straight to Clyde Simmons who picked it up and ran it into the end zone for a touchdown.  Not to mention, the Giants were still alive for a playoff spot in the final week of the season that year.  The Saints had already blown a 9-3 start by slipping to 9-6 so they were already eliminated entering the final week of 1988.  Giants just ended the season by losing to a Jets team with a winning record in a 6 point game

OK, but look at the NFC East in 1988. Redskins 7-9, Cardinals 7-9, Cowboys 3-13. They got 2 wins over the terrible Cowboys, 2 wins over the mediocre Redskins and a split with a Cardinals team that I recall being significantly less than average. Also got wins over a 4-12 Lions team, a 4-12 Chiefs team, a 5-11 Falcons team. Not that the Saints didn't play any weaker teams that season, but obviously they were in a much more difficult division and their end-of-season schedule was nasty: Rams/Broncos/Giants/Vikings/49ers.

Entire game footage of the Saints/Giants game from that season is on a certain very popular video streaming site, if you catch my drift. 13-12 game Giants win, but Morten Andersen missed a chip shot field goal and there was a 50/50 call on a touchdown pass in the back of the end zone that didn't go the Saints way. The Saints were probably the better team, with a 2-to-1 edge in TOP and rushing for 155 yards, compared to the Giants' 14, had more total yards and turnovers were even. But it was just bad luck. Morten Andersen just did not miss field goals back then, especially not 20 yarders.

[footbull3196]

14 hours ago, Destructo Spin said:

OK, but look at the NFC East in 1988. Redskins 7-9, Cardinals 7-9, Cowboys 3-13. They got 2 wins over the terrible Cowboys, 2 wins over the mediocre Redskins and a split with a Cardinals team that I recall being significantly less than average. Also got wins over a 4-12 Lions team, a 4-12 Chiefs team, a 5-11 Falcons team. Not that the Saints didn't play any weaker teams that season, but obviously they were in a much more difficult division and their end-of-season schedule was nasty: Rams/Broncos/Giants/Vikings/49ers.

Entire game footage of the Saints/Giants game from that season is on a certain very popular video streaming site, if you catch my drift. 13-12 game Giants win, but Morten Andersen missed a chip shot field goal and there was a 50/50 call on a touchdown pass in the back of the end zone that didn't go the Saints way. The Saints were probably the better team, with a 2-to-1 edge in TOP and rushing for 155 yards, compared to the Giants' 14, had more total yards and turnovers were even. But it was just bad luck. Morten Andersen just did not miss field goals back then, especially not 20 yarders.

That’s actually a good point about the strength of the rest of both teams’ respective decisions.  But I think you’re underselling the Cardinals some.  They were 7-4 before Neil Lomax was knocked out (against guess who, the Giants), and when he returned against ironically, the a Giants 3 weeks later, things just weren’t the same as they slid to 7-9 and out of the playoff mix

Either way, hard to argue against the Saints having a tougher uphill battle when they had both the eventual Super Bowl champs and the offensively potent Rams to deal with.  But to be fair, during their 7 game win streak following the season opening 1 point loss to the Niners, they only had 1 win over a team that had better than a 7-9 record (which was the 9-7 Seahawks that won the weak AFC West), and 4 of those wins came against Dallas, Detroit, Atlanta, and Tampa, who were all 5-11 or worse at the end of the year.  So it does work both ways lol

[RandyMossIsBoss]

Where are them 04 Bills!?

 

A lot of these teams really flamed out as the seasons ended (14 Eagles, 12 Bears) and were mediocre teams at season's end. I think it's the teams who started cold and then got hot that I would favor in this tournament.

Give me the 1991 49ers. Championship pedigree, 6-0 down the stretch. 

[CKS97]

1 hour ago, RandyMossIsBoss said:

Where are them 04 Bills!?

 

A lot of these teams really flamed out as the seasons ended (14 Eagles, 12 Bears) and were mediocre teams at season's end. I think it's the teams who started cold and then got hot that I would favor in this tournament.

Give me the 1991 49ers. Championship pedigree, 6-0 down the stretch. 

Their win streak was a little overrated. They did their damage at home. Only 2 of those wins were on the road: at 7-9 Seattle, at 3-13 Rams.

[game3525]

2005 Chargers should be on this list.

-6th in overall DVOA.

-3rd in SRS

-+100 in point differential. 

The team blew out the Pats in Foxboro and also ended Indy's 13 game winning streak in December. Honestly, they were much better then the 2004 team that went 12-4. They just had much tougher schedule and couldn't recover from starting 0-2. 

[Uncle Buck]

I must be getting really old because I don't know how some of you can possibly remember so many mediocre teams from years ago.  I can't even remember what my own team did 4-5 years ago with too much clarity.  

[footbull3196]

46 minutes ago, game3525 said:

2005 Chargers should be on this list.

-6th in overall DVOA.

-3rd in SRS

-+100 in point differential. 

The team blew out the Pats in Foxboro and also ended Indy's 13 game winning streak in December. Honestly, they were much better then the 2004 team that went 12-4. They just had much tougher schedule and couldn't recover from starting 0-2. 

Yeah I completely forgot about them tbh.  They were sandwiched right between the 04 Chargers that went 12-4 and the 06 Chargers that went 14-2.  I’d say they could definitely be argued over the 2003 Vikings

[CKS97]

11 hours ago, game3525 said:

2005 Chargers should be on this list.

-6th in overall DVOA.

-3rd in SRS

-+100 in point differential. 

The team blew out the Pats in Foxboro and also ended Indy's 13 game winning streak in December. Honestly, they were much better then the 2004 team that went 12-4. They just had much tougher schedule and couldn't recover from starting 0-2. 

They had some rotten luck.

Lost their first 2 by a combined 6 points, barely lost to Pittsburgh by 2 on a FG at the gun on MNF, a 3-point loss thanks to a blocked FG in Philly, a 2 point loss to Miami.

That's 4 losses by a combined 13 points!

[footbull3196]

46 minutes ago, CKS97 said:

They had some rotten luck.

Lost their first 2 by a combined 6 points, barely lost to Pittsburgh by 2 on a FG at the gun on MNF, a 3-point loss thanks to a blocked FG in Philly, a 2 point loss to Miami.

That's 4 losses by a combined 13 points!

It’s actually 5 by a combined 14 points but I definitely see what you’re getting at lol

[Thaiphoon]

Missing these (these were the first two NFL teams to win 10 games and NOT make it to the playoffs).

• 1985 Redskins (10-6 record)
• 1979 Redskins (10-6 record). They were 10-5 going into their game with the Cowboys. If they beat Dallas (also 10-5), the Redskins were in the playoffs. However, it was almost a mortal lock they get into the playoffs because even IF they lost,  they would've gotten in as long as the (then St. Louis) Cardinals (5-10) could stay within 31 points of the Bears (who were 9-6). Redskins lose a 13 point lead over the Cowboys in the final 7 minutes and lose. Still in the playoffs right? Nope. Bears beat the Cardinals 42-6. End of season. They went from being able to win the division, to out of the playoffs.