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30 worst NFL Playoff teams of all time

By Cody Williams

Dec 13, 2015; Jacksonville, FL, USA; Indianapolis Colts running back Frank Gore (23) runs as Jacksonville Jaguars outside linebacker Dan Skuta (55) defends in the first quarter at EverBank Field. Mandatory Credit: Logan Bowles-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 13, 2015; Jacksonville, FL, USA; Indianapolis Colts running back Frank Gore (23) runs as Jacksonville Jaguars outside linebacker Dan Skuta (55) defends in the first quarter at EverBank Field. Mandatory Credit: Logan Bowles-USA TODAY Sports /
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Dec 13, 2015; Jacksonville, FL, USA; Indianapolis Colts running back Frank Gore (23) runs as Jacksonville Jaguars outside linebacker Dan Skuta (55) defends in the first quarter at EverBank Field. Mandatory Credit: Logan Bowles-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 13, 2015; Jacksonville, FL, USA; Indianapolis Colts running back Frank Gore (23) runs as Jacksonville Jaguars outside linebacker Dan Skuta (55) defends in the first quarter at EverBank Field. Mandatory Credit: Logan Bowles-USA TODAY Sports /

A look at the 30 worst NFL teams to ever make the playoffs

For one reason or another, the 2015 NFL season has seemed like it has brought more bad professional football teams to the table than an any one season in recent years. The talent pool just seems so watered down by way of injuries, poor salary cap management, and another of other factors to the point that the mid-to-lower tiers of the league are far more crowded than the group of upper tier teams in the league.

One of the things that lends itself to is that there are going to be some mediocre and possibly even some just-plain-bad football teams that make it into the NFL Playoffs. There have been bad playoff teams before, including four teams in the history of the league that have made it into the postseason with a losing record, but there is a legitimate chance that one division winner this season make it into the postseason with a losing record.

This all starts with the logjam in the AFC South where there is just a cluster of mediocre-to-bad teams vying to win the division. It’s been the Houston Texans and Indianapolis Colts battling at the top of the division down the home stretch of the regular season and the Texans currently have a one-game lead at 7-7 after defeating the Colts in Week 15. In the driver’s seat, Houston seems like they’ll emerge from the division and they could very well end up at 9-7 or 8-8 and not have to worry about being the fifth team to make the postseason with a losing record.

Then there are the Washington Redskins, who managed to come out of a horrid NFC East as the champions with a win on Saturday night. How the Redskins managed to win this division is somewhat miraculous given their horrendous plays and awful mistakes, like quarterback Kirk Cousins kneeling to run out the clock just yards from the end zone at the end of the second quarter. That cost his team points and is some horrible football, but they’re lucky to be in an even worse division.

The question is where these teams, whichever ones make it into the NFL Playoffs from these two divisions, would rank in the canon of the worst playoff teams in the history of the NFL. Between strike-shortened seasons, expansion diluting the talent in various seasons, and many other factors, there have been a number or abysmal playoff teams in the history of the league.

These are the 30 worst.

Next: No. 30 Broncos (1983)

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