A Look at Some of the Worst Playoff Teams in NFL History

It has been a long 18 weeks but the wait is finally over and the NFL Playoffs are upon us! The AFC gets started on Saturday with the Las Vegas Raiders vs Cincinnati Bengals then the New England Patriots vs Buffalo Bills. While those are two games between two above-average teams, this is not always the case in the opening round of the playoffs. Making the playoffs automatically mean that said team is worthy to be in the playoffs based on their record or roster. Sometimes teams just seem to fall into or out of the playoff hunt due to what happens with other teams. See the 2021-22 Indianapolis Colts. Because of the Colts loss and a Steelers win, Pittsburgh slid into the final playoff spot in the AFC. And while this is a feel-good story for the Steelers in what is probably Ben Roethlisberger's final game, the Steelers are not an exciting playoff team. I am sure most of us would have much preferred to see the Colts make a run at the title. 

This got me thinking though. While the Steelers are a bad playoff team, they are far from the worst team to ever make the postseason. Over the decades of play, there have been some certified ‘bad teams’ to make the playoffs. Let’s take a look at a few and have a few laughs on a Monday afternoon. 

2011 Denver Broncos

It feels like a lifetime ago but the NFL was in full Tim Tebow mode just 10 years back. Tebow Time took over the league and, eventually, the NFL Playoffs. Tebow ‘led; this offense but managed to complete just 126-of-271 attempts for 1729 yards, 12 touchdowns, and six interceptions. That is a completion rate of under 47 percent for reference. Yet, Tebow somehow managed to lead the Broncos to fourth-quarter comeback wins in five different games. Despite this, the Broncos were a bad team for 75 percent of most games and were 23rd in total yards and 25th in scoring. They lost their last three-game but managed to sneak into the playoffs due to a tiebreaker over the Oakland Raiders. 

The Broncos came out in the first round and did what they do best. They got beat up for 3 quarters and mounted a comeback and upset the Steelers in overtime thanks to a Tebow to Demaryius Thomas TD. It is still the longest overtime scoring play in NFL history at 80-yards. The Broncos then got crushed by the New England Patriots 45-10

2010 Seattle Seahawks (7-9)

The 2021-22 Seahawks had their first losing season this year since 2011 at 7-9 and failed to make the playoffs.  The year prior, in 2010, they had the same 7-9 record but did manage to make it to the playoffs. They didn’t make it in as a wild card team eighter, they actually won the NFC West at 7-9. From a W/L standpoint, they are tied for the worst playoff team in history and they have the underlying metrics to back it up. 

The Seahawks that year were the 22nd ranked scoring offense in the league and had the 27th ranked passing game. One might think that their running game had to have been what carried them. You would be very wrong. In fact, the Seahawks had the second-worst rushing attack and managed just 1,424 yards all year. The Chiefs, who led the NFL that year, had more than 1,200 yards more. Their defense was also in the bottom 10 in the NFL and gave up 5,897 yards overall and 25.4 PPG. 

Absolute garbage.

So naturally, they come out and win in the opening round against the Saints 41-36. Seattle was eventually beaten by Chicago 35-24 in the second round. 

2020 Washington Football Team 

The playoffs expanded to 14 teams last year so we were bound to see some bad playoffs teams as a result. This is a trend I expect to continue in the future mind you. Somehow last year’s WFT started the season 2-7 and managed to claw their way back into the NFC playoff picture. However, it wasn’t due to the expanded field but rather to just how terrible the NFC East was the last year. Much like the aforementioned Seahawks, Washington managed to win the division with a losing record and punch their ticket to the postseason. 

At the end of the regular season, Washington has just 329 points which ranked their scoring defense 29th in the NFL and their scoring offense was 25th. They went on to lose 32-23 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.