5 Year Record

In the table below, ties are broken by postseason wins, where applicable, under the theory that one postseason win is worth more than one reg season win. It's a slightly greater accomplishment. Thus the Ravens are ranked ahead of the Jaguars who are ahead of the Cowboys. Ties remaining after that are broken by the most recent reg season record, under the what-have-you-done-for-me-lately theory. Thus the Panthers are ahead of the Bears, and the Falcons are ahead of the Vikings who are ahead of the Packers. Ties remaining after that are ignored, because Excel will only sort on three categories at once; but I don't think there are any examples this year.

Team	Reg season							Post season							Grand Total
	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	Sum		2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	Sum
New England Patriots	14	10	12	16	11	63		3	1	2	2		8		71
Indianapolis Colts	12	14	12	13	12	63		1		4			5		68
Pittsburgh Steelers	15	11	8	10	12	56		1	4			3	8		64
San Diego Chargers	12	9	14	11	8	54					2	1	3		57
Philadelphia Eagles	13	6	10	8	9.5	46.5		2		1		2	5		51.5
New York Giants	6	11	8	10	12	47					4		4		51
Seattle Seahawks	9	13	9	10	4	45			2	1	1		4		49
Denver Broncos	10	13	9	7	8	47			1				1		48
Carolina Panthers	7	11	8	7	12	45			2				2		47
Chicago Bears	5	11	13	7	9	45				2			2		47
Baltimore Ravens	9	6	13	5	11	44						2	2		46
Jacksonville Jaguars	9	12	8	11	5	45					1		1		46
Dallas Cowboys	6	9	9	13	9	46							0		46
Atlanta Falcons	11	8	7	4	11	41		1					1		42
Minnesota Vikings	8	9	6	8	10	41		1					1		42
Green Bay Packers	10	4	8	13	6	41					1		1		42
Tennessee Titans	5	4	8	10	13	40							0		40
Washington Redskins	6	10	5	9	8	38			1				1		39
Cincinnati Bengals	8	11	8	7	4.5	38.5							0		38.5
New York Jets	10	4	10	4	9	37		1					1		38
Tampa Bay Buccnrs	5	11	4	9	9	38							0		38
New Orleans Saints	8	3	10	7	8	36				1			1		37
Arizona Cardinals	6	5	5	8	9	33						3	3		36
Buffalo Bills	9	5	7	7	7	35							0		35
Kansas City Chiefs	7	10	9	4	2	32							0		32
Miami Dolphins	4	9	6	1	11	31							0		31
Houston Texans	7	2	6	8	8	31							0		31
St. Louis Rams	8	6	8	3	2	27		1					1		28
Cleveland Browns	4	6	4	10	4	28							0		28
San Francisco 49ers	2	4	7	5	7	25							0		25
Detroit Lions	6	5	3	7	0	21							0		21
Oakland Raiders	5	4	2	4	5	20							0		20

Wow, this is a pain in the ass to do in html.

My rule of thumb is, any team with a grand total over 45 is doing something right. That's an average winning record, nine wins per year, in a league where winning at all (let alone winning consistently) is extremely difficult. These are the best organizations in the sport.

Note technically a total of 40.5 or better represents a “winning” record, barely. I personally think 4 yrs of 8-8 and one year of 8-7-1 (which is what 40.5 would work out to) is nothing to write home about: but it beats losing. These teams with 42 wins are in a second tier.

Tennessee is an interesting case, exactly at .500 over 5 years. Does anything else illustrate more clearly, how cutthroat competitive the league is? Jeff Fisher is one of the finest coaches in the game; he wins 13 games in 2008 and that gets his 5-year record back up to .500.

On this list, there's the Pats, then Indy, then the Steelers; and then there's everybody else. Note how the top 6 or 7 are all teams that have definitively answered their QB questions; and the top two teams just happen to have the consensus top two QBs over the past several years.

The Redskins are still losers, barely.

I like how the Lions can go winless, and still not be on the bottom of this list. Holy god, the Raiders suck.