5 Year Record

I I like to get this posted before the Super Bowl. Sorry to slide it in just under the wire – I totally forgot!

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 Indy is ranked ahead of the Pats. Ties remaining after that are broken by the most recent playoff record, under the what-have-you-done-for-me-lately-in-the-playoffs theory. Thus the Packers are ahead of the Giants. It used to be that ties remaining after that were ignored, because Excel 1997-2003 would only sort on three categories at once; but I'm on Excel 2007 now, so I added a sort on most recent reg season wins, under the reg season what-have-you-done-for-me-lately theory. However, that didn't help this year, so we have no way to tell the difference between the Texans and the Panthers, or the Dolphins and the Redskins. Eh, who cares.

For comparison, last year's list is here.

Team	Reg season							Post season							Grand Total
	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	Sum		2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	Sum
Indianapolis Colts	12	13	12	14	10	61		4			2		6		67
New England Patriots	12	16	11	10	14	63		2	2				4		67
San Diego Chargers	14	11	8	13	9	55			2	1			3		58
Pittsburgh Steelers	8	10	12	9	12	51				3		2	5		56
Baltimore Ravens	13	5	11	9	12	50				2	1	1	4		54
New Orleans Saints	10	7	8	13	11	49		1			3		4		53
Green Bay Packers	8	13	6	11	10	48			1			3	4		52
New York Giants	8	10	12	8	10	48			4				4		52
Philadelphia Eagles	10	8	9.5	11	10	48.5		1		2			3		51.5
Chicago Bears	13	7	9	7	11	47		2				1	3		50
Dallas Cowboys	9	13	9	11	6	48					1		1		49
New York Jets	10	4	9	9	11	43					2	2	4		47
Tennessee Titans	8	10	13	8	6	45							0		45
Atlanta Falcons	7	4	11	9	13	44							0		44
Minnesota Vikings	6	8	10	12	6	42					1		1		43
Arizona Cardinals	5	8	9	10	5	37				3	1		4		41
Jacksonville Jaguars	8	11	5	7	8	39			1				1		40
Seattle Seahawks	9	10	4	5	7	35		1	1			1	3		38
Houston Texans	6	8	8	9	6	37							0		37
Carolina Panthers	8	7	12	8	2	37							0		37
Denver Broncos	9	7	8	8	4	36							0		36
Tampa Bay Buccnrs	4	9	9	3	10	35							0		35
Cincinnati Bengals	8	7	4.5	10	4	33.5							0		33.5
San Francisco 49ers	7	5	7	8	6	33							0		33
Miami Dolphins	6	1	11	7	7	32							0		32
Washington Redskins	5	9	8	4	6	32							0		32
Buffalo Bills	7	7	7	6	4	31							0		31
Kansas City Chiefs	9	4	2	4	10	29							0		29
Cleveland Browns	4	10	4	5	5	28							0		28
Oakland Raiders	2	4	5	5	8	24							0		24
St. Louis Rams	8	3	2	1	7	21							0		21
Detroit Lions	3	7	0	2	6	18							0		18

My rule of thumb is, any team with a grand total of 45 or over 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. That would average out to 4 yrs of 8-8 and one year of 8-7-1. I personally think that is nothing to write home about: but it beats losing. These teams in the 41-44 win category are in a second tier. The Falcons are very likely to be in the next tier up next season.

Indy and New England have been on top of this list for several years now. I guess that's what happens when you get the two best QBs in the game, along with decent to good defenses. But notice it's been 3 full seasons now since the Pats have won a playoff game. I anticipate Pittsburgh moving into a top 3 spot next season. The Packers and Giants will also have 8-win seasons coming off the books. San Diego should swoon, as their last 14-win season under Marty will come off the books. Can you believe it's been 5 years since they let Marty go? Next year's entry will be all Norv.

Among other anticipated risers, the Falcons should move up a bit next year, as their 7-win season 2006 season will come off the books. And I see Detroit moving their win total up into the 20s, as their 3-win 2006 will drop off. Will that be enough to move the Lions out of the bottom spot? I don't know. That zero will weigh them down for a couple more years, and I see Oakland & St Louis as improving. The bottom could drop out for Cleveland or Buffalo, maybe. Heck, maybe even Kansas City.

Baltimore will need to have another excellent season next year, as good as this one, to avoid falling on this list. Could happen. How would you like to be a Ravens fan? This table shows just what it looks like to fans in Baltimore: one friggin game behind the Steelers. Of course it doesn't suck to be #5 on this list: that's awesome. But you're still looking up at Pittsburgh. Worse if they win this weekend.

Go Packers?