NFL Power Rankings: Most Dominant NFL Teams 1980-2012

32 Years. 985 Teams. 1 NFL power rankings formula to calculate the overall dominance of a season.

A quick review of our nfl power rankings formula from Part I of our infographic series:

NFL Power Rankings Single Season Team Dominance Formula

Now please keep in mind, the NFL power rankings  score doesn’t calculate who was the best team, or which team found ways to win when it counted most (I’m talking to you 2007 Giants [82.5] and 2011 Giants [-20.268]). This is simply a way to calculate the overall dominance of a seasons performance. Take a look at the NFL power rankings for the top 15 most dominant NFL teams between 1980 and 2012 and decide for yourself:

15-most-dominantNFLteams

We also charted each team, all 985 of them…

Most Dominant NFL Teams, 1980-2012 - An Infographic
(view the hi-res pdf here)

So, what does this teach us. Well we know the most dominant season doesn’t guarantee a Super Bowl win (obviously), but it does increase the odds. We know that the intangibles of finding a way to win (Again, talking to you ’07 and ’11 Giants)  can mean more than a high dominance score. And, we confirmed that you can win a Super Bowl after scoring less points than your opponents over a season (Geez, ’11 Giants, -6 point differential and still found a way to win it all??!)

Ultimately, does a NFL team’s power rankings dominance of a season matter? In the big picture, probably not. History remembers the winners, regardless (or because) of what it took to get there. But, to the fans of the other 31 teams that play every year, a season that was more dominant than a friend’s rival team’s season could be just the thing to get through the long cold off-season.

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