As we know, the NFL playoffs are supposed to bring out the best of the best. But sometimes the best teams in the league don’t always make the playoffs. Some underperform, some are hit by injuries, some put everything together too late, or have another reason for missing the playoffs. In any event, we wanted to give some recognition to the best NFL teams that didn’t make the playoffs and will always have to wonder “what if” they made it.
1991 Eagles
The 1991 Eagles are another example of a team losing its starting quarterback in Week 1 and then falling just a little short. Three other quarterbacks combined to start the rest of the season with the Eagles starting 3-5 before they figured things out. The Philadelphia defense this season was historically good, holding quarterbacks to a 44% completion rate while amassing 55 sacks and 43 forced fumbles.
That defense would have been scary in the playoffs, but the Eagles couldn’t get their offense going without Cunningham and fell a little short of the postseason after going 10-6.
2005 Chiefs
This Kansas City team was something special on offense behind Trent Green, who went to the Pro Bowl, and running back Larry Johnson, who had 21 touchdowns and averaged over five yards per carry.
The Chiefs weren’t half bad defensively either and were particularly tough at home, going 7-1 at Arrowhead Stadium. But their 10-6 record made the Chiefs the third-best Wild Card team, leaving them out of the playoff picture despite having an offense that nobody wanted to face.
1991 49ers
Steve Young did a great job of filling in for Joe Montana, who missed the entire season. Even when Young got hurt, backup Steve Bono came in and went 5-1 with the help of Jerry Rice, John Taylor, and a top-5 defense.
But it took some time to get going, so the 49ers were playing catch-up all year. Despite beating three playoff teams and outscoring their opponents by 154 points during a 6-0 stretch to finish the season, the 49ers were left out because they lost two games against the Falcons, losing the head-to-head tiebreaker with Atlanta.
2008 Patriots
This is the year the Patriots played without Tom Brady, who tore his ACL in Week 1. But New England ended up rallying behind Matt Cassell and became just the second team in NFL history to miss the playoffs despite going 11-5.
In fact, they had the same record as the Dolphins, who won the division at 11-5, making it that much harder to swallow that New England got left out in the cold. The Patriots finished top-10 in both points scored and points allowed. But somehow it wasn’t enough.
1985 Broncos
This is the other team that finished 11-5 but got left out of the playoffs. Of their five losses that season, four came by four points or less, including two that ended in overtime, so they weren’t far from winning at least one or two more games and getting into the playoffs.
If it’s any consolation, the Broncos replicated that 11-5 record the following year, and that time, it was enough to earn the top seed in the AFC and eventually get to the Super Bowl.