Here’s the sister Factoid to the blurb on winless preseason teams. For this one, the correlation has been a little stronger.
In the last 20 years, 33 teams have run the table in the preseason. Of those teams, 17 (over half) finished with winning records. That includes the Seahawks last year.
Five of the 33 undefeated preseason teams finished with 8-8 records.
And only 11 of the 33 (a third) finished with losing record. That includes two completely inept teams – the 0-16 Lions of 2008, and the San Diego franchise that went 1-15 (setting itself up to select LaDainian Tomlinson and Drew Brees after smartly traded away the No. 1 pick).
Undefeated teams this year include the Ravens, Vikings and Giants. New York’s should almost have an asterisk, but that 5-0 record (it played in the Hall of Fame game) was fueled largely by the reserve guys in the second halves. The Giants led only one of those five games at halftime.
| UNDEFEATED PRESEASON, WINNING RECORDS | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | W | L | T |
| 1998 | Minnesota | 15 | 1 | 0 |
| 2003 | New England | 14 | 2 | 0 |
| 2013 | Seattle | 13 | 3 | 0 |
| 2005 | Denver | 13 | 3 | 0 |
| 1997 | Green Bay | 13 | 3 | 0 |
| 2003 | Tennessee | 12 | 4 | 0 |
| 2000 | Baltimore | 12 | 4 | 0 |
| 2012 | Seattle | 11 | 5 | 0 |
| 2003 | Carolina | 11 | 5 | 0 |
| 2000 | Denver | 11 | 5 | 0 |
| 1999 | Tampa Bay | 11 | 5 | 0 |
| 1997 | Pittsburgh | 11 | 5 | 0 |
| 2011 | Detroit | 10 | 6 | 0 |
| 1995 | Philadelphia | 10 | 6 | 0 |
| 2009 | Baltimore | 9 | 7 | 0 |
| 2002 | NY Jets | 9 | 7 | 0 |
| 2002 | Atlanta | 9 | 6 | 1 |
| UNDEFEATED PRESEASON, FINISHING AT .500 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | W | L | T |
| 2006 | Cincinnati | 8 | 8 | 0 |
| 2006 | NY Giants | 8 | 8 | 0 |
| 2006 | Carolina | 8 | 8 | 0 |
| 1999 | Green Bay | 8 | 8 | 0 |
| 1998 | Tampa Bay | 8 | 8 | 0 |
| UNDEFEATED PRESEASON, LOSING RECORDS | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Team | W | L | T |
| 2009 | Miami | 7 | 9 | 0 |
| 2004 | Carolina | 7 | 9 | 0 |
| 2010 | San Francisco | 6 | 10 | 0 |
| 2009 | Seattle | 5 | 11 | 0 |
| 2001 | Minnesota | 5 | 11 | 0 |
| 2012 | Philadelphia | 4 | 12 | 0 |
| 2003 | Arizona | 4 | 12 | 0 |
| 2013 | Washington | 3 | 13 | 0 |
| 2011 | St. Louis | 2 | 14 | 0 |
| 2000 | San Diego | 1 | 15 | 0 |
| 2008 | Detroit | 0 | 16 | 0 |