New Standings for the NFL

We have new standings for overall championship greatness. Note that these are by my calculations, and not those of the National Football League (who for some odd reason considers the record in NFL championships only - and not conference titles, even though a trophy is awarded and a modern conference is equivalent to the old NFL and AFL. They also rank by percentage rather than by number of trophies, which is odd).

Note that Green Bay is still the all-time greatest, with Dallas a close second.

Chicago moves up one position, to sixth, as a result of winning the NFC. A Super Bowl victory would have moved them into undisputed fourth place, edging out Washington and San Francisco based on winning percentage with the same number of trophies.

Indianapolis moves into a tie with Miami for eleventh, both teams having seven trophies and five championship losses - although by rights the Ravens should inherit some of their past glory, since they shed theirs when they left Cleveland (just as the Cardinals and Rams, if the same rule were applied, would have left past records in Clevand and Los Angeles). Then again, I feel the record should go with the franchise, not the city, so that the current Browns are an expansion team while the Ravens are the old Browns. If Indianapolis repeats against anyone but Chicago, they will be ranked number six next year. Had Indianapolis lost this year, they would have been tied for twelfth with Buffalo at 6-6. Their victory drops Buffalo to thirteenth.

Here are the numerical rankings.

Rank Team(s) Win-Loss (Percentage)
1 Green Bay 13-5 (0.7222)
2 Dallas 13-11 (0.5417)
3 Pittsburgh 11-8 (0.5789)
4 San Francisco, Washington (tie) 10-7 (0.5882)
6 Chicago 9-6 (0.6000)
7 New England 8-4 (0.6667)
8 Denver 8-6 (0.5714)
9 Oakland 8-11 (0.4211)
10 NY Giants 8-12 (0.4000)
11 Miami, Indianapolis (tie) 7-5 (0.5833)
13 Buffalo 6-6 (0.5000)
14 St. Louis 6-11 (0.3529)
15 Philadelphia 5-6 (0.4545)
16 Detroit, Kansas City (tie) 4-2 (0.6667)
18 Minnesota 4-8 (0.3333)
19 Cleveland 4-10 (0.2857)
20 Tennessee 3-7 (0.3000)
21 Baltimore 2-0 (1.0000) (should be 6-10)
22 Cincinnati, NY Jets, Tampa Bay (tie) 2-2 (0.5000)
25 San Diego 2-7 (0.2222)
26 Arizona 1-1 (0.5000)
27 Atlanta, Seattle (tie) 1-2 (0.3333)
29 Carolina 1-3 (0.2500)
30 New Orleans 0-1 (0.0000) (our newcomer to the standings)
31 Jacksonville 0-2 (0.0000)

With one unranked and untried virgin remaining, Houston.