Normally when people talk about an NFL turnaround, they mean from
season to season. This team went from 3-13 to 13-3 in just one year.
Those turnarounds are undoubtedly impressive, but not enough
credit is given to those teams who are able to overcome bad starts in the
middle of a year to finish strong. Nothing is more satisfying than having
everybody thinking you’re done and then rising from the grave to snatch glory
away from somebody else. That’s what makes sports competition so great.
This year of 2018 seems to be experiencing a rare event in
which several teams who got off to terrible starts are suddenly in the thick of
the playoff chase and some even on the cusp of division titles. This raised an
interesting question. Looking across the breadth of NFL history, what has been
the greatest turnaround in the history of each franchise?
TIME FOR A FUN TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE!
PITTSBURGH
STEELERS: 1976
After winning two Super Bowls in 1974 and 1975, most
expected the Pittsburgh Steelers were in line to become the first
franchise to ever win three in a row in 1976. They had the pieces in place.
There was no pesky free agency to worry about. They had the best defense in NFL
history and an offense loaded with Hall of Fame talent. What could go wrong?
In a word: injuries. The ’76 Steelers were absolutely
plagued by them. None more so than Terry Bradshaw, their star quarterback. He
battled health issues all season long. As a result, the offense went into a bit
of a tailspin after the first few games of the year, resulting in the team
limping to a 1-4 record to start the season. Most were convinced the team was
dead in the water.
Then the defense took over. Realizing they might have to do
it themselves, the Steel Curtain delivered the most insane second half of a
season in NFL history. From week six through the end of the regular season,
they pitched five shutouts and allowed more than six points just once.
Pittsburgh won the division, made the playoffs, and crushed Baltimore in the
divisional round to reach the AFC championship before injuries again ruined
their hopes in a loss to Oakland.
ARIZONA
CARDINALS: 1998
Few franchises have gone through longer periods of
irrelevance than the Arizona Cardinals. They were in the midst of a big one
through the 1980s and most of the 1990s. Nobody expected anything different
from them in 1998. The team hadn’t made the playoffs since 1982 and hadn’t had
a winning record since 1984. It was truly the bottom class of the NFL and the
season started out like any other with them going 3-4 into their bye, capped by
a 34-7 loss to the Giants.
The pivotal point of their season came out of the break with
them winning three of their next four games by a combined total of eight
points. They lost their next two before finishing in heart-stopping fashion
with three straight wins by three, two, and three points respectively to claim
a record of 9-7, making the playoffs in the unlikeliest of fashions.
How did they celebrate? They beat the mighty Cowboys in
Dallas 20-7, one of the great upsets in NFL playoff history.
ATLANTA
FALCONS: 1978
The franchise had existed for 12 years by the time the 1978
season began. Yet the Atlanta Falcons had never made the playoffs and posted a
winning record just once. They had a great defense led by the infamous “Gritz
Blitz” that allowed a mere 129 points the year before, but even so optimism was
not high on this team going into this season.
It lowered even further when they began the year 1-3 which
included a loss to the lowly Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Things seemed ready to go
off the rails, but somehow they started to string together some good games. A
big part of why was their willingness to switch to young Steve Bartkowski at quarterback.
Though his numbers weren’t good, he made some big plays for them when needed.
A win over Washington in the second-to-last game was enough
to assure them nine wins and a playoff berth. They then announced their
newfound presence in the NFC picture by beating the Philadelphia Eagles in
their first ever playoff game.
BALTIMORE
RAVENS: 1999
The Ravens had a tough time getting off the ground during
their first three years in Baltimore. This was a team mired in controversy
after their owner Art Modell moved the team from Cleveland due to financial
issues and a lack of winning. Getting over that and back to the business of
pursuing championships was taking longer than hoped. After finishing 1998 with
a 6-10 record, the team hired Brian Billick to try and change their fortunes.
It didn’t start well in 1999. The team lost five of their
first seven games including a couple of ugly blowouts at the hands of St. Louis
and Kansas City. It looked like they were destined for another losing season.
Then they received a sparks thanks to, ironically, the new Cleveland
Browns franchise. The Ravens crushed them 41-9. That was the first of six wins
in the final nine games of the season to finish a surprising 8-8.
That turnaround didn’t get to the playoffs, but it served as
momentum for what happened the next year when Baltimore won their first
Super Bowl.
BUFFALO
BILLS: 1998
The city of Buffalo was in mourning by the late 1990s. Their
once great Bills team that had gone to four-straight Super Bowl was all but
gone. No bigger loss was felt than that of Jim Kelly. The Hall of Fame quarterback had
retired in 1997, which led to the offense’s first finish outside the top 15 in
10 years and their worst record in 11.
Optimism wasn’t high for 1998 either as their options at
quarterback were either former backup Rob Johnson or former NFL
washout-turned-CFL great Doug Flutie. Buffalo decided to go with Johnson as the
starter given they’d just traded for him. Flutie was little more than
competition and a nice option at backup. They promptly started 0-3 with Johnson
looking erratic and taking a ton of hits.
Finally he was knocked out of the game against Indianapolis
in week six. Flutie came in and led the team to a big 31-24 victory. That led
to his getting the nod as the starter moving forward. Buffalo won seven of
their next eight games and cruised into the playoffs at 10-6. Flutie went to
the Pro Bowl, becoming one of the greatest comeback stories in NFL history.
CAROLINA
PANTHERS: 2013
Up to this point the Cam Newton era had been fun in terms of
the highlight plays and the gaudy stats, but that wears off after a while. Fans
wanted to start seeing more wins out of the former #1 pick. Their demands weren’t
answered when the 2013 season began. The Panthers started out 1-3. Worse still?
Newton and the offense were floundering, turning the ball over nine times and
scoring seven and six points respectively in two of their three losses.
Something had to change. In the end, it was finding ways to
get Newton comfortable. He started to play better and protected the football
more. The offense went on to score 30 points or more in their next four games
and the team caught fire. Carolina won 11 of their final 12 games to finish
12-4, tying the best record in franchise history at the time. Safe to say
nobody saw that coming since the team hadn’t made the playoffs since 2008.
CHICAGO
BEARS: 1977
This season began pretty much like all others for the Bears.
They hadn’t made the playoffs to this point since their championship run in
1963. Since then they’d endured the worst stretch of losing in franchise
history. It didn’t look like this year would be much different. After an
opening day win over Detroit, they went on to lose four of their next five
games. Things hit bottom on November 6th when the Houston Oilers crushed them
47-0 to make their record 3-5.
Only by winning out could they possibly have a chance to
reach the postseason. It almost ended before it began were it not for a literal
last-second touchdown to beat Kansas City 28-27. Led by Walter Payton who claimed MVP honors
that year with 2,121 yards from scrimmage and 16 touchdowns, the Bears won
their final six games including a nail-biter finale in a miserable slush
covered Giants Stadium in New York to end the longest playoff drought in Bears
history.
CINCINNATI
BENGALS: 1970
Expansion teams never have it easy in the NFL but it was
especially true back in the early days of the league. Everybody remembers the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New Orleans Saints, but sandwiched between them was
the Cincinnati Bengals. Their owner and head coach Paul Brown was a scorned man
by this period. He’d been run out of Cleveland by own Art Modell after leading
the franchise to so much success.
The Bengals were supposed to be his redemption project. Yet
the first two years saw them win just seven games combined. It didn’t get much
better in 1970 when they lost six-straight following an opening day win. One of
those losses was to Cleveland. It was a moment that could’ve easily broken
Brown. Instead he showed why he’s a Hall of Famer.
Cincinnati went into Buffalo and clobbered them 43-14. Led
by a surging defense and a running game that racked up over 2,000 total yards,
the Bengals won their remaining seven games to finish 8-6 and made the playoffs
for the first time.
CLEVELAND
BROWNS: 1980
After dominating from the late 1940s through the 1960s, the
Cleveland Browns finally ran out of gas in the 1970s, failing to be a major
player in the playoff scene for several years. Fans were hoping that the start
of the 1980s might prove different after the team finished ’79 with a 9-7
record. Yet things didn’t get off to the best start.
The Browns lost three of their first five games. What
followed was one of the most exciting periods of football a team would ever
play. Week after week it seemed like the Browns were in a close game and having
to pull out a win late in the 4th quarter. Nine of their remaining games that
year were decided by a touchdown or less. They won seven of them.
Leading the way was MVP Brian Sipe who threw for over 4,000
yards and 30 touchdowns. Cleveland went 11-5 and made the playoffs.
Unfortunately, how they lived that year came back to haunt them as their
aggressive late-game approach led to the infamous “Red Right 88” loss to the
Raiders.
DALLAS
COWBOYS: 1996
It was clear to all that the Dallas Cowboys were like an
aging king trying to survive his final years on the throne. Age and free agency
had gutted the once powerhouse franchise as many of their great players from
the previous three Super Bowl teams were retired or elsewhere. Still, they felt
they had enough left built around their star trio of Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin, and Emmett Smith to make
another run before the window closed.
Then the first month of the 1996 season arrived. Dallas lost
three of their first four games, marking the worst start to a season they’d had
in seven years. The offense scored six and seven points in two of those three
defeats. It was wondered if they had any magic left to draw on. The fifth game
didn’t start well with the Eagles taking a 10-7 lead in the 1st quarter.
After that, the Cowboys responded. They did enough to eke
out a 23-19 win and then hit their bye. That time off gave them a much-needed
breather than they used wisely. They won eight of their remaining 11 games to
finish 10-6 and crushed in the wild card round 40-15. It was the last glimpse
of that greatness they had before it slipped off into the mists of time.
DENVER BRONCOS:
2011
The Denver Broncos’ 2011 season is one of the most fondly
remembered in team history by the entire fan base.
After a dismal start to the season with Josh McDaniels fired
and John Fox now the head coach of the team, the Broncos faced a critical
juncture as a franchise. They could either go down with Kyle Orton as the captain of the ship
or they could put in Tim Tebow and lose with some entertainment value.
Whether it came from John Elway (who was in his first
season as an executive in the NFL at the time) or the coaching staff is
irrelevant now, but facing their fifth loss of the season against the San Diego
Chargers, the Broncos turned to Tebow who ignited a spark and nearly brought
the team back from a huge deficit to get a victory.
The very next week, Tebow’s first start of the season, the
Broncos got a win against the Miami Dolphins in dramatic comeback fashion. That
would really set the tone for the rest of the year.
Denver won seven of Tebow’s first eight starts that season
and lost three straight to end the year, still somehow finishing division
champions in the AFC West at 8-8.
They faced the reigning Super Bowl Champion Pittsburgh Steelers
in the Wild Card round of the playoffs that year, and came up with one of the
most memorable and epic walk-off touchdowns in the history of the game.
Tim Tebow hit Demaryius Thomas for an 80-yard score with the
NFL’s overtime rules changing from sudden death to sudden death only
if you score a touchdown.
This was one of the craziest seasons in Broncos history and
one fans will never forget.
DETROIT LIONS:
1995
Very rarely does a team get to the middle of November with a
sub-.500 record and make noise all the way to the end of the season, but that’s
exactly what the 1995 Detroit Lions accomplished.
After starting the season 3-6, the Lions looked headed
toward a top 10 draft selection and like the had no chance of competing for any
sort of playoff spot whatsoever.
Then one by one, they started winning games.
As a matter of fact, after losing their sixth game of the
season, the Lions didn’t lose the rest of the way in the regular season. The
defense started forcing a ton of turnovers down the stretch of the second half
of the season, and the offense was borderline unstoppable.
Detroit finished the 1995 season with the second-highest
scoring team in the NFL but was unable to keep it going in the playoffs.
Still, they were able to win the final seven games on their
regular season schedule and make it to the postseason thanks to the glorious
offensive performances that year of Barry Sanders, Herman Moore, Scott Mitchell, and Brett Perriman.
GREEN BAY PACKERS:
2004
The 2004 Green Bay Packers were really a fun parallel to
Brett Favre as a player. Favre was a gunslinger, and this season was a wild
ride of feast or famine for the Packers.
Green Bay started off the season with a solid win against
the Carolina Panthers but lost four straight games after that. Sitting there in
the early portion of the season with a 1-4 record, things didn’t look good for
the Packers at all but they had a quarterback who could help them turn things
around quickly.
Favre wore out his arm to the tune of 540 passes that
season, and the Packers even had to call upon Craig Nall and Doug Pederson that year for some
relief duty.
After the 1-4 start, the Packers ripped off nine wins in
their final 11 games, earning a postseason bid and putting on a display
offensively. Javon Walker and Driver had huge
seasons for Green Bay and after a playoff loss to the Vikings, the very next
year in the 2005 NFL Draft, the Packers would use a late first-round selection
on Aaron Rodgers.
HOUSTON TEXANS:
2018
The 2018 Houston Texans are the most recent example of a
dramatic in-season turnaround.
DeShaun Watson and J.J. Watt were coming off of injuries at
the start of this season, and Houston’s expectations were really mixed from
analysts and pundits.
Could they regain the same form they had in the early
portion of the 2017 season when Watson looked like a rookie of the year
candidate?
After a 0-3 start, it didn’t seem feasible. Luckily for the
Texans, the AFC South was not off to a great start in general, so all was not
lost.
Their story is not yet completely written, but since their 0-3
start, the Texans have become the hottest team in the NFL. They have now won
nine straight games and DeShaun Watson has the offense rolling.
Defensively, J.J. Watt has returned to his defensive MVP
form while Mathieu has proven himself to be an extremely valuable pickup.
INDIANAPOLIS
COLTS: 1975
The 1975 Baltimore Colts faced a tough start to the season
with three road games in their first five contests, and the difficulty of that
schedule proved to be too much to handle in the early goings of the season.
They started the year off with a victory, but lost four
straight games. Their ugly 1-4 record looked like it would be impossible to
overcome but this team proved itself nothing if not resilient, winning nine
straight games to end the regular season with a record of 10-4.
Not only that, but the Colts ended up with one of the best
offenses and best defenses in the entire NFL that year. Their balance on both
sides of the ball led them to a great regular season finish, but a very
disappointing postseason display as they were beaten easily by the Pittsburgh
Steelers.
JACKSONVILLE
JAGUARS: 1996
It’s rare in any sport for a brand new franchise to make a
lot of noise in just their second year of existence, but the Jacksonville
Jaguars bucked the trend.
After a 3-6 start to the season, Tom Coughlin’s crew had a
midseason bye week to recoup and regroup, trying desperately to figure out a
way to salvage the season.
They came out of the bye and got a victory over the
Baltimore Ravens to improve to 4-6, but disappointment quickly returned as the
Jaguars lost the following week in blowout fashion against the Pittsburgh
Steelers.
After that, they went on an absolute tear.
Including the postseason, the Jaguars won seven straight
games and made it all the way to the AFC Championship game where they lost to
the New England Patriots.
The Jaguars are known by Denver Broncos fans for their major
upset in the divisional round of the playoffs where they upset John Elway in
what appeared to be a banner Broncos season.
The Jaguars went into Denver and played the role of spoiler.
KANSAS CITY
CHIEFS: 2015
No fan base wonders what could have been more than the
Kansas City Chiefs, who had some of the best years in franchise history spoiled
by the Peyton Manning era in Denver.
If you sat down at a table with an NFL team before the
season and could negotiate the outcome of their year, offering a win in the
first game and an 11-game winning streak in the season, you would take that
deal anytime.
The Chiefs started off the season with a win, but lost five
straight games after that. Then they refocused and found a way to string
together 10 straight wins to end the regular season and even got a postseason
victory in the Wild Card round after narrowly missing out on the AFC West
title.
Then the Patriots happened, and despite the greatness of
Kansas City’s regular season, they couldn’t find a way to win the division and
it ended up hurting them when they had to travel to New England.
The Denver Broncos won the Super Bowl this season, making
matters even worse for Kansas City, but this was an incredible regular season
run for them to finish 11-5 after starting 1-5.
LOS ANGELES
CHARGERS: 1992
The 1992 Chargers finished the season ninth in scoring
offense, and were shut out in the fourth game of a four-game losing streak to
open the season.
After their shutout loss, the Chargers went on a four-game
winning streak of their own and ended that winning streak with a
shutout victory. It doesn’t get much crazier than that.
After their four-game winning streak came to an end, the
Chargers were looking at a 4-5 record going into a mid-November matchup with
the Cleveland Browns.
The Chargers would win that game, along with the next seven
games on their schedule, which included a rematch against the Kansas City
Chiefs in the postseason. After two regular season losses to the Chiefs, the
vindication and satisfaction the Chargers experienced by shutting the Chiefs
out in postseason play had to feel incredible.
Despite the two losses to Kansas City, the Chargers finished
in first place in the AFC West that year and lost to the Dolphins in the
divisional round of the playoffs.
LOS ANGELES RAMS:
1979
The 1979 Rams were about as up and down as you can be as a
team throughout a season and still make noise late.
After a 4-2 start, things seemed to be going pretty well for
the Rams. They had shown some resilience in close games and put together some
impressive victories, including a shutout win over the St. Louis Cardinals.
After starting 4-2, however, the Rams lost three straight
games and ended their losing streak with a shutout win over the Seattle
Seahawks. They followed that game up with a disappointing loss to the Chicago
Bears.
At 5-6, the Rams put together their best streak of the
season with four straight wins. Despite a loss to end the regular season, a 9-7
record was good enough to get them in the postseason with a first place
division finish.
Two wins to open the postseason on the road against the
Dallas Cowboys and Tampa Bay Buccaneers put the Rams in the Super Bowl against
the Pittsburgh Steelers, but that’s where their Cinderella story came to an
end.
MIAMI DOLPHINS:
2016
At this point, Adam Gase would probably just take a single
season of full health from his starting quarterback to see what could happen.
Even though that wasn’t the case in 2016, Gase’s Dolphins
put together the best season of his coaching career there and it didn’t come
without some serious adversity.
The Dolphins started the season 1-4 and caught fire starting
in mid-October, winning six straight games before a road game against the
Baltimore Ravens humbled them significantly.
After the loss to the Ravens put the Dolphins at 7-5 on the
season, they won three games in a row heading into a very important week 17
matchup against the New England Patriots, which they lost by 21.
Still, despite the loss to New England, the Dolphins made
their way to the postseason, but they were unable to get past the Pittsburgh
Steelers in the Wild Card round.
MINNESOTA VIKINGS:
1980
Many people think Bud Grant was a coach who took
advantage of a loaded roster in the late 1960s and rode it to four Super Bowl
appearances. In actuality, the man never gets enough credit for how good he was
at his job. That team probably would’ve petered out in the early 1970s without
Grant’s firm direction, but anybody looking for a true sign of his prowess
should look no further than the 1980 season.
This wasn’t the same team anymore. Greats like Fran Tarkenton, Jim Marshall, Carl Eller, and Paul Krause were gone. This was a team
of unproven youths like Tommy Kramer, Ted Brown, and John Turner. Not exactly a stellar lineup
like the days of old. So its little wonder the team got off to such a rough
start, limping to a 3-5 record by the halfway point.
Grant though didn’t change his approach. He kept calm,
coaching them up and pushing forward. Before too long they started to string
together some strong performances. Leading the way was veteran receiver Ahmad Rashad who made his third Pro
Bowl. Minnesota won six of their final eight games to make the playoffs at 9-7.
NEW ENGLAND
PATRIOTS: 1985
All people remember the New England Patriots for in 1985 was
getting absolutely crushed in the Super Bowl by the Chicago Bears. While that
finish wasn’t what they had in mind, not enough people give that team credit
for even getting that far in the first place. If they’d bothered to remember
how that year began, they’d understand.
The Patriots had high expectations for that year after going
9-7 the season before but things looked bad at the start. They went 2-3 at the
start of the year including a pair of blowout losses to Chicago and the
Raiders. However, they took advantage of a schedule benefit after that that saw
them play four of their next five games at home.
They ended up winning six-straight and finished the season
11-5 led by a rushing attack that piled up over 2,300 yards and a defense that
had 51 sacks. Then in the playoffs, they beat their rival New York Jets,
avenged their loss to the Raiders, and won their first game since 1969 in
Miami’s home stadium in the AFC championship to reach their first Super Bowl.
NEW ORLEANS
SAINTS: 1979
People will look at this season and claim they didn’t make
the playoffs, so how can 1979 be considered the greatest in-year turnaround
ever for the Saints. As always, context is needed. Going into this year,
everybody expected the same results for New Orleans. Since their inception in
1967, the team had a losing record every single season. They’d never even
reached .500.
This year didn’t look any different. The Saints stumbled out
of the gates with a 0-3 record and were 2-4 by the start of October. Then the
ultimate rarity happened. They won three straight games including a 28-point
blowout over a good Tampa Bay team in which they ran for 234 yards led by Pro
Bowl back Chuck Muncie.
The defense also got in on the action with 26 interceptions.
Even so, a loss in Week 15 put them at 7-8. Only a win against the Los Angeles
Rams on the road would avoid another losing season. Keep in mind this Rams team
would play in the Super Bowl later that season. The Saints crushed them 29-14.
It was one of the bigger moral victories in franchise history.
NEW YORK
GIANTS: 1997
The 1990s were a down period for the New York Giants. Though
they had one or two decent seasons, they were never considered a major player
again after their Super Bowl run in 1990. This was especially true by the
middle of the decade. After enduring a difficult end to the forgettable Dan Reeves era, the team hoped to go
in a new direction with Jim Fassel.
The team he inherited that first season in 1997 may have
been one of the least talented the Giants have ever had, at least on
offense. Danny Kanell and Brown were the
quarterbacks. Charles Way and Tyrone Wheatley were the primary
running backs and Chris Calloway was the leading
receiver. Not exactly a who’s who of Giant greats.
So it’s little surprise they stumbled to a 1-3 record to
start the season, ending with a humiliating 13-3 loss to the hapless St. Louis
Rams. Though they beat the Saints the next week, their season came down to a
week six showdown with the mighty Dallas Cowboys. Despite just 166 yards of
total offense, a huge interception return sparked a 20-17 upset.
New York rode the momentum of that win to a 10-5-1 mark,
making the playoffs for the first time in four years.
NEW YORK JETS:
2002
After a strong 10-6 season in 2001, fans were right to have
optimism going into 2002. The New York Jets appeared to have a good football
with talent on both sides of the ball. Chad Pennington at QB. Curtis Martin running the ball. Coles
catching passes. John Abraham rushing the passer. It
felt like a roster that could do some damage if it came together properly.
By the time the bye week rolled around, anything but that
had happened. The Jets were 1-4 and had lost four straight including a
three-game stretch where they scored 17 points total on offense. Out of the bye
they split the next two games to sit at 2-5. Their season boiled down to a road
game in San Diego. They crushed the Chargers 44-13.
That was the turning point. The Jets won four straight and
five of their next six. Their regular season was capped by blowouts of the
defending champion New England Patriots and Brett Favre-led Green Bay Packers
to finish 9-7 and make the playoffs. Then they put a cap on it by humiliating
Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts 41-0 in the wild card round.
OAKLAND RAIDERS –
1980
After a glorious run in the 1970s, the Oakland Raiders
looked like a team that was in decline. They hadn’t made the playoffs for two
years and most of their old guard like Ken Stabler, Fred Biletnikoff, Dave Casper, and Willie Brown were gone. Going into
1980 they looked like a team with few bright prospects, starting over at QB
with the underachieving Dan Pastorini.
They certainly played like it to start the season, going 2-3
in their first five games with blowout losses to the Buffalo Bills and Kansas
City Chiefs in the final two. To make matters worse, Pastorini broke his leg in
the Chiefs game, forcing failed #1 pick turned longtime backup Jim Plunkett to enter the starting
lineup. Nobody knew what was coming.
Oakland somehow rolled off six-straight wins to completely
change the complexion of their season. Plunkett made big plays when he had to
and the veteran roster around him did the rest. They finished 11-5, went into
Cleveland and stunned the Browns 14-12, beat their rival Chargers in San Diego
in the AFC championship, and brought it home by blowing out the favored
Philadelphia Eagles 27-10 in the Super Bowl.
PHILADELPHIA
EAGLES – 1978
The Eagles had not made the playoffs since 1960 when they
entered the 1978 season. Fans were desperate for a winner but the major
turnover on the roster under head coach Dick Vermeil left many to wonder when
that would come. After a decent start to open the year, they started to fall
apart by midseason. Back to back losses to Dallas and St. Louis left them at
4-5.
They barely outlasted the Packers 10-3 the next week and
appeared dead to rights in a must-win game against the rival New York Giants.
Trailing 17-12 with seconds remaining, the Giants had the ball and knew all
they had to do was run out the clock. However, after attempting to kneel caused
their QB Joe Pisarcik to get hit, they decided
to just hand off to Larry Czonka on the next play.
Pisarcik and Czonka mistimed the exchange, leading to a
fumble that Eagles defender Herman Edwards returned for a game-winning
touchdown. Dubbed the “Miracle at the Meadowlands,” Philadelphia used the
momentum from that to win three of their last five and finish 9-7 to make the
playoffs. Thus ended an 18-year nightmare for Philly.
SAN FRANCISCO
49ERS: 1988
The 49ers were coming off one of their most disappointing
playoff defeats in franchise history. After going 13-2 in 1987, they were
stunned in their opener against the Minnesota Vikings. That loss seemed to
extend its impact into 1988, creating all sorts of uncharacteristic
performances from a team typically known for its precision and effectiveness.
Head coach Bill Walsh didn’t make things much
easier with his fueling of the ongoing quarterback controversy between
starter Joe Montana and backup Steve Young. Things reached a boiling point
when the team lost its fourth game in six weeks in which the offense managed
just three points and committed two costly turnovers.
Walsh was compelled by his staff to end the controversy and
make a decision at quarterback. He decided to stick with Montana. The 49ers
responded with four-straight wins and locked up a division title. From there
they seemed to have found their groove, blowing out the Vikings and Bears en
route to the Super Bowl. Montana then rewarded Walsh’s decision by delivering
the greatest game-winning drive in playoff history that point, going 92 yards
to win 23-16.
SEATTLE SEAHAWKS:
1983
The best turnarounds are always the first ones, am I right?
The Seahawks were considered a second class franchise in their early days.
They’d failed to make the playoffs in their first seven seasons and things
didn’t look much different through most of 1983. By the end of November, they
were sitting at 6-6 with little hope of reaching the promised land.
It got worse in their next game when the Kansas City Chiefs
opened up a 21-7 lead on them. However, the team fought back and ended up in
one of the greatest regular season shootouts in NFL history, going to overtime
tied 48-48. Seattle pulled it out with a field goal and would win three of
their last four to make the playoffs for the first time.
The fun didn’t stop there. The Seahawks crushed division
rival Denver 31-7 in the wild card round and then upset the favored Miami
Dolphins 27-20 the next week to reach the AFC championship game. Sadly five
turnovers in the game doomed them against the eventual champion Raiders, but it
was an incredible turnaround.
TAMPA BAY
BUCCANEERS: 1999
If people are looking for a time that sparked the
Buccaneers’ rise to their first Super Bowl championship, they can point to what
happened in 1999. Up to that point, the Bucs were still a franchise considered
beneath the cream of the NFC elite. Not much seemed different to start the year
as they finished October at 3-4. One thing was becoming apparent though.
Tampa Bay had a dominant defense. Led by the star-studded
trio of Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, and John Lynch they suffocated opponents
down the stretch. From November through December, the Buccaneers won seven of
eight games and never gave up more than 17 points during that entire stretch.
The team finished 11-5 to win the division, unseating the beloved Green Bay
Packers.
They offered a rude awakening to the rest of the NFL when
they bullied the Washington Redskins in a 14-13 playoff victory and narrowly
lost in the NFC championship 11-6 to the eventual champion St. Louis Rams. A
team that had scored over 500 points that season.
TENNESSEE TITANS:
2002
Things were amiss for the Titans in the early 2000s. After a
heartbreaking loss in the 2000 playoffs to Baltimore, the team experienced
their first losing season in 2001 in six years. It only seemed to get worse
when the 2002 season kicked off as they followed their opening day victory with
four-straight losses, capped by blowouts against Oakland and Washington where
the defense gave up 83 combined points.
The team needed somebody to lift them out of the mud. True
to form it was their two leaders on offense in quarterback Steve McNair and
running back Eddie George. They combined for over 350 yards of offense and two
touchdowns to secure a key victory over the rival Jacksonville Jaguars, kick
starting a run that would see them win 10 of their remaining 11 games.
It got better when they upset the Steelers, a team that had
tormented their franchise for years in the divisional round 34-31 to reach the
AFC championship. Jeff Fisher had a lot of great coaching moments, but his
handling of that team may have been his best.
WASHINGTON
REDSKINS: 2012
The general consensus was the Redskins were a team that was
in the middle of a rebuild in 2012. It’s not hard to see why. They’d gone 5-11
the year before and hadn’t made the playoffs since 2007. They were starting
over with a rookie quarterback in Robert Griffin III on top of that.
This was a young team that would be learning how to win that year.
Everything went as anticipated in the bye week with the
Redskins being 3-6. They showed flashes of success but could never seem to
finish. Then somewhere during that two-week break, a switch was flipped.
Washington blew out the Eagles 31-6 in that first game and would end up winning
all seven of their remaining games to finish 10-6, winning the NFC East.
Griffin III led the way with 3,200 yards passing, 815
rushing, and 27 total touchdowns. It looked like he was destined for
superstardom. Unfortunately, the storybook year came to a sad conclusion. Not
only did Washington lose their playoff game to Seattle, but Griffin ended up
badly injuring his knee. Something he never truly recovered from.
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