San Francisco 49ers: The Good Teams, the Bad, and the Ugly

(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

Just about every NFL coach and player would endorse the idea that "it doesn't matter how you win, as long as you somehow get the win." This is the stance they must take.

After all, you can't argue with a win. If you try, you might appear as if you care more about pretty things such as stats, style, and flash. No sensible pro football player wants to be caught dead putting personal stats over team.

Despite all of this posturing, the reality is obvious.

It does matter how you win.

It matters a lot.

Ugly

In football, "ugly" is a common term to describe a mostly defensive football contest. These types of games are usually low scoring and frustrate and confuse fans on both sides.

But where are "ugly" games most often found?

Perhaps both teams have a good defense which can shut down most other teams' offenses?

Perhaps both teams have bad offenses which struggle against any defense?

Or perhaps a team plays every game ugly?

If "ugliness" follows a particular team around, then that particular team most likely has a good defense because they always seem to slow down the other team's offense.

On the other hand, if that same team never wins a game "pretty," then that team obviously has problems on offense too.

So, a team that wins "ugly" is most likely a team with a good defense and a not-so-great offense, because if they had a good offense, they would win and lose many more "pretty" games.

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