The NFL Decade Power Rankings, Part 1

The last ten seasons in the NFL have provided fans of every team with triumphs and failures, wins and losses, and perhaps most importantly, hope for the future. Seven different franchises won a Super Bowl this past decade, but fans of all 32 teams entered each season with hope, and that's what makes the NFL great.

The goal of this list is to look back at the last ten years of the NFL and rank the overall successes and failures of each NFL franchise. And even try to answer questions such as, would you rather your team have been a consistent winner that never quite put it all together in the playoffs, or a perennially poor squad with one magical playoff run? And just how much is that one Super Bowl win worth to you as a fan?

Today we begin the countdown with teams 32-21.

32. Detroit Lions

42-118, 0 Playoff Appearances
Best Season: 2000, 9-7, Missed Playoffs
Worst Season: 2008, 0-16, Missed Playoffs

Okay, I take it back. All that I said before about triumphs really doesn't apply to the Detroit Lions.

But here are some highlights of the Lions decade:
- In 2000, the Lions started the decade with what would be their only winning season, going 9-7 and just missing the playoffs. In fact, they started the season 8-4 before losing three crucial division games down the stretch to cost them a playoff berth.

- In 2007, the Lions had a 6-2 record and were coming off a 44-7 win over the Denver Broncos. The team fell apart in the second half of the season and they finished 7-9.

...And that's about it. In the 2000s, the Lions were as bad as most fans could ever imagine. Maybe even worse. Frankly, the numbers speak for themselves. Detroit did what many thought was impossible in today's parity-driven NFL by going 0-16 in 2008.

Consider that the expansion Houston Texans won seven more games in the decade than the Lions. Seven more wins...in two fewer seasons. The Lions are universally known by fans as the NFL's symbol for futility.

31. Buffalo Bills

66-94, 0 Playoff Appearances
Best Season: 2004, 9-7, Missed Playoffs
Worst Season: 2001, 3-13, Missed Playoffs

Sixty-six regular season wins without a single playoff appearance this decade is pretty incredible for an organization that saw so much success in the 1990s during the Marv Levy-Jim Kelly era. Playing in the same division as the consistently dominant New England Patriots certainly hurt, but missing the playoffs in ten straight seasons is downright inexcusable in today's NFL.

The Bills only winning season of the decade came in 2004 behind coach Mike Mularkey and QB Drew Bledsoe. The 2004 Bills reeled off six straight wins to get to a 9-6 record and needed only a win over the Pittsburgh Steelers backups at home to clinch a playoff berth. The Bills lost that game and missed the playoffs.

Six years later and this franchise is still looking for that head coach and franchise quarterback combination to lead them to a playoff berth—a onceordinary feat for this franchise.

30. Houston Texans

49-79, 0 Playoff Appearances
Best Season: 2009, 9-7, Missed Playoffs
Worst Season: 2005, 2-14, Missed Playoffs

The Texans were arguably the most nondescript franchise in football this decade. They never received a lot of national attention. And quite simply, they were never truly good. But never pitiful either. Yes, the 2-14 season in 2005 was a major setback in growth. But the Texans have mostly hovered around the 6-8 win mark most of the decade. The Texans achieved their most success in franchise history this past year as they won four in a row to finish 2009 with a winning record for the first time in eight years of existence.

This begs the question, Was the Texans decade a disappointment? The answer has to be yes, because they failed to meet, or even come close to, the early success of the Carolina Panthers and Jacksonville Jaguars expansion franchises of the 1990s. Even the Browns—who we'll get to in a minute—began play in 1999 and made the playoffs within four years.

29. Cleveland Browns

57-103, 1 Playoff Appearance, 0 Playoff Wins
Best Season: 2002, 9-7, Lost AFC Wild-Card Round
Worst Season: 2008, 4-12, Missed Playoffs

The new Browns (est. 1999) lost 103 games this past decade, more than any other franchise except the Detroit Lions. So why are they higher than the Bills and Texans?

Two reasons:
1. In 2002, they went 9-7 and made the playoffs, where they lost at Pittsburgh in a game they led late in the 4th quarter.
2. In 2007, they came out of nowhere, went 10-6 and deserved to make the playoffs.

Playing in one lousy playoff game over the course of ten seasons is nothing to brag about, but it is still an accomplishment that the teams below the Browns on this list have not achieved in a long time.

28. Cincinnati Bengals

68-91-1, 2 Division Titles, 2 Playoff Appearances, 0 Playoff Wins
Best Season: 2005, 11-5, Lost AFC Wild-Card Round
Worst Season: 2002, 2-14, Missed Playoffs

I was a bit surprised at first that I had the Bengals slotted only ahead of four other franchises this decade. Didn't it seem like they were better? Or should have been better? That last question is the defining question of the Bengals decade, one filled with many missed opportunities.

The Bengals had two remarkable seasons this decade. In both 2005 and 2009, Cincinnati won the AFC North and hosted a Wild Card playoff game. They lost both games. Other years were 8-8 disappointments or worse. Only sixty-eight regular season wins and zero playoff wins. They should have been better.

27. Kansas City Chiefs

70-90, 1 Division Title, 2 Playoff Appearances, 0 Playoff Wins
Best Season: 2003, 13-3, Lost AFC Divisional Round
Worst Season: 2008, 2-14, Missed Playoffs

The Chiefs have been one of the worst franchises in football the past three seasons, with only ten total wins in that time-frame. But earlier this decade, Kansas City was the league's most explosive team, scoring over 400 points in four straight seasons. The 2003 Chiefs were the peak of this franchise's success this decade and were perhaps one of the most exciting teams ever. Priest Holmes scored 27 TDs and PR-KR Dante Hall took the league by storm. That team went 13-3 but lost in the Divisional Round at home to the Colts.

The Dick Vermeil era then ended in 2005 with a 10-6 team that just missed the playoffs. Herm Edwards took over as coach and led a veteran group into the playoffs in 2006, where they were beaten by the Colts again. The Chiefs got old the next season, and have been rebuilding since.

26. San Francisco 49ers

68-92, 1 Division Title, 2 Playoff Appearances, 1 Playoff Win
Best Season: 2002, 10-6, Lost NFC Divisional Round
Worst Season: 2004, 2-14, Missed Playoffs

The San Francisco 49ers have fallen a long way from the consistent excellence they sustained in the 1980s and 1990s. The Niners won 10+ games in a season an amazing 17 times in the 80s and 90s. In the 2000s, San Francisco won 10+ games just twice.

The 49ers lone playoff win this decade was the thrilling 39-38 comeback win over the New York Giants in 2002. San Francisco fired coach Steve Mariucci after that season and have not achieved a winning season since.

25. Washington Redskins

70-90, 2 Playoff Appearances, 1 Playoff Win
Best Season: 2005, 10-6, Lost NFC Divisional Round
Worst Season: 2009, 4-12, Missed Playoffs

Ah, the Washington Redskins, the team that has given meaning to the phrase, all hype and no substance.

Dan Snyder's Redskins spent the 2000s creating high expectations with big-name coaching hires and free-agent acquisitions, but all those big splashes led to very little on field success.

The second Joe Gibbs era produced the team's only two playoff appearances, and lone playoff win in a largely unsuccessful decade.

24. Jacksonville Jaguars

76-84, 2 Playoff Appearances, 1 Playoff Win
Best Season: 2007, 11-5, Lost AFC Divisional Round
Worst Season: 2008, 5-11, Missed Playoffs

The always up and down Jacksonville Jaguars settle in at 24 on the rankings. The Jaguars were never seemingly as good as their record would indicate this decade. This was evidenced most clearly in 2005, when they may have been the worst 12-4 team of all-time, and were blown out at New England in the playoffs.

After falling back to 8-8 in 2006, Jacksonville looked to finally turn the corner in 2007 with an 11-5 season and a playoff win at Pittsburgh. But Jacksonville failed to meet lofty expectations in 2008 and ended the decade with back-to-back losing seasons.

23. Miami Dolphins

79-81, 2 Division Titles, 3 Playoff Appearances, 1 Playoff Win
Best Season: 2000, 11-5, Lost AFC Divisional Round
Worst Season: 2007, 1-15, Missed Playoffs

Miami had six winning seasons in the 2000s but a 1-15 season in 2007 severely damaged their overall record and position on this list. The Dolphins were very fortunate to avoid an 0-16 season, needing overtime to beat Baltimore at home for their lone win that year.

In 2008, Miami responded with the biggest turn-around in NFL history, going 11-5 and winning the AFC East. For all the winning seasons this past decade, Miami only made three playoff appearances with one win and lost two home playoff games to the Ravens (2001, 2008).

22. Dallas Cowboys

82-78, 2 Division Titles, 4 Playoff Appearances, 1 Playoff Win
Best Season: 2009, 11-5, Lost NFC Divisional Round
Worst Season: 2002, 5-11, Missed Playoffs

Dallas has achieved a winning season in six of the last seven years in which Bill Parcells (2003-2006) and Wade Phillips (2007-present) coached the team.

A lack of talent has not been an issue in Dallas in years, but until the Cowboys finally got on the board with a playoff win in 2009, they were known largely for their failures in big games. The best example of this was the top-seeded 13-3 Cowboys team in 2007. Dallas was the clear-cut best team in the NFC that year but inexplicably lost at home to the New York Giants in the playoffs.

21. Atlanta Falcons

75-84-1, 1 NFC Title Appearance, 1 Division Title, 3 Playoff Appearances, 2 Playoff Wins
Best Season: 2004, 11-5, Lost NFC Title Game
Worst Season: 2007, 4-12, Missed Playoffs

The Atlanta Falcons are the first team on this list to have made a conference title game.

The 2004 Falcons were not an elite team, but went 11-5 and earned a bye in a watered-down NFC before beating an over-matched St. Louis Rams team in the Divisional Round. Nonetheless, it was the highlight of the tumultuous Michael Vick era in Atlanta, which ended in 2007 as Vick was incarcerated and Atlanta saw its coach quit on them in a miserable 4-12 year.

Atlanta has recovered nicely post-Vick with young quarterback Matt Ryan and coach Mike Smith by recording back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in franchise history.