NFL Teams Shatter 2013 Scoring Record with 12,692 Points During 2020 Season

If it seemed like offenses were scoring at will during the 2020 NFL season, there's a reason for that. 

Per NFL.com's Nick Shook, teams set a new record with 12,692 total points scored. That mark shattered the previous record of 11,985 points scored during the 2013 season. 

Shook also noted that high-scoring teams largely correlated with success: 

"Nine teams averaged 28 or more points per game in 2020, and all nine of those squads made the playoffs. Nos. 10, 11 and 13 (Las Vegas, Minnesota, Arizona) missed the postseason, while Nos. 12 and 14 (Pittsburgh and Cleveland) both made the playoffs, with the latter riding its improved offense to its first trip to the postseason since 2002, ending the league's longest drought."

Given the limited offseason activities for teams because of the COVID-19 pandemic, offenses seemingly had a head start on defenses when the regular season began. The lack of preseason games prevented defenses from learning their own tendencies and how to quickly communicate signals between coaches and players. 

The NFL has also become an offense-focused league in recent years. Head coaches around the league frequently have some sort of offensive background, including Andy Reid, Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay, Frank Reich, Kliff Kingsbury, Bruce Arians, Matt Rhule, Kevin Stefanski and Matt LaFleur. 

The Green Bay Packers led all teams in scoring with 509 total points. The Buffalo Bills were a close second with 501, followed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (492), Tennessee Titans (491) and New Orleans Saints (482). 

Fifteen out of the NFL's 32 teams scored at least 400 points, five more than in 2019.