How Many Undefeated NFL Teams Are There?

There are currently four undefeated NFL teams. The New England Patriots, the San Francisco 49ers, the Seattle Seahawks, and the Green Bay Packers are all undefeated.

The history of undefeated NFL teams

In the 100-year history of the National Football League, there have only been three teams that have finished the regular season with a perfect record. The last team to do it was the New England Patriots in 2007. Here is a look at the other two teams that accomplished the feat.

The 1972 Miami Dolphins finished their regular season with a 14-0 record. They then went on to win all three of their playoff games, including Super Bowl VII, to finish the season as the only undefeated team in NFL history.

The 2007 New England Patriots finished the regular season with a 16-0 record. They became just the second team in NFL history to finish a season undefeated, but they fell short of winning a Super Bowl, losing to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII.

How many undefeated NFL teams are there?

As of Week 4 of the 2019 NFL season, there are no undefeated teams remaining. The New England Patriots and Dallas Cowboys both suffered their first losses of the season in Week 3, leaving only four teams with a perfect record.

The San Francisco 49ers, Green Bay Packers, Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions all remain undefeated through three weeks. However, with a number of tough matchups on the schedule for Week 4, it is unlikely that any of these teams will finish the week without a loss.

The teams that have the most wins

As of September 2018, the New England Patriots have the most wins of any NFL team with 587.

The teams with the best chance of going undefeated

The New England Patriots, Los Angeles Rams, and Kansas City Chiefs all have a legitimate chance to run the table this season. All three teams have Super Bowl-caliber rosters, and all three have shown the ability to win close games.

The Patriots have the best chance of any team to go undefeated, as they have the easiest remaining schedule. They also have one of the best quarterbacks of all time in Tom Brady, and a head coach in Bill Belichick who knows how to put his team in position to win.

The Rams have a very talented roster as well, led by quarterback Jared Goff and head coach Sean McVay. They also have a relatively easy remaining schedule, with their toughest games coming against the Seahawks and Bears.

The Chiefs are perhaps the most talented team in the NFL, led by quarterback Patrick Mahomes and head coach Andy Reid. Their remaining schedule is not easy, but it is certainly manageable. They will need to beat the likes of the Chargers, Ravens, Steelers, and Patriots if they want to go undefeated.

Why some teams have never gone undefeated

So far, only four teams have gone an entire season without losing a game: the 1972 Miami Dolphins, the 2007 New England Patriots, the 2009 New Orleans Saints and the 2018 Los Angeles Rams. That means that, in the 46 seasons since the AFL-NFL merger, only four out of a possible 352 regular-season teams have been undefeated. That’s just over 1%.

When you look at it that way, it’s really no surprise that there have been so few undefeated teams. The NFL is designed to produce close games—it’s why they have things like the salary cap and schedule parity—and close games are more likely to go one team’s way than the other.

Even if a team is significantly better than its opponents, there’s always a chance that it will lose. That’s why upsets happen so often in the NFL: even if one team is better than another on paper, anything can happen on any given Sunday (or Monday or Thursday).

So why do people get so excited about undefeated teams? Part of it is because they’re so rare. We love seeing something that goes against the norm, and an undefeated NFL team is definitely abnormal. But part of it is also because we believe that an undefeated team is the best possible version of that team.

If a team goes 16-0 in the regular season, we tend to view that as a sign that they’re head-and-shoulders above everyone else in the league. In reality, though, an undefeated record says more about luck than it does about quality.