Which NFL Team Is Undefeated?
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The answer might surprise you – as of right now, there are zero undefeated NFL teams!
The New England Patriots
The New England Patriots are currently the only undefeated team in the NFL. They have an impressive record of 10-0 and are looking like the team to beat this season. The Patriots have a strong defense and a dynamic offense that has been able to score points against any opponent. With a talented roster and a great coach, the Patriots are poised to make a run at the Super Bowl this year.
Regular Season
In the National Football League (NFL), the New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. The Patriots compete in the NFL as a member club of the league’s American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team plays its home games at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, which is 22 miles (35 km) southwest of downtown Boston.
Founded in 1959 as part of the AFL-NFL merger, the Patriots began play in 1960. The team advanced to two NFL Championship Games beforejoining the NFL in 1970 as part of the AFL-NFL merger. In 1971, they won their first AFC Championship, and went on to appear in five more Conference Championship games between 1985 and 1996. From 2001 to 2016, the Patriots played in thirteen AFC Championship Games—winning eight of them—and appeared in ten Super Bowls, winning six of them. They are tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers for having the most Super Bowl appearances overall (9), and tied for second for most Super Bowl wins (6) behind only Pittsburgh (7).
The Patriots have appeared in more conference championship games (15) than any other NFL team, and have also played in more AFC Championship Games than any other team since 1971 when they joined the NFL. They also hold numerous records including; most wins in a ten-year period (126, from 2003 to 2012), an undefeated 16-game regular season record (in 2007), and an undefeated 8-0 record on their way to their ninth Super Bowl appearance which set an NFL record for longest winning streak including playoffs with 19 straight wins dating back to third game of 2014 season.
Playoffs
In order to make the playoffs, a team must have one of the best records in their conference. In the AFC, the Patriots have clinched a playoff berth. They are currently in first place in the AFC East with a record of 10-2. The Patriots have won six Super Bowls, and they are currently the defending champions.
The Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are currently the only undefeated team in the NFL. They have a record of 8-0 and are coming off of a dominant win over the Detroit Lions. The Packers offense is led by MVP candidate Aaron Rodgers, and the defense is one of the best in the league. The Packers have a tough schedule ahead of them, but they have a good chance to finish the season undefeated.
Regular Season
The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league’s National Football Conference (NFC) North division. It is the third-oldest franchise in the NFL, dating back to 1919, and is the only non-profit, community-owned major league professional sports team based in the United States. Home games have been played at Lambeau Field since 1957.
The Packers are the last of the “small town teams” which were common in the NFL during the league’s early days of existence. Founded in 1919 by earl “Curly” Lambeau and George Whitney Calhoun, the franchise traces its lineage to other semi-professional teams in Green Bay dating back to 1896. Between 1919 and 1920, the Packers competed against other semi-pro clubs from around Wisconsin and the Midwest, before joining the American Professional Football Association (now NFL) in 1921. Although Green Bay is by far the smallest major league market in North America, Forbes ranked them as the world’s 26th most valuable sports franchise in 2016, with a value of $2.35 billion.
The Packers have had 46 players inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and four former head coaches: Lambeau, Vince Lombardi, Mike Holmgren, and Mike McCarthy. The team has also captured 13 NFL championships (the most in NFL history), one of which was accomplished under Lombardi; four pre–Super Bowl NFL titles; and 19 divisional championships (the most among NFL teams).
Playoffs
In order to make the playoffs, a team must have a winning record. The team with the best record in each conference is seeded first and gets a bye in the first round of the playoffs. The next four teams are seeded based on their records. The two wild-card teams in each conference play each other in the first round. The winners of those two games advance to play the top-seeded teams in each conference in the second round, or divisional playoffs. The winners of those games then advance to play in the conference championships. Finally, the winners of the conference championships play each other in the Super Bowl, which is the biggest game of them all!
The Denver Broncos
Regular Season
The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver, Colorado. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league’s American Football Conference (AFC) West division. They began play in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League (AFL) and joined the NFL as part of the AFL–NFL merger in 1970. The team has played their home games at Empower Field at Mile High since 2001.
The Broncos were owned by Bob Howsam from 1960 to 1981 and then were sold to Gerald Phipps. In 2016, Stan Kroenke bought out Phipps’ heirs for $1 billion, making them the NFL’s most valuable franchise at $2.6 billion, according to Forbes’ annual list at that time. The Broncos have made eight Super Bowl appearances, winning three: Super Bowl XII against the Dallas Cowboys, Super Bowl XXI against the New York Giants, and Super Bowl XXXIII against the Atlanta Falcons. They also shared the AFL Championship with the Oakland Raiders in 1977 following a season-ending tie game; both teams had identical 13–2 records following that game/season. However, since they were in different conferences (the AFC and NFC respectively), they could not meet during that year’s playoffs.
Playoffs
The playoffs are a single-elimination tournament held after the end of the NFL regular season to determine the league’s champion. Six teams from each of the league’s two conferences qualify for the playoffs based on regular season records, and a tie-break system is used to seed the teams within their conference. In each conference, the division winners are seeded first (1-4), followed by the four wild card teams (5-8). The top two seeds receive byes into the divisional rounds. In the first round, dubbed the wild-card playoffs or wild-card weekend, the lower seeded teams visit the top seeds. The divisional playoffs then take place in each conference; however, since there are now only four divisional playoff berths available, one team from each conference is “cross-seeded” into a division of another conference. The four remaining teams from each conference meet in their respective conference championship games. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell stated that unlike other sports leagues in which a team hosts multiple playoff games over time, every team “earns” its right to host just one game. These four divisional playoff winners advance to meet in Super Bowl XLVIII at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on February 2, 2014.
