The Worst NFL Offense In The Last 30 Years

Following up my last post about the best offense from the last 30 years, I bring to you the worst offense from the last 30 years. This is very similar to that post in terms of the way I went about gathering the data and statistics and as well as the way I analyzed them. Upon request from someone who read my last post, I changed/added one thing. The only difference is that I also looked at how they compared to the league averages. I took the league averages and then took what percentage off the team was of that league average. So hypothetically let’s say a team got a total of 52 yards in a season, but the league average was 100, then they would be exactly 48 percent off of the league average. Granted this example was simplified down to use numbers that would make the explanation easier, because no team is only going to get 52 yards in a season nor would a league average be 100, but hopefully you get the point. This provides a more realistic look at how poor the teams offense truly was. I plan to go back and do this with the best offense post, but I’m making no promises.

After finding what percentage off of the league average that the five teams were in each of my four categories that I discussed in the last post, I arranged and ranked them by that number rather than their actual totals and it looked like this:

Total Points Scored						League Averages
Year	Team	Points	Pts/Game	Plays	Pts/Play	Points	Plays	Pts/Game	% Off
1992	Seahawks	140	8.750	945	0.148	299.7	958.5	18.731	53.29
1991	Colts	143	8.938	923	0.155	303.8	972.2	18.988	52.93
1998	Eagles	161	10.063	1017	0.158	340.5	1008.8	21.281	52.72
2000	Browns	161	10.063	859	0.187	330.8	1007.5	20.675	51.33
2006	Raiders	168	10.500	949	0.177	330.5	1000.0	20.656	49.17
Points Per Play						League Averages
Year	Team	Points	Pts/Game	Plays	Pts/Play	Points	Plays	Pts/Play	% Off
1998	Eagles	161	10.063	1017	0.158	340.5	1008.8	0.338	53.10
1992	Seahawks	140	8.750	945	0.148	299.7	958.5	0.313	52.62
1991	Colts	143	8.938	923	0.155	303.8	972.2	0.312	50.42
2006	Raiders	168	10.500	949	0.177	330.5	1000.0	0.331	46.44
2000	Browns	161	10.063	859	0.187	330.8	1007.5	0.328	42.92
Total Yards Gained						League Averages
Year	Team	Yards	Yds/Game	Plays	Yds/Play	Yards	Plays	Yds/Game	% Off
1988	Lions	3405	212.81	920	3.701	5153.2	1026.7	322.08	33.92
2002	Texans	3572	223.25	947	3.772	5253.8	1017.8	328.36	32.01
2000	Browns	3530	220.63	859	4.109	5110.8	1007.5	319.43	30.93
1992	Seahawks	3374	210.88	945	3.570	4770.5	958.5	298.16	29.27
1992	Patriots	3584	224.00	928	3.862	4770.5	958.5	298.16	24.87
Yards Per Play						League Averages
Year	Team	Yards	Yds/Game	Plays	Yds/Play	Yards	Plays	Yds/Play	% Off
1992	Seahawks	3374	210.88	945	3.570	4770.5	958.5	4.98	28.26
2002	Texans	3572	223.25	947	3.772	5253.8	1017.8	5.16	26.93
1988	Lions	3405	212.81	920	3.701	5153.2	1026.7	5.02	26.26
1992	Patriots	3584	224.00	928	3.862	4770.5	958.5	4.98	22.40
1978	49ers	4047	252.94	1062	3.811	4810.6	1033.0	4.66	18.17

As you can see adding the “% Off” category didn’t actually change the total point rankings at all, but did effect the other three. As you can see, there are a total of nine teams making up these four charts, and two teams are actually from the same year. Just like last time, I’m going to give you some numbers to think about. Only the 1978 49ers were on one list, six teams were on two of the lists and again, only one team was on all four lists. This time around, no two teams are from the same franchise.

Like I mentioned in the best offense post, I prefer to work with averages and percentages because I believe looking at just flat totals can be deceiving.  The only team to make both the yards per play list as well as the points per play list, also happens to be the only team that made all four lists, the 1992 Seahawks.

In my eyes, this made the decision pretty easy. Making it on all four of my lists, being at the top of two of the lists, it makes them stand out like a sore thumb. The worst NFL offense from the last 30 years in the 1992 Seattle Seahawks.

Feel free to check out the post that will explain this whole process in more detail as well as give you who I picked as the top offense from the last 30 years.