{"id":662768,"date":"2026-01-08T03:20:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T03:20:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/662768\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T03:20:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T03:20:14","slug":"the-7-nfl-teams-that-made-the-playoffs-with-losing-records","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/662768\/","title":{"rendered":"The 7 NFL Teams That Made The Playoffs With Losing Records"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"Andy<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The 2025 NFL Playoff field is set following the conclusion of Week 18. One team will have an opportunity to compete for a Super Bowl title despite having a losing record.<\/p>\n

The Carolina Panthers went 8-9 during the regular season to secure an NFC South championship. That first-place standing provided an automatic bid to the postseason.<\/p>\n

In doing so, they become the seventh team in the league\u2019s history to make the playoffs with a sub-.500 mark.<\/p>\n

NFL teams that made the playoffs with losing records<\/p>\n

Here, we\u2019ll list every team that earned a postseason spot despite having less wins than losses. We\u2019ll also take a look at how they fared. Here\u2019s a hint: Nobody on this list won a Super Bowl.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with the first instance in 1982 when two NFL teams made the playoffs with losing records.<\/p>\n

Cleveland Browns (1982)
\n\"Cleveland<\/p>\n

Stephen Lew-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The 1982 NFL season was cut short due to a players\u2019 strike. The 16-game schedule was reduced to just nine contests. As a result, the league changed its postseason setup.<\/p>\n

The field was expanded from 10 to 16. Divisions were eliminated. The top eight teams from each conference were seeded from 1-8.<\/p>\n

Despite being outscored by 42 points in the regular season and finishing third amongst AFC Central teams, the Cleveland Browns earned the eighth and final seed in the AFC with a 4-5 record.<\/p>\n

Their playoff run wouldn\u2019t last long as they were eliminated in their postseason opener by the Raiders.<\/p>\n

Detroit Lions (1982)
\n\"Detroit<\/p>\n

Junfu Han \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Like the Browns mentioned before them, the 1982 Detroit Lions were the beneficiary of the adjusted NFL Playoff setup. They, too, finished the regular season at 4-5 to earn the final spot in the NFC.<\/p>\n

Detroit finished fourth amongst NFC Central teams, which didn\u2019t matter given the elimination of divisions for postseason selection.<\/p>\n

The Lions did not make it past the opening wildcard round after making the field. They were beaten soundly by Washington, 31-7.<\/p>\n

Seattle Seahawks (2010)
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Stephen Bisig \u2013 Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The Seahawks share the title of worst NFL team to make the playoffs, at least by record. Seattle finished 7-9 in the 2010 campaign but somehow won the NFC West.<\/p>\n

The division was as bad as they come in that particular season with everyone finishing below .500. Seattle earned a tiebreaker over the Rams to get the nod with the teams boasting identical regular season marks.<\/p>\n

Despite only having seven wins, the Seahawks were awarded the No. 4 seed due to the divisional crown. They faced and beat the fifth-seeded Saints to become the first team with a losing record to win a playoff game.<\/p>\n

Seattle would fall in Game 2 to the Bears, ending their postseason run.<\/p>\n

Carolina Panthers (2014)
\n\"Carolina-Panthers-logo\"<\/p>\n

Kirby Lee-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Carolina finished 7-8-1 in the 2014 season to win the NFC South. A Week 6 tie with the Cincinnati Bengals allowed the Panthers to finish a half-game above the second-place Saints.<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s playoff chances appeared slim in the month leading up to the regular season finale. Carolina was 3-8-1 before ending the year on a four-game winning streak to leapfrog New Orleans at the top of the standings.<\/p>\n

The streak would run to five games with a playoff win over Cardinals in their postseason opener. It came to an end in the next matchup as the Panthers fell to Seattle, 31-17.<\/p>\n

Washington Commanders (2020)
\n\"Washington<\/p>\n

Geoff Burke-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Washington is the second franchise in a two-way tie for worst playoff team record due to a 7-9 campaign in 2020. The Commanders, then called the Washington Football Team, won the NFC East despite the output.<\/p>\n

The squad dropped five of their first six contests, and seven of their first nine, before getting hot late. Washington used a four-game winning streak on the back half of the schedule to finish with five victories in their final seven matchups.<\/p>\n

The late season run pushed the Commanders past the Giants and Cowboys, both of which finished at 6-10. Unfortunately, the magic didn\u2019t continue into the postseason.<\/p>\n

Washington dropped its first-round playoff game to the Bucs, 31-23.<\/p>\n

Tampa Bay Bucs (2022)
\n\"Raymond<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Kim Klement-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The Buccaneers went 8-9 in 2022 to become the first sub-.500 NFL Playoff team of the 17-game era. The league switched from the 16-game regular season format the year prior.<\/p>\n

A loss in the season finale to the Atlanta Falcons sank Tampa below that threshold. Had the switch not been made, the season might\u2019ve ended at 8-8, and they could\u2019ve avoided making this list altogether.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, that was not the case. In the end, it didn\u2019t matter. The Bucs won the NFC South despite the losing record, as every other team in the division finished at 7-10.<\/p>\n

In doing so, they secured the No. 4 seed in the bracket. Their postseason stay lasted just one game as they were quickly ousted by the Dallas Cowboys with a 31-14 thrashing.<\/p>\n

Carolina Panthers (2025)
\n\"Andy<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The Panthers became the first franchise to make this list twice thanks to an 8-9 output in 2025. This year\u2019s NFC South was as competitive as they come with three teams finishing in a first-place tie.<\/p>\n

Each had identical 3-3 divisional records. Carolina won the tiebreaker due to head-to-head records.<\/p>\n

The Panthers lost three of their final four regular season games. That didn\u2019t prevent them from making the postseason.<\/p>\n

Their fate has yet to be decided with a first-round matchup against the Rams looming. Given the history of failure from previous teams in this situation, the odds of winning a title aren\u2019t great.<\/p>\n

Squads entering the NFL Playoffs with losing records are a combined 2-6 in the postseason. None have advanced to the Championship Round, let alone the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n

Carolina looks to buck the trend and make an unprecedented run in 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a9 Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images The 2025 NFL Playoff field is set following the conclusion of Week 18. One…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":662769,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[260,198,7,6,84,49552,49553],"class_list":{"0":"post-662768","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl-playoffs","8":"tag-carolina-panthers","9":"tag-featured","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-nfl","12":"tag-nfl-playoffs","13":"tag-slideshow","14":"tag-slideshows"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115857327981598486","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=662768"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662768\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/662769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}