The best one-and-done playoff teams in NFL history

It took a frantic Cowboys comeback to eliminate these Falcons, who zoomed to a 12-4 record and picked up some key wins along the way. Atlanta beat playoff teams in the Bills, the Rams, and the NFC champion Eagles -- the latter coming in Philadelphia. The Falcons ranked fifth in scoring and points allowed, not losing any game by more than one score. Steve Bartkowski led the NFL in TD passes (31), and this space's Falcons RB GOAT (William Andrews) produced 1,764 scrimmage yards. Atlanta linebackers Al Richardson and Buddy Curry split the Defensive Rookie of the Year awards. A 10-point fourth-quarter lead could not hold up, though, as two Danny White-to-Drew Pearson strikes ousted the home team.

Tony Romo's first full season as a starter was overshadowed by the Patriots' unbeaten streak, but those Pats gave the Cowboys their only loss through 13 games. Dallas swept the eventual champion Giants and defeated the NFC title-game-bound Packers by 10 points en route to a 13-3 mark (13-2 before resting starters in Week 17). Romo's 36 TD passes ranked second, while Terrell Owens and Jason Witten each topped 1,100 yards for first-team All-Pro years. Wade Phillips' team also featured a prime DeMarcus Ware on defense. But the Giants' legendary playoff run included a trip to Dallas, where the No. 1 seed fell 21-17 in the divisional round.

The Titans made the 2007 playoffs with Vince Young at the helm, but after a Week 1 MCL sprain, the highly drafted passer did not regain his job in 2008. Kerry Collins had the Titans in high gear, as they ran their record to 10-0. Tennessee finished 13-3 and outscored opponents by 141 points. This included a convincing Week 16 win over the eventual champion Steelers and a narrow win over the AFC runner-up Ravens. Chris Johnson and LenDale White combined for 2,001 rushing yards and 24 TDs. The Ravens, however, upended the No. 1-seeded Titans in the divisional round. One of three home teams to lose that weekend, Tennessee committed three turnovers in a 13-10 loss.

Jerry Rice brought down a 34-year-old receiving record, totaling 1,848 yards in his age-33 season. The 49ers ranked first in scoring and second in defense, with Pete Carroll running the latter unit. They blew out the Cowboys in a game Steve Young missed, but lost five games -- including a Week 17 loss to the Falcons that cost San Francisco the No. 1 seed. That meant a date with MVP Brett Favre in Round 2. In the first of three straight Packers playoff wins over the 49ers, Favre proved too much for Carroll's defense. The No. 3-seeded Pack rolled to a 21-0 lead and cruised to a road win, denying the NFL Cowboys-49ers IV. 

This one is complicated. The Steelers went 13-3 and outscored opponents by only 98 points. Pittsburgh also lost the AFC's No. 1 seed on a controversial call, as the "what is a catch?" debate resurfaced in a reversal of a would-be game-winning TD by Jesse James against the Patriots. This dropped the Steelers to the No. 2 seed. Pittsburgh also lost ascending linebacker Ryan Shazier to a tragic neck injury in Week 13, and its defense struggled down the stretch. Antonio Brown led the NFL in receiving despite missing two games, but the Killer B's could not bail out a defense that allowed 45 points to the Jaguars in a divisional-round upset.

These Cowboys lost Tony Romo to a back injury during the preseason, but an elite offensive line and rookie-turned-rushing champion Ezekiel Elliott made fourth-round pick Dak Prescott's transition easier. Dallas started 13-2, dropping only a third game after resting starters in Week 17. The Cowboys outscored the opposition by 115 points and defeated the conference championship-bound Steelers and Packers. Tyron Smith, Zack Martin, and Travis Frederick earned first-team All-Pro honors. Dallas' defense could not hold up in a playoff shootout, however. Aaron Rodgers' final-seconds fling to Jared Cook miraculously moved the Packers into range for a game-winning field goal in a 34-31 win.

Sporting the NFL's No. 1 defense for the second time in three seasons, the Chiefs raced to a 13-3 record once again. Marty Schottenheimer's team lost Neil Smith in free agency but remained elite behind Hall of Fame edge rusher Derrick Thomas. Kansas City signed Elvis Grbac in free agency and ranked fifth offensively. Grbac suffered a broken collarbone in a Week 10 win over the playoff-bound Steelers, opening the door for Rich Gannon. The future MVP played well, helping the Chiefs to an AFC West-deciding win over the Broncos. But Schottenheimer turned back to Grbac before the playoffs. The eventual champion Broncos held the top-seeded Chiefs to 10 points in a divisional-round win.

The Patriots traded Randy Moss after four games, leaning on rookie tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. Tom Brady cruised to MVP honors during a 14-2 season that featured a plus-205 differential. New England beat six playoff teams, including Super Bowl XLV entrants Green Bay and Pittsburgh, and handed the Jets a 45-3 defeat on a Monday night in Week 13. Rex Ryan's bunch, however, devised a sound game plan to reverse his team's fortunes in the sides' divisional-round rubber match. The Jets, who beat the Pats in Week 2, edged the heavy favorites 28-21 en route to their second straight AFC championship game.

Second only to the historically stacked Ravens in points allowed (11.9 per game). That ranks third in the 16-game era. The Titans also split with the Ravens, beating a Tony Banks-led Baltimore team before losing by one point to their Trent Dilfer edition. Eddie George earned first-team All-Pro acclaim, as did cornerback Samari Rolle. Outscoring opponents by 155 points, the Titans also downed the eventual NFC champion Giants by 14 points. Against a locked-in Ravens team that became its era's defining defense, Tennessee could not defend home-field advantage in a 24-10 loss. The Titans were the only team to score an offensive TD on the Ravens in the playoffs.

Free agent signee Peyton Manning ignited the Broncos, who zoomed from 3-3 to 13-3 in the all-time great's age-36 season. Ranking second on offense and fourth defensively, the Broncos received an MVP runner-up Manning season and a career-high 18 Von Miller sacks. Manning erased a 24-point deficit on a Monday night in San Diego, and both Demaryius Thomas and Eric Decker eclipsed 1,000 yards after the Tim Tebow-to-Manning upgrade. The Broncos beat just one playoff team, however, and that team -- the Ravens -- avenged the loss. A coverage gaffe allowed a Joe Flacco-to-Jacoby Jones miracle to force overtime, and Baltimore prevailed over the No. 1 seed in the second OT.

A laughingstock in the early 1970s, the Patriots emerged as a force in 1976. Steve Grogan replaced an ineffective Jim Plunkett post-trade (for a whopping three first-round picks), and the Pats went 11-3. En route to that mark, New England beat the other three playoff teams -- the Raiders, Steelers and Colts. The Patriots scored 30 points against what may be the best single-season defense in NFL history, and after their win over Pittsburgh, they routed the Raiders 48-17. Future Raider Mike Haynes intercepted eight passes in an All-Pro rookie year. A disputed roughing-the-passer call on Ray "Sugar Bear" Hamilton bailed out the Raiders in the teams' rematch in Oakland, leading to a hard-luck Pats loss.

Between Fran Tarkenton's stints, the Vikings relied on their defense. All in their primes, the Purple People Eaters D-line did not disappoint. Minnesota starting QB Gary Cuozzo -- after a Joe Kapp contract dispute led the 1969 starter off the roster -- threw seven TD passes in 12 starts, but the Vikings outscored opponents by 192 points in a 12-2 season. D-linemen Alan Page and Carl Eller each finished in the top five in MVP voting, as the Vikes allowed just 10.2 points per game. MVP John Brodie guided the 49ers to a 17-14 win at frigid Metropolitan Stadium; however, on a day when Cuozzo completed 9 of 27 passes.

A better team than the Super Bowl XLII-winning squad, these Giants beat all four of that season's conference championship entrants. Three of those wins (over the Eagles, Ravens, and Cardinals) came in consecutive weeks, as New York steamrolled to 11-1. A week earlier, however, Plaxico Burress accidentally shot himself in the leg at a nightclub. This gutted the Giants, who finished 12-4. Amani Toomer was 34 by this point, and a Giants team with two 1,000-yard rushers (Brandon Jacobs, Derrick Ward) crumbled. The Eagles stormed into New Jersey and toppled the Giants 23-11 in the divisional round; Big Blue did not make the playoffs again for three years.

Presenting a gift to the fantasy football gods, the Chargers' fifth Marty Schottenheimer-led team produced the fantasy realm's magnum opus in LaDainian Tomlinson's 31-touchdown season. Three more than anyone else in a season, Tomlinson's TD total highlighted a 14-2 Bolts slate. This team also featured All-Pro tight end Antonio Gates and plenty of Shawne Merriman sack dances. He and Shaun Phillips combined for 28.5 sacks in Philip Rivers' first year as a QB1. Troy Brown interfered, stripping Charger safety Marlon McCree after a fourth-quarter INT. The Pats instead tied the game and took a late lead. A Nate Kaeding field goal misfired in a stupefying 24-21 loss -- Schottenheimer's final game.

Chuck Knox's first year in Los Angeles produced a 12-2 season, as the Rams towered over a weak NFC West. They outscored opponents by 210 points, with their two midseason losses coming by a combined three points. The John Hadl-Harold Jackson connection yielded two first-team All-Pro nods, and Fearsome Foursome-era holdover Merlin Olsen teamed with ascending sack artists Jack Youngblood and Fred Dryer. Top four on offense and defense, the Rams had to travel to Dallas despite holding a better record; the NFL did not turn to record-based home-field advantage yet. The Cowboys avenged a regular-season loss, toppling L.A. 27-16. An 83-yard Drew Pearson TD stymied a Rams second-half rally. 

The Ravens beat that loaded Chargers team, as it looked like Baltimore solved its near-decade-long QB dilemma. Titans cap casualty Steve McNair turned the tide for a 13-3 Ravens team, one that employed all-time greats on defense. The Ed Reed- and Ray Lewis-led unit ranked first. The Ravens convincingly beat the NFC title game-bound Saints in New Orleans, and Rex Ryan's defense allowed more than 20 points in just three games. A slugfest against the Colts did not go Baltimore's way, however. McNair and Peyton Manning combined for four INTs and no TD passes in a 15-6 Indianapolis win, a springboard to a Colts Super Bowl title. McNair missed most of the 2007 season, his NFL finale.

Motoring to a 15-2 regular season with a plus-222 point differential, the Lions built on their 2023 turnaround by leading the NFL in scoring. Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson was in his bag, dialing up trick plays with regularity, and Amon-Ra St. Brown teamed with Jahmyr Gibbs on offense to present a dynamic skill-position combo in Detroit's Jared Goff-piloted attack. Detroit swept Minnesota and Green Bay to win one of the greatest divisional races in NFL history, beating six playoff teams. A host of defensive injuries, chiefly Aidan Hutchinson's broken leg, hindered the effort. The No. 1-seeded Lions could not keep up with the upstart Commanders in a 45-31 divisional-round loss. 

Statistically, the 2007 Colts outdid the Super Bowl XLI-winning team. They backed Manning with a No. 1-ranked defense, which helped compensate for Marvin Harrison playing only five games. The defense did lose Dwight Freeney midway through, but Reggie Wayne led the NFL in receiving and Joseph Addai cleared 1,000 rushing yards. The Colts went 13-2 before resting starters in Week 17, but had a Chargers problem. After six Manning INTs in a regular-season loss, two dropped passes turned into picks in a 28-24 playoff defeat -- a game Philip Rivers left with an ACL tear. This denied an intergalactic Manning-Tom Brady showdown in the Patriots' 16-0 season.

The only 15-1 team not to win a playoff game, the Packers built on their explosive finish in 2010 to mount a strong title defense. Aaron Rodgers soared to MVP honors, and the Packers outscored opposition by 201 points. Charles Woodson intercepted an NFL-high seven passes, and the Packers won six games over playoff teams. Green Bay's defense ranked just 19th, however. That unit and a loaded receiving corps failed Rodgers at a bad time. A Giants team the Packers edged in November upended them in convincing fashion, with Hakeem Nicks running wild in a 37-20 divisional-round win en route to a Super Bowl XLVI triumph.

If the NFL expands to 18 games, this is a cautionary tale. The Broncos clinched home-field advantage so early that they rested starters for most of the final three games. John Elway's age-36 season began to show the positive effects of Mike Shanahan, and Terrell Davis climbed to the first of his three first-team All-Pro perches. Two weeks after All-Pro Shannon Sharpe's "We are killin' the Patriots" soundbite, the Broncos were 12-1. They finished 13-3 and showed rust in their playoff opener. In their second year of existence, the Jaguars upset the Broncos 30-27 behind a virtuoso performance by Mark Brunell. While the Broncos recovered to win two Super Bowls, their pristine uniforms did not. 

Going 12-2 with a plus-197 point differential, the Vikings assembled a dominant team midway through Fran Tarkenton's second stint. Tarkenton won MVP honors while Chuck Foreman and INT kingpin Paul Krause joined him as first-team All-Pros. The three remaining Purple People Eaters -- Alan Page, Carl Eller, Jim Marshall -- combined for 30 sacks. The Vikings started 10-0, but they did not beat a playoff team throughout the season. They certainly were on the verge of doing so in their postseason opener. The Cowboys, though, converted a fourth-and-16 to set up their famous Roger Staubach-to-Drew Pearson Hail Mary TD -- which may or may not have featured Pearson pushing Vikings, CB Nate Wright to the ground.

Don Coryell's first full season with the Chargers brought explosiveness that altered Dan Fouts' career and changed the NFL. Forming an elite weaponry trio by adding Kellen Winslow to join receivers John Jefferson and Charlie Joiner, the Chargers created Air Coryell. A second-ranked defense, featuring Hall of Fame D-end Fred Dean, complemented the game-breaking pass attack. The Chargers routed the eventual champion Steelers 35-7 in Week 12 and secured the AFC's No. 1 seed. They also faced an Oilers team missing Earl Campbell and QB Dan Pastorini in their playoff opener. Thanks to Vernon Perry's four-INT performance, the Bolts lost to the shorthanded Oilers. A period of January misfortune followed.

It is difficult to properly assess these Bears, DVOA's top team in 1986. Their defense allowed fewer points (11.7 per game) than the famed 1985 unit, with five defenders -- including Hall of Famers Mike Singletary, Dan Hampton, and Steve McMichael -- earning All-Pro honors. Walter Payton joined them on that list in a 14-2 season. Chicago, however, played only six games with Jim McMahon. A shoulder injury plagued McMahon, and an infamous late hit from Packers defensive lineman Charles Martin exacerbated the issue, ending the QB's season in Week 12. In-season addition Doug Flutie, a USFL refugee, controversially received a playoff assignment. Mike Ditka's decision to give Flutie his second-ever start backfired in a 27-13 playoff loss to Washington.

Probably the best of the Colts' Peyton Manning teams started 13-0, resting starters on the way to 14-2. They beat five playoff teams, including three-score romps past the Patriots and Steelers. Manning finished as a first-team All-Pro, and Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne went 1,000-1,000. Healthy versions of Dwight Freeney and Bob Sanders led Indianapolis' second-ranked defense. In late December, however, Tony Dungy's son died, a tragedy that rocked the Colts. The Steelers upset them, besting Indy's O-line during a five-sack game. Ben Roethlisberger's crucial tackle to stop a Nick Harper fumble-six -- which would have completed an 18-point comeback -- preceded a Mike Vanderjagt game-tying miss in a 21-18 loss.

Bill Walsh's ninth 49ers roster led the NFL in total offense and defense, going 13-2 in a strike-shortened season. The San Francisco scabs went 3-0, but the regulars beat four playoff teams -- including romps over the Browns and Bears. Jerry Rice caught 22 touchdown passes in 12 games, a one-of-a-kind season that smashed an NFL record, while Joe Montana threw a career-high 31 TDs in just 11 starts. A double-digit favorite facing the 8-7 Vikings as the No. 1 seed, the 49ers laid an egg. Vikes wideout Anthony Carter's then-record 227 receiving yards bedeviled the 49ers, and Montana -- who threw a first-half pick-six -- ended up benched for Steve Young in a stunning loss.