Everything about Perfect Season totally explained
A
perfect season is any sports season, including the playoff portion of a season, in which a team remains undefeated and untied. This has been achieved five times in professional American football, once in Canadian football, seven times in NCAA men's basketball, and a number of times in NCAA football.
A perfect season may also be part of a multi-season
winning streak.
American football
National Football League
Since the creation of the modern
NFL in
1970, only one team has played a perfect season: the
1972 Miami Dolphins.
1972 Miami Dolphins
The 1972 Miami Dolphins won fourteen regular season games and three postseason games, including
Super Bowl VII, to finish the season 17–0–0. Recently, it has often been reported that the surviving members of the 1972 Dolphins would gather to drink champagne when the final undefeated team lost its first game, or that the team would send a case of champagne to the team that beat the final undefeated team. The head coach of the 1972 Dolphins,
Don Shula, denied this in a 2007 interview with ESPN.
Perfect regular seasons
Before the modern NFL,
American football was played professionally in a number of leagues, including an earlier version of the NFL. During this period, three teams completed perfect seasons: the 1934 Chicago Bears, the 1942 Chicago Bears, and the 1948 Cleveland Browns.
In the modern NFL, the
2007 New England Patriots went a perfect 16–0 in the regular season and won their first two postseason contests, before losing in
Super Bowl XLII.
1934 Chicago Bears
The Bears are a member of the National Football League, which was founded in
1920 as the
American Professional Football Association. In
1934, the Bears played to a 13–0–0 regular season record to become the first NFL team to complete an undefeated regular season without tied games. However, the Bears lost the
1934 NFL Championship Game against the
New York Giants.
1942 Chicago Bears
Despite losing several players and head coach
George Halas to military service in
World War II, the 1942 Bears played a perfect season, finishing 11–0–0. The Bears were again defeated in the
NFL Championship Game, this time by the
Washington Redskins.
1948 Cleveland Browns
The
Browns were a member of the
All-America Football Conference, a professional football league that played from
1946 to
1949. In
1948, the Browns won all fourteen regular season games and the
1948 AAFC championship to post a 15–0–0 record. Cleveland's perfect 1948 season was part of a longer string of 29 straight wins, which stretched from 1947 to 1949 and included both the 1947 and 1948 title games. Overall, the Browns won all four AAFC championship games and were accepted into the NFL when the two leagues merged after the 1949 season.
2007 New England Patriots
The
2007 New England Patriots won sixteen regular season games to become the fourth NFL team to play a perfect regular season, as well as the first to do so in a 16-game regular season. Consequently, they were the first to start the regular season 15–0–0.
The team was also the first to accomplish this under the NFL's "
salary cap" policy, which was established in 1994 to encourage competitive equality among teams. The team would make it to
Super Bowl XLII, before losing 17–14 to the
New York Giants and finishing the season 18–1.
Close to perfect
Since 1970, five NFL teams have had regular seasons with one loss: the
1976 Oakland Raiders (13-1) and the
1984 San Francisco 49ers,
1985 Chicago Bears,
1998 Minnesota Vikings, and
2004 Pittsburgh Steelers (all 15-1). The 1976 Raiders, 1984 49ers and 1985 Bears all won three more games in the playoffs, including the
Super Bowl; the '76 Raiders finishing 16-1 and the '84 49ers and '85 Bears both 18-1. The 1998 Vikings and 2004 Steelers each won one playoff game before losing their respective conference championship games to finish 16-2.
Most of these teams, however, suffered their one regular-season loss early in the year and never made what might be considered a serious run at a perfect season (the Bears came the closest, starting the season 12–0 before losing in week 13). In fact, between the 1972 Miami Dolphins' and the 2007 New England Patriots' perfect regular seasons, the best start by an NFL team was 13–0, by the
1998 Denver Broncos and the
2005 Indianapolis Colts. Both teams lost their next two games before winning the final game of the season to finish 14–2; in the postseason, the 1998 Broncos won
Super Bowl XXXIII, but the 2005 Colts lost their opening playoff game.
In 1967, the Baltimore Colts were undefeated with 1 game to go and lost to the Los Angeles Rams 34-10 in their final game, losing their perfect season, the division title, and a spot in the playoffs. This has been overshadowed because the same Colts team went to the Super Bowl the next season and got upset by Joe Namath and the Jets.
Perfectly imperfect
Since 1970, only one team has had a "perfect" losing season: The first year expansion
1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who went 0–14–0 and started the 1977 season 0–12 before winning their last two games. Since the 16-game regular season was instituted in 1978, no team has lost all of its games (though the
Baltimore Colts failed to win in the strike-shortened 1982 season, posting an 0–8–1 record).
There have been eleven teams that have won only one regular season game (finishing either 1–13–0 or 1–15–0, depending on the year). The most recent are the
2007 Miami Dolphins, though some of the more infamous include the
1972 and
1973 Houston Oilers (the only franchise to do it in back-to-back years); the
1980 New Orleans Saints (whose fans popularized the practice of wearing paper bags over their heads, out of shame); the
1989 Dallas Cowboys whose only win of the season came during week nine against their division rival the
Washington Redskins, the
1990 New England Patriots, the 1991 Indianapolis Colts, the
1996 New York Jets, the
2000 San Diego Chargers, the
2001 Carolina Panthers (who won their first game and lost the next 15), and the
2007 Miami Dolphins.
Canadian football
1948 Calgary Stampeders
As of the 2007 season, a perfect season has been accomplished in professional
Canadian football only once. In 1948, under the guidance of their legendary head coach
Les Lear, the
Grey Cup headed to Western Canada for only the fourth time to the
Calgary Stampeders. After running the tables with a perfect 12 wins, Calgary faced the
Regina Roughriders in a two-game home-and-home playoff series. The first game, in Regina, saw each side with 4 points, leaving the second game as the decider. At home the following week, Calgary outscored their opponents 21–10. The newly crowned
Western Interprovincial Football Union champion Stampeders next journeyed East to
Toronto's
Varsity Stadium for the
36th Grey Cup against the Eastern Champion
Ottawa Rough Riders. On November 27, Calgary completed the perfect season with a six-point victory over Ottawa (12–7), earning the title of Dominion Champions.
While Calgary had only 15 games in their perfect season, the current
CFL schedule would require a team to win 20 games (18 regular season, 1 playoff after bye week, and the Grey Cup championship) to post a perfect record, making it a difficult task to accomplish.
The next best records
The next closest team to a perfect season in the CFL (in terms of winning percentage) was the 1981
Edmonton Eskimos. Playing a 16-game regular season schedule, the Eskimos achieved a record of 14–1–1 (losing to the
Winnipeg Blue Bombers and tying the
Hamilton Tiger-Cats). The Eskimos went on to win the Grey Cup in dramatic fashion, defeating the 5–11–0 Ottawa Rough Riders 26–23 on a last-second field goal and finishing the season with a record of 16–1–1 (total includes playoff and Grey Cup championship).
In the current 18-game CFL regular season format (in use since the 1986 season), the 1989 Edmonton Eskimos came closest to a perfect season, finishing the regular season with a record of 16–2. However, they lost in the Western Final to the eventual Grey Cup Champions, the
Saskatchewan Roughriders. A regular season record of 15–3 has been posted many times in the CFL. In the 1990s, six teams achieved that record. The Calgary Stampeders posted a 15–3 record three consecutive seasons (1993, 1994, 1995), but failed to capture the cup. In 1995, the
Baltimore Stallions also posted a 15–3 record, and became the first (and only) American team to win the Grey Cup. The last three-loss regular season was posted by the
Toronto Argonauts, achieving this feat in both 1996 and 1997, and winning the league championship both years.
Under the older 16-game schedule, 5 teams posted two losses during the regular season:
Canadian Collegiate Sports
2007 Manitoba Bisons
In the ranks of Canadian college football, a perfect season was last attained in
2007 by the
Manitoba Bisons, the football squad representing the
University of Manitoba, located in
Winnipeg,
Canada. The Bisons were undefeated in
Canada West Universities Athletic Association play during the 8-game schedule. In the playoffs, Manitoba comfortably handled the
Calgary Dinos 27–5 in the opening round of the playoffs. The Bisons followed up with a 48–5 defeat of the
Regina Rams in the
Hardy Cup and a strong 52–20 showing against the perennial contenders from the
University of Western Ontario, the
Western Ontario Mustangs, in the
Mitchell Bowl. On Friday, November 23, 2007, two days before the 95th Grey Cup game in
Toronto, the Bisons defeated the
Saint Mary's University squad, known as the
Saint Mary's Huskies, 28–14 to claim their first
Vanier Cup championship since 1970, and third overall title. That victory capped their perfect 12 win season.
Other North American professional sports leagues
In North America’s three other major professional sports leagues (
Major League Baseball, the
National Basketball Association, and the
National Hockey League) it's virtually impossible for a team to play a "perfect" season, primarily because there are substantially more games in the regular season.
Additionally, the style of play and length of schedule in each of these sports leads to less focus on individual games and more on consistency over the course of the year. This is especially true in the postseason, where basketball, baseball, and hockey each use a "best-of" format that allows a team to lose some playoff games while still advancing to the next round.
Major League Baseball
Since the early 1960s, the
Major League Baseball season has been 162 games long; prior to that, it was 154 games long.
The most games won by a Major League Baseball team in the regular season is 116, by both the
Chicago Cubs in
1906 and the
Seattle Mariners in
2001—though because the regular season was shorter in 1906, the Cubs' winning percentage of .763 was higher than the Mariners' .716.
The
1880 Chicago Cubs have probably come the closest to perfection in professional baseball history, having posted a 67–17 record for a .798 winning percentage. Prior to the
20th century, however, the nature of the competition and season schedules varied widely—on occasion, poorly organized teams might drop out of the league and forfeit the remainder of their games, an unthinkable circumstance today—and most professional baseball records only consider achievements realized after
1900.
National Basketball Association
The National Basketball Association’s
regular season schedule is 82 games long.
In the
1995–96 regular season, the
Chicago Bulls played to a 72–10 record. Their 72 wins, along with their .878 winning percentage, is the closest that any NBA team has ever come to perfection. They swept two playoff series, and lost only 3 games in the
entire postseason.
It is worth noting that the
1985–86 Boston Celtics played a nearly perfect home season. That year they were 40–1 (.976) in front of their home crowd. Their only regular-season home loss occurred on December 6, 1985, to the
Portland Trail Blazers, by the score of 121–103. The Celtics would also win all 10 of their home games in the postseason.
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League’s
regular season schedule is also 82 games long.
The
1995–96 Detroit Red Wings hold the record for most wins in a regular season, having won 62 games.
Within each season, however, the NHL ranks its teams using a unique scoring system that awards teams points based on the outcome of each game: A win is worth two points, while a loss in overtime or a shootout is worth one point. Prior to 2005, a draw was also worth one point, however the shootout was instituted to eliminate the chance of a draw.
Based on this scheme, the
1976–77 Montreal Canadiens have come the closest to perfection, winning 60 games but getting 132 points, whereas the 1995–96 Detroit Red Wings got 131 points in their record-setting season.
Other professional sports
For other sports leagues for individuals, such as the
PGA Tour or
NASCAR, this would amount to winning every tournament all season long. The three golfing seasons that could be deemed closest include
Bobby Jones winning all four majors in 1930,
Byron Nelson winning 11 consective tournaments he played in (and 18 in one year) in 1945, and
Tiger Woods winning 4 consective professional majors over 2000–2001 (including 15 and 8 stroke victories). Professional motorcycle racer
Ricky Carmichael had perfect seasons in 2002 and 2004. In 1997,
road racer Tommy Kendall started the 13-race
SCCA Trans-Am Series season 11–0, the longest documentable win streak in world-wide professional road racing.. In the 12th race, he was battling for the lead on the final lap, but spun out and finished second. The feat would be extremely difficult in
NASCAR, because of the length of the season (currently 36 races).
Richard Petty holds the record for best all-time winning percentage in a single season, when he won 27 out of 49 races in 1967 (0.551). He also holds the record in the NASCAR's modern era after winning 13 of 30 races (0.433) in 1975.
American collegiate sports
NCAA Football
Due to relatively short seasons through most of
college football history, the
list of undefeated Division I football teams includes dozens of teams. The highest level of college football, the
Division I Football Bowl Subdivision doesn't use a play-off to determine a champion, instead relying on a combination of polls and computer rankings to choose two teams to play one
title game in a system known as the
Bowl Championship Series. A weakness to this season is that it's rare for there to be exactly two undefeated teams at the end of the regular system. That means the choice of the two top teams is a relatively arbitrary decision.
NCAA Basketball
There have been 7
NCAA basketball champions with perfect records:
1956 San Francisco Dons (29–0)
1957 North Carolina Tar Heels (32–0)
1964 UCLA Bruins (30–0)
1967 UCLA Bruins (30–0)
1972 UCLA Bruins (30–0)
1973 UCLA Bruins (30–0)
1976 Indiana Hoosiers (32–0)
The UCLA Bruins are the only team to have back-to-back perfect seasons (1972–1973) respectively creating a record of 60–0 technically.
The most recent Final Four to feature two undefeated teams was 1976 (Indiana and Rutgers).
Some teams have finished the regular season undefeated, but lost in the NCAA Tournmament:
1961 Ohio State (finished 27–1 after losing in the championship game)
1979 Indiana State (finished regular season 31–0, but lost in the championship game)
1991 UNLV (entered the tournament 34–0, but lost in the semifinals.
2004 Saint Joseph's (finished the regular season 27–0, lost in the first round of the 2004 Atlantic 10 Men's Basketball Tournament.)
In addition, NC State finished their season undefeated in 1973, but were ineligible for postseason competition due to rule violations earlier that season.
NCAA Hockey
The 1970 Cornell Big Red are they only Division I men's NCAA ice hockey team to record an unbeaten, untied season.
ACHA Hockey
The 2007-2008 University of Illinois Fighting Illini are the only American Collegiate Hockey Association team to record a perfect season with a record of 38-0-0.
Association football (soccer)
Domestic teams
Many association football teams have also had perfect seasons, such as Hamburger SV who won all 11 of their matches in the 1927–28 season. However, winning every match in a season of 20 or more matches is very rare; clubs to have done so include Dresdner SC of Germany in 1942–43 (23 wins out of 23), Ferencvárosi of Hungary in 1931–32 (22), Sunrise Flacq United of Mauritius in 1995–96 (22), and Nacional of Uruguay in 1941 (20).
The 1990 West German team was the last to be a champion while incurring no losses in all rounds; they'd 9 wins and 4 ties. The last team to win with no losses or ties in the last two rounds (group round and knockout round) was the Brazilian team at the 2002 World Cup.
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