FanPost

Best and worst divisions since 2002

USA TODAY Sports

It's looking like the NFC west is shaping up to be a very tough division this year. I was curious how it would stack up against the toughest divisions in recent NFL history. So I did a little research, and came up with a table for how many out-of-division wins each division has had since 2002.

Notes:

  • My methodology was to sum all the wins for every team in the division and subtract by 12 (or less if I have to account for a tie). This gives the total number of wins that division had against non-division opponents. (out of 40 possible) Each entry in the table lists the number of wins against non-division opponents, followed by the winning percentage. I had it color coded, but it didn't transfer with the copy/paste.
  • Unsurprisingly, the years with the winningest divisions also tended to contain some really bad divisions.
  • The 3 best divisions: 1st place is the 2007 AFC South with a 75% winning percentage outside their division. Tied for 2nd are the 2007 NFC East and the 2008 NFC South, with a 70% winning percentage.
  • The 3 worst divisions: The 2008 NFC West with a 25% win percentage, the 2008 AFC West with a 27.5% win percentage, and the 2009 NFC West with a 30% win percentage.
  • Before making this chart, I didn't realize how consistently bad the NFC West has been. Hopefully the years to come will erase that trend.

2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
AFC East 23 24 25 16 23 16 26 20 24 21 19

0.575 0.6 0.625 0.4 0.575 0.4 0.65 0.5 0.6 0.525 0.475
AFC North 16 17 24 22 21 20 19 21 21 25 21

0.4 0.425 0.6 0.55 0.525 0.5 0.475 0.525 0.525 0.625 0.525
AFC South 19 22 21 20 22 30 26 26 18 14 19

0.475 0.55 0.525 0.5 0.55 0.75 0.65 0.65 0.45 0.35 0.475
AFC West 24 19 22 24 22 14 11 18 19 19 14

0.6 0.475 0.55 0.6 0.55 0.35 0.275 0.45 0.475 0.475 0.35
NFC East 22 19 19 24 20 28 26 22 20 18 19

0.55 0.475 0.475 0.6 0.5 0.7 0.65 0.55 0.5 0.45 0.475
NFC North 13 19 17 17 18 23 13 20 21 24 23

0.325 0.475 0.425 0.425 0.45 0.575 0.325 0.5 0.525 0.6 0.575
NFC South 25 19 19 21 17 15 28 21 24 21 22

0.625 0.475 0.475 0.525 0.425 0.375 0.7 0.525 0.6 0.525 0.55
NFC West 17 21 13 16 17 14 10 12 13 18 23

0.425 0.525 0.325 0.4 0.425 0.35 0.25 0.3 0.325 0.45 0.575