Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

This was the only team in NFL history who had an official fourth-place finish, but going into the final week still had a chance at winning the division title outright. Name them.

Todd Pence wrote:This was the only team in NFL history who had an official fourth-place finish, but going into the final week still had a chance at winning the division title outright. Name them.

1989 Bengals?

No. Even if the Bengals had defeated the Vikings in their finale, there is still no way they could have won the division based on the outcome of the Cleveland-Houston game, which the Browns won to go 9-6-1, the tie would have given them the edge over Cincy. If Houston had won, they would have won the title outright at 10-6.

Todd Pence wrote:No. Even if the Bengals had defeated the Vikings in their finale, there is still no way they could have won the division based on the outcome of the Cleveland-Houston game, which the Browns won to go 9-6-1, the tie would have given them the edge over Cincy. If Houston had won, they would have won the title outright at 10-6.

Ah. I missed the fact that Cleveland/Houston went head to head. My next thought was the 2002 Bills but that one isn't right.

Ronfitch wrote:I cheated but looked up the entirely wrong question, "First four quarterbacks who threw for 10,000 yards in the NFL?"

That, too, provided some players I never would have suspected.

This group sends me down many rabbit holes and occasionally ones I dive down by mistake.

I saw a reference that Doug Williams became the fourth QB to do this in 1981, so I was intrigued to figure out who the first three were. I thought Tarkenton would have been one, but he barely missed out. Same with Unitas. Namath was the easiest, because he had monster years right away. Snead benefited from starting his career in 61 when the NFL extended their schedule to 14 games, but even then its interesting that there weren't other NFL QBs from his era to do this. I think it shows in that, in the past, usually only expansion teams started rookie QBs. Even when the AFL started up, most of their QBs were guys who had NFL experience. Williams and Zorn had a 'perfect storm' of being rookie QBs on expansion/recent expansion teams, the NFL extending its schedule, and the rule changes of 1978. I guess it makes sense that those two guys would be among the first four, but it still surprised me.

Todd Pence wrote:This was the only team in NFL history who had an official fourth-place finish, but going into the final week still had a chance at winning the division title outright. Name them.

Gotta be the 1963 Steelers.

Q#3: The 1978 Steelers opening week roster had 22 players with 2 Super Bowl rings and 1 player with 1 Super Bowl ring. Name the player with 1 Super Bowl ring.

Jay Z wrote:

Todd Pence wrote:This was the only team in NFL history who had an official fourth-place finish, but going into the final week still had a chance at winning the division title outright. Name them.

Gotta be the 1963 Steelers.

Yes. The 1963 Pittsburgh Steelers are the only team that controlled their own destiny for the division/conference title going into the final week (with a win over NYG), that finished in fourth-place. In addition, both the 1951 Bears and 1994 Bears had a shot at winning the division title outright, but needed help. In 1951, the Bears would have won the National Conference with a win + DET loss + LA loss. And in 1994, Chicago would have clinched the NFC Central with a win + MIN loss + DET loss. Both the '51 and '94 Bears lost their last game and ended up finishing in fourth-place.

The 1994 Bears was the team I had in mind. I was only considering divisions from 1970 onwards, and did not specify that in the question, although I probably should have.

Bryan wrote:Q#3: The 1978 Steelers opening week roster had 22 players with 2 Super Bowl rings and 1 player with 1 Super Bowl ring. Name the player with 1 Super Bowl ring.

John Banaszak. Started at defensive tackle.