10-6 or better teams to miss the playoffs

[Sonny9]

Only difference between '63 Chargers and '99 Jags was that the former lucked-out on not having to face the very team in the playoffs who swept them in the regular season. Or would SD have averted such a ‘hat-trick’ as Cleveland did at Giants’ expense in ’50?

Sometimes it's the hot team. A player back from injury that would make a difference? A "strength" coach.

One thing is strange. They beat Boston during the season 17-13 and 7-6. Rushing 21 times for 32 yards and 21 times for 76 yards. Boston had the lowest avg per carry against that year at 3.6.
SD won the title game 51-10 and rushed 32 times for 318 yards.

[sluggermatt15]

Since 2010 here are teams that finished 10-6 and missed the playoffs:

2015 NY Jets
2014 Philadelphia Eagles
2013 Arizona Cardinals
2012 Chicago Bears
2010 NY Giants
2010 Tampa Bay Bucs

[sheajets]

That 2015 10-6 playoff miss was heartbreaking. Felt like we'd been cheated/robbed. However there's really no excuse for the Jets not being ready to play heading into Buffalo. It was the first big red flag that Todd Bowles was thoroughly incapable of being an NFL head coach.

The Jets have made the playoffs at 8-8 and 9-7 before though so I guess it sort of evens out

[sluggermatt15]

That 2015 10-6 playoff miss was heartbreaking. Felt like we'd been cheated/robbed. However there's really no excuse for the Jets not being ready to play heading into Buffalo. It was the first big red flag that Todd Bowles was thoroughly incapable of being an NFL head coach.

The Jets have made the playoffs at 8-8 and 9-7 before though so I guess it sort of evens out

The Jets had at least several winnable games that year where they should have won, but lost. They lost to Buffalo twice, at Oakland, and at Houston. Oakland finished 7-9, Houston 9-7, and Buffalo 8-8.

[Saban1]

How about this. During coach Buck Shaw's reign as head coach of the San Francisco 49ers (1946 -54), the 49ers finished second 6 times, and third twice over that 9 year period. They played in a 14 game season in 1946-48 and a 12 game season from 1949 through 1954. Percentage wise, the 49ers did better than 10-6 in 7 of those 9 seasons. 10 wins and 6 losses is a W/L percentage of .625. The 49ers had a W/L percentage of .643 in 1946, .667 in 1947, .857 in 1948, .750 in 1949, .636 in 1951, .750 in 1953, and .636 in 1954.

Due to all the close but no cigar teams of the 49ers, Head Coach Buck Shaw was fired after the 1954 season, a big mistake in my opinion. The 49ers were never again as consistently good until their Bill Walsh/Joe Montana teams of the 1980's.

Buck Shaw was hired as head coach of the Philadelphia Eagles, a losing team, in 1958. In 1960, Shaw led the Eagles to the NFL Championship, beating the Green Bay Packers in the NFL championship game.

[BD Sullivan]

How about this. During coach Buck Shaw's reign as head coach of the San Francisco 49ers (1946 -54), the 49ers finished second 6 times, and third twice over that 9 year period. They played in a 14 game season in 1946-48 and a 12 game season from 1949 through 1954. Percentage wise, the 49ers did better than 10-6 in 7 of those 9 seasons. 10 wins and 6 losses is a W/L percentage of .625. The 49ers had a W/L percentage of .643 in 1946, .667 in 1947, .857 in 1948, .750 in 1949, .636 in 1951, .750 in 1953, and .636 in 1954.

Throwing out 1950, which was a 3-9 disaster for the Niners, the next four years in the NFL saw them go 30-16-2. A total of 12 of those wins came against winning teams, with eight of those finishing above the .625 threshold.

Looking at the four years separately:

1951: They finished in a tie for second with the Rams at 7-4-1, one-half game behind the Lions. Two of those losses came in the first four weeks against 4-8 Philly and the 3-9 Cardinals, so the costly loss to Cards proved to be fatal.

1952: Hangovers killed a 7-5 team that finished two games behind the Lions and Rams, losing both games to those 9-3 Rams--both by double-digits (in B2B weeks late in the year) and lost midseason to the 7-5 Giants, with that win keeping NY tied with the Browns at 5-2. The week prior to the Giants game, they dropped a game to the then-3-2 Cards, who finished 5-7. After that second Rams loss, they fell to Pittsburgh (which was 4-6 and finished 5-7) at home.

1953: This was their most painful season, since they finished 9-3 to finish a game behind the Lions, who beat them twice. The Niners' other defeat came in Cleveland, which finished 11-1--losing in the final week of the regular season.

1954: This 7-4-1 team had a Week 2 tie against the Rams (who finished 6-5-1), then had three midseason losses in a row to the Bears (2-3 entering the game but an 8-4 finish), Rams and Lions (9-2-1), where their defense allowed 40 points a game. Already trailing the Lions by two games, they were officially knocked out after losing on the road to the 1-8 Colts.

[Saban1]

How about this. During coach Buck Shaw's reign as head coach of the San Francisco 49ers (1946 -54), the 49ers finished second 6 times, and third twice over that 9 year period. They played in a 14 game season in 1946-48 and a 12 game season from 1949 through 1954. Percentage wise, the 49ers did better than 10-6 in 7 of those 9 seasons. 10 wins and 6 losses is a W/L percentage of .625. The 49ers had a W/L percentage of .643 in 1946, .667 in 1947, .857 in 1948, .750 in 1949, .636 in 1951, .750 in 1953, and .636 in 1954.

Throwing out 1950, which was a 3-9 disaster for the Niners, the next four years in the NFL saw them go 30-16-2. A total of 12 of those wins came against winning teams, with eight of those finishing above the .625 threshold.

Looking at the four years separately:

1951: They finished in a tie for second with the Rams at 7-4-1, one-half game behind the Lions. Two of those losses came in the first four weeks against 4-8 Philly and the 3-9 Cardinals, so the costly loss to Cards proved to be fatal.

1952: Hangovers killed a 7-5 team that finished two games behind the Lions and Rams, losing both games to those 9-3 Rams--both by double-digits (in B2B weeks late in the year) and lost midseason to the 7-5 Giants, with that win keeping NY tied with the Browns at 5-2. The week prior to the Giants game, they dropped a game to the then-3-2 Cards, who finished 5-7. After that second Rams loss, they fell to Pittsburgh (which was 4-6 and finished 5-7) at home.

1953: This was their most painful season, since they finished 9-3 to finish a game behind the Lions, who beat them twice. The Niners' other defeat came in Cleveland, which finished 11-1--losing in the final week of the regular season.

1954: This 7-4-1 team had a Week 2 tie against the Rams (who finished 6-5-1), then had three midseason losses in a row to the Bears (2-3 entering the game but an 8-4 finish), Rams and Lions (9-2-1), where their defense allowed 40 points a game. Already trailing the Lions by two games, they were officially knocked out after losing on the road to the 1-8 Colts.

Actually, it was Detroit and the 49ers that tied for second behind the Rams in 1951. The Rams went on to beat the Browns in the NFL championship game, 24 to 17. Sorry BD, your posts are almost always spot on, but we all miss sometimes. I do often enough.

In 1952, the 49ers started out winning their first 5 games. Quarterback Frankie Albert liked to gamble and his gambles usually paid off. In their 6th game of 1952 against the Bears, with the 49ers in punt formation, defensive end Ed Sprinkle of the Bears intentionally left what looked like a big hole in the defense. 49ers punter Frankie Albert saw the hole and tried to run for the first down. Sprinkle tackled Albert short of the first down. Chicago scored shortly after and eventually won the game 20 to 17 on a last minute field goal. A picture of the 49ers bench showed a sad looking bunch of players as the field goal was made, especially Albert, on the 49ers sideline.

After that game, coach Shaw decided to go with Y.A. Tittle as the starting quarterback. The next year, 1953, Albert played in Canada.

In 1954. the 49ers started off like a shot as their record was 4-0-1 including a win against Detroit. The King, Hugh McElhenny was running wild that year averaging 8 yards per carry. In their 6th game against the Bears, McElhenny got a separated shoulder and was lost for the season. It was all downhill for the 49ers after that and they finished in 3rd place with a 7-4-1 record.

As far as 1950 goes, the 49ers lost 14 players to retirement including all of their starting tackles (5 tackles in all) and some other key players. The old NFL teams were not about to help out the new teams from the All-America Conference with trades, so the 49ers had to replace the retired players with rookies and free agents. So 13 rookies made the team in 1950 including 4 starting tackles (the 49ers first 3 picks in the college draft were tackles). With the old NFL teams all up for the new AAFC teams and the rookie tackles and other rookies, the 49ers had a terrible season. I don't think any team ever faced a similar situation as bad as the 1950 49ers.

[Saban1]

The 14 players for the San Francisco 49ers who retired prior to the 1950 season are:

1. Tackle John Woudenberg - 2nd team all AAFC in 1947, 1st team all AAFC in 1948, honorable mention all AAFC in 1949. One of the best tackles in the All-America conference. Often played all 60 minutes in 49er games.

2. Tackle Bob Bryant - Starting left tackle in 1947, 1948, and 1949 until injured.

3. Tackle Bob Mike - Took Bryant's place as starting left tackle after Bryant's injury in 1949.

4. Tackle Joe Morgan - Reserve tackle

5. Tackle Jack Carpenter - Reserve tackle

6. Defensive back Eddie Carr - Intercepted 7 passes in both 1948 and 1949. Intercepted 7 passes in 1949 despite only playing in only 7 games.

7. Halfback/Defensive back Len Eshmont - inspirational player who was good on offense and defense. Was so highly thought of that the 49ers had a yearly award named after him.

8. Guard Don Clark - Starting guard in 1949.

9. End - Nick Susoeff - Caught 27 passes in 1947 and 1948.

10- Quarterback Bev Wallace - Backup quarterback to Frankie Albert in 1949.

11. Halfback/Place kicker Joe Vetrano - Was expendable with acquiring E/PK Gordie Soltau from Cleveland.

12. Center Tino Sabuco - Reserve center.

13. End Ned Maloney - Resertve end.

14. Back Paul Crowe - Reserve back.

Even the reserves are important here. It is good to have a veteran player coming off the bench rather than an untried rookie as was often the case for the 49ers in 1950.

It was a tough year for the 49ers as they could expect no help with trades from the NFL teams in 1950. They had to count on rookies and free agents to fill out what was left of their roster.

[sheajets]

That 2015 10-6 playoff miss was heartbreaking. Felt like we'd been cheated/robbed. However there's really no excuse for the Jets not being ready to play heading into Buffalo. It was the first big red flag that Todd Bowles was thoroughly incapable of being an NFL head coach.

The Jets have made the playoffs at 8-8 and 9-7 before though so I guess it sort of evens out

The Jets had at least several winnable games that year where they should have won, but lost. They lost to Buffalo twice, at Oakland, and at Houston. Oakland finished 7-9, Houston 9-7, and Buffalo 8-8.

A Texans team with TJ Yates at QB no less.

[sheajets]

Hate to say it but the 2008 Patriots definitely deserved to make it. 11-5 is very rarely and outside looking in scenario. Most times it's at least a win and you're in situation week 17 but New England needed the Jets to beat Miami to win the division.

The Jets (playing with an injured Favre) needed to beat Miami and have Baltimore win to make it. Once Baltimore ran away with their game the Jets packed it i and Miami somehow won the division. Jets made numerous idiotic plays. I recall a very Mark Sanchez like pick 6 INT Favre threw right to a DL. Chad Pennington threw a wounded duck for a TD to Anthony Fasano. Just miserable. So ended the Mangini era.