Ranking the Worst NFL Divisions in the Past Decade

As the 2022 NFL regular season nears completion, the NFC South is poised to join an inglorious list of bad divisions.

Four games remain in the campaign, and each of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints holds a losing record. There is a distinct possibility the NFC South will become the fourth division in NFL history with a sub.-500 champion.

And it could be the third season in the last decade that happens.

However, those sub-.500 champions are not alone in the worst NFL divisions since 2012. Apologies in advance if you're a fan of the NFC East, which has impressed in 2022 after an oft-ugly previous decade.

Team records, offensive/defensive rankings and performance against top competition all factored into the choices.

Spoiler alert: This is merely the first of three unfortunate NFC East seasons from the last decade.

Quarterback issues plagued Washington. Quarterback Alex Smith suffered a gruesome leg injury in 2018 that derailed his career, and Washington stumbled to a 3-13 season without him.

Meanwhile, the New York Giants unceremoniously ended Eli Manning's career with an early transition to rookie Daniel Jones. Although Jones' efficiency was subpar, the defense didn't help. New York ranked 30th in points allowed per game on the way to 4-12.

Only the division-winning Philadelphia Eagles (9-7) and rival Dallas Cowboys (8-8) were remotely competitive.

Even then, Philly was a league-average team and needed four straight wins against NFC East opponents to secure the division title. Dallas had an explosive offense and decent defense, but the Cowboys finished a ghastly 1-6 against eventual playoff teams.

Remember when Brock Osweiler won a division crown? Man, the 2016 AFC South was a delightful disaster.

For the second year in a row, the Houston Texans leaned on a stout defense to stand atop the division. The offense, though? Not so good. The unit finished with a comically bad 17.4 points per game and 40.9 red-zone touchdown rate, both bottom-five marks in the NFL.

Houston eked out the AFC South at 9-7 on a tiebreaker over the Tennessee Titans, whose best outings on offense and defense never seemed to align.

Behind them, an Andrew Luck-led offense could not atone for a porous Indianapolis Colts defense. The team surrendered 26-plus points in nine games and ranked 31st in yards allowed per play.

Lastly, well, the Jacksonville Jaguars stunk. The important note is the Jags surged in 2017 and nearly made the Super Bowl, but the 2016 offense had an abysmal passing game and scored just 19.9 points per game. Jacksonville endured a nine-game skid and ended 3-13.

Avert your eyes, Chicago Bears fans.

Aaron Rodgers' memorable fourth-down touchdown pass in the regular-season finale at Chicago gave the Green Bay Packers an improbable NFC North championship. Rodgers missed seven games because of a broken collarbone—a stretch in which Green Bay went 2-4-1—before returning in Week 17 to break the hearts of Bears supporters.

Green Bay trudged to 8-7-1 overall, edging the 8-8 Bears. Perhaps it was fitting that a blown coverage doomed Chicago, which ranked 30th in the NFL at 29.9 points allowed per game.

Although the Detroit Lions jumped out to a 6-3 record, they dropped six of their last seven contests while committing 21 of their 34 season turnovers—tied for the league's second-worst total.

Rounding out the division, the Minnesota Vikings ceded 26-plus points to a staggering 13 opponents. The quarterback carousel of Christian Ponder, Matt Cassel and Josh Freeman unsurprisingly did not overcome the horrid defense, and the Vikings finished 5-10-1.

A broken collarbone limited Tony Romo to four appearances, and the Cowboys had no answers without him. Matt Cassel, Brandon Weeden and Kellen Moore combined for a 1-11 record as Dallas tumbled to 31st in scoring offense in a disappointing 4-12 season.

On the other hand, the Eagles and Giants could hardly keep opponents out of the end zone.

Philadelphia ranked 28th in points allowed per game, and New York followed close behind at 30th. Philly (7-9) fired Chip Kelly in late December, and the Giants (6-10) parted with Tom Coughlin after the regular season.

Washington wound up as the division winner in spite of a turnover-filled opening run to 4-6. The offense committed 19 turnovers in the first 10 games, but the Kirk Cousins-led group tallied only three giveaways in a 5-1 stretch that propelled Washington into the playoffs at 9-7.

The most damning part for the 2014 NFC South is the Carolina Panthers lost six straight games in October and November. They later won the division at 7-8-1 anyway.

Quite the season, huh?

Carolina's defense roared to life following a Week 12 bye and spurred four straight, clutch wins. But it's also the same group that yielded 37-plus points in five of the Panthers' first 11 games.

Similar to the Eagles and Giants one year later, both the New Orleans Saints (7-9) and Atlanta Falcons (6-10) had subpar defenses that dragged down decent—though inconsistent—offenses. The defenses ranked 28th and 27th, respectively, in points allowed per game.

Bringing up the rear, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers put up just 17.3 points per game. They understandably plunged to 2-14.

As mentioned earlier, the Texans won two straight AFC South titles on the strength of their defense. J.J. Watt earned his third Defensive Player of the Year honor in 2015 as Houston gave up 19.6 points per game.

The offense was mediocre, though—just like the rest of the division, as they all ranked 22nd or worse in first-half scoring.

Those early deficits led to a lot of losses.

Houston (9-7) edged Indianapolis (8-8), which missed Andrew Luck for nine games because of multiple injuries. Jacksonville (5-11) and Tennessee (3-13) failed to score with consistency—outside of the Jags' garbage-time success, at least—and were bottom-six teams defensively.

It feels appropriate that Houston bowed out of the playoffs immediately with a shutout loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.

Did the Eagles egregiously tank on the final day of the 2020 regular season? Well, a questionable fourth-down decision and a fourth-quarter benching of backup Jalen Hurts in favor of third-stringer Nate Sudfeld hurts the argument that Philly legitimately tried to win.

That highly controversial game handed Washington a six-point victory and vaulted the 7-9 team to a slim, division-winning advantage over the 6-10 Giants.

Uncomfortable though it was, the result offered the only drama of the season in the NFC East.

New York finished with the NFL's second-fewest points per game, while Dallas had a matching 6-10 record and the league's fifth-worst scoring defense. Philly tumbled to 4-11-1 behind an offense that could not crack 17 points in six of the last eight games.

As a whole, the quartet registered an abysmal 11-28-1 record in non-division games. Even worse, they combined for three victories over opponents that finished with winning records.

The entire division was awful.