The 1972 Miami Dolphins are considered by some the greatest team in NFL history. Yet, they were underdogs at many sportsbooks for Super Bowl VII. That means before a 14-7 win over Washington to finish an undefeated season, the 1972 Dolphins weren't even considered by many oddsmakers to be the best team that season. They played — and beat — a soft schedule. Over time, the enduring accomplishment of going 17-0 has built that team's legacy to mythic proportions.
As this NFL season moves on, we're getting closer to the possibility of the Chiefs going 16-1 or 15-2 in the regular season and winning a third straight Super Bowl. They have a two-game lead for the No. 1 seed in the AFC, and if they have just two home games between them and the Super Bowl it'll be hard to stop them. And we'd rank a Chiefs team like that as one of the greatest ever. But remember what you think about the Chiefs right now.
Kansas City has won an incredible 15 straight one-score games. They've won due to a tight end's toe being out of bounds in the end zone, a defensive pass interference on a fourth-and-16, a missed pass interference call in the end zone, Buccaneers coach Todd Bowles not going for 2 and the win, a blocked field goal, a last-minute drive after falling behind to a 3-10 Panthers team, a botched snap by the 2-11 Raiders when they were in field-goal range to win and then a doinked-in field goal Sunday night. The Chiefs' +56 point differential is not only the worst of any team 12-1 or better in NFL history, it's the worst by 33 points, according to Brett Kollmann of "The Film Room." They rank eighth in DVOA, behind the 6-7 49ers.
We probably won't remember any of that a decade or two down the road if the 2024 Chiefs win a Super Bowl. We'll just tell stories about how dominant they were.
Here are the NFL power rankings after Week 14 of the NFL season: