When was the last time the Kansas City Chiefs were in last place in the AFC West? The disastrous 2012 season where they won just two games. Since then, the Chifes have finished in second place in the AFC West in each year of the Andy Reid era.
A Reddit user went through and found the last time each team ended up in last place in their division. As you would expect, most of the last place finishes have come in the past 5-6 years because the league has so much parity.
Then there are the outliers. You could argue the Steelers, Seahawks and Patriots are the best-run franchises in the NFL right now. The Steelers haven’t finished in last place since 1988 (!!), the Seahawks since 1996 and the Patriots since 2000. (The Seahawks one really surprises me)
The Giants (2003), Packers (2005) and Ravens (2007) are up there too as the NFL’s best franchises and it’s been a while for them.
Check out the whole list below and let me know what stands out. The parentheses are the year prior to 2015 that they ended up in last place in the division.
Chicago Bears 2015 (2014)
Tennessee Titans 2015 (2014)
Cleveland Browns 2015 (2014)
Tampa Bay Bucs 2015 (2014)
Miami Dolphins 2015 (2007)
San Francisco 49ers 2015 (2005)
San Diego Chargers 2015 (2003)
Dallas Cowboys 2015 (2002)
New York Jets 2014
Washington 2014
Oakland Raiders 2014
St. Louis Rams 2014
Buffalo Bills 2013
Minnesota Vikings 2013
Houston Texans 2013
Philadelphia Eagles 2012
Detroit Lions 2012
Jacksonville Jaguars 2012
Kansas City Chiefs 2012
Arizona Cardinals 2012
Indianapolis Colts 2011
Cincinnati Bengals 2010
Carolina Panthers 2010
Denver Broncos 2010
New Orleans Saints 2008
Baltimore Ravens 2007
Atlanta Falcons 2007
Green Bay Packers 2005
New York Giants 2003
New England Patriots 2000
Seattle Seahawks 1996
Pittsburgh Steelers 1988