Why a "Perfect NFL Season" Doesn't Matter Without Winning a Super Bowl

On December 29, 2007, the New England Patriots did something no other team in professional football history has ever accomplished - completed a 16-0 regular season. In part because the history of the 16-game regular season is relatively short - 30 years. However, there have been 4 teams that have completed a regular season undefeated. The term "professional football" is used here because one of those teams was the 1948 Cleveland Browns, a member of the AAFC - the All America Football Conference, a rival to the National Football League. While the NFL admitted the Browns and the 49ers, the AAFC records are not recognized by the NFL.

In 1934 and again in 1942, the Chicago Bears blew through their competition and went undefeated. Neither team won the league championship. It is for this reason, the Patriots' "perfect" regular season means nothing to history without a Super Bowl championship come February 3.

The 1934 Bears, winners of 13-games, led the league in offense - in points, yards, touchdowns, and rushing yards. They scored 286 points and allowed 86, a +200 differential in a 13-game season. They held the Pittsburgh Pirates (later, the Pittsburgh Steelers) and Chicago Cardinals (later the St. Louis, Phoenix, and Arizona Cardinals) to shut outs in consecutive weeks, and added a third shut out a month later against the Boston Redskins (later the Washington Redskins), scoring an average of 23-points. The week after shutting out the Cardinals, they crushed the Cincinnati Reds - a now defunct NFL entrant - 41-7. For sure, there was a close game - a 10-9 victory against the New York Giants.

Those same New York Football Giants - sitting at 8-5-0 - won the 1934 NFL Championship by handing the Bears their first loss of the season, in the second NFL Championship game. The Bears had won the first NFL Championship game the previous year 23-21 against the Giants.