Cowboys Lose Top Spot All Time Winning Percentage

[perrykemp]

They dominated in the 50's and into the early 60's under Paul Brown and Otto Graham. Also good runs in the late 70's and mid 80's. The 90's + have been horrid.

I've always felt bad for Cleveland fans. They never asked for Modell to blow it all up and move the team to Baltimore.

 

[Wolfpack]

I've always felt bad for Cleveland fans. They never asked for Modell to blow it all up and move the team to Baltimore.

Modell was the 60's era Jerry. He fired Paul fricking Brown

 

[plasticman]

So here is the history of the top ranked team with their winning percentage at the time starting in 1970:

1970 Browns 0.741
1971 Browns 0.736
1972 Browns 0.735
1973 Browns 0.73
1974 Browns 0.714
1975 Browns 0.695
1976 Browns 0.693
1977 Browns 0.684
1978 Browns 0.678
1979 Browns 0.673
1980 Browns 0.674
1981 Browns 0.662
1982 Browns 0.658
1983 Browns 0.655
1984 Raiders 0.653
1985 Raiders 0.657
1986 Raiders 0.651
1987 Browns 0.644
1988 Browns 0.643
1989 Browns 0.642
1990 Bears 0.63
1991 Raiders 0.628
1992 Raiders 0.622
1993 Browns 0.622
1994 Raiders 0.62
1995 Raiders 0.616
1996 Dolphins 0.615
1997 Browns 0.616
1998 Browns 0.609
1999 Cowboys 0.613
2000 Dolphins 0.609
2001 Dolphins 0.611
2002 Dolphins 0.61
2003 Dolphins 0.61
2004 Dolphins 0.6
2005 Dolphins 0.599
2006 Dolphins 0.594
2007 Dolphins 0.58
2008 Dolphins 0.583
2009 Cowboys 0.58
2010 Bears 0.579
2011 Bears 0.578
2012 Bears 0.579
2013 Bears 0.578
2014 Cowboys 0.575

Notice how free agency, the draft, and salary caps have really created parity. Teams can rarely be great for an extended period of time, the Patriots a lone exception. Also, teams can rarely be terrible for an extended period of time.

In 1970 the best team had won almost three quarters of their games. Now it's a little over half. Also notice from the first chart that the difference between the best and worst is only 18 percentage points currently. In 1970 it was almost 45.