Hello Tigers! Today we are going to be discussing the top 5 teams in the NFL that performed worse than expected. This list will go from numbers one through five, one being the team with the biggest fall off. This list will be based on each team’s records from the 2024 season and the 2025 season. Each teams record and point differential are being used to decide which team gets placed in which spot.
#5. The Baltimore Ravens
(In the 2024 season they finished 12-5, in the 2025 season they finished 8-9).
In 2024, the Ravens had a solid look going for them. To start, they had a potential MVP candidate Lamar Jackson as their quarterback and Derrick Henry. These two alone are effective rushers as teams had to worry about Lamar Jackson and his elusiveness and also with Derrick Henry and his power rushes. This team also had Roquan Smith and Mark Andrews, who are both notable players. Everything looked bright for this team, they finished with a positive 157 point differential, meaning they had 157 more points scored than points allowed, which is amazing. Their nice run unfortunately ended in the AFC Division Round of playoffs, when they encountered the Buffalo Bills and they were then eliminated. This season their record fell from the original 12-5 to 8-9. Their superstar Lamar Jackson hasn’t played his best this season. The Ravens this season had a high turnover rate (of players? plays?) and this hurts them as you need to keep the ball in order to score points. All of this led to the firing of John Harbaugh who was a coach for the Ravens.
#4. The Washington Commanders
(In the 2024 season they finished 12-5, in the 2025 season they finished 5-12).
In 2024 the Washington Commanders played very well. In 2024, they finished the season going 12-5 and they were led by their rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels. Jayden Daniels was a key player in this team as he was a good scrambler and he also had a good arm. This team also contained Bobby Wagner, who is a linebacker and Zach Ertz, who is a tight end. In 2024, the Commanders had made some coaching adjustments and fired Ron Rivera, who was their original head coach. In return they picked up a new general manager Adam Peters and a new head coach Dan Quinn. These changes impacted the team and as we can tell it uplifted them a lot, taking them all the way to the NFC Championship. In this game they played the previous Superbowl team which was the Philadelphia Eagles. Coming off of beating the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first round and then in the second round knocking out the number one seed Detroit Lions, The Commanders looked great, until they had to play the Eagles. This Cinderella story of a previous season of a 4-13 team transforming to now being a 12-5 team was insane. The Eagles took their Superbowl dreams right away. By the end of the first quarter the Eagles were already winning 14-3, and unfortunately the game never got better. The Commanders ended up losing this game 55-23. This game was the beginning of a new start or a familiar area for the Commanders. The next season their star quarterback Jayden Daniels got injured twice and barely played this season. The team didn’t have the same feeling to it, which all of the unfortunate components led them to finishing the season 5-12.
#3. The Minnesota Vikings
(In the 2024 season they finished 14-3, in the 2025 season they finished 9-8).
This team was great, their roster consisted of Sam Darnold at quarterback, and Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison at wide receiver. This is not the whole team but these are players that performed well during the season. This team had a great defense and offense. The Vikings had 24 interceptions, this was useful since it kept the other team’s offense off of the field and kept their offense on the field to score. This team looked great going into the playoffs. In their wild card match up they were set to play the Los Angeles Rams, which didn’t seem like much of an issue since that year the Rams finished 10-7. They soon found out it would be an issue to play the Rams as they were losing 10-0 at the end of the first quarter. By half time they were already down 24-3. Things did not get better or change for them as the final score was 27-9. This game ended the Vikings season and the Vikings decided to move on from Sam Darnold. In 2025 the Vikings finished 9-8 and planted a new seed for the future. Their starting quarterback is now JJ McCarthy and Justin Jefferson still remains on this team. In 2025 the Vikings were the average team, they beat some solid teams but lost to some solid teams. In 2025 they struggled with turnovers and left them with missing playoffs.
#2. The Detroit Lions
(In the 2024 season they finished 15-2, in the 2025 season they finished 9-8).
The 2024 Detroit Lions were an amazing team and led the NFC North with a 15-2 record. They clinched the number seed for the 2024 playoffs and were led by the head coach Dan Campbell and the offensive genius Ben Johnson. This team consisted of Jahmyr Gibbs, Amon Ra St Brown, Jared Goff, Jameson Williams, Sam Laporta, Brian Branch, and Kerby Joseph. This team was great and they averaged 400 yards per game. They also had the combination of elusiveness of Jahmyr Gibbs and the power through David Montgomery and this combination helped them dominate defenses and put in their work for the record. The Lions going into the playoffs looked like a fierce team and stepping into the second round of playoffs after a bye week, they seemed solid after the first quarter. After the first quarter it was 7-3 the Lions were winning. By half time the tides changed and the Commanders were winning 31-21. The Lions fought back and turned the score to 31-28 by the end of the 3rd quarter. The Lions ended up giving up too many points and not scoring enough points and lost 45-31. Going into the 2025 season the Lions had lost their offensive genius and they haven’t been the same since. Their play-making hasn’t been the same and they haven’t played the same since then and fell from 15-2 in 2024 to 9-8 in 2025.
#1. The Kansas City Chiefs
(In the 2024 season they finished 15-2, in the 2025 season they finished 6-11).
The 2024 season was great for the Kansas City Chiefs, They had a great coach Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes was playing great, Travis Kelce was doing solid, and the team overall had a winning culture, as they were consistently either in qualifying for the playoffs, playing in the Superbowl, and even winning the Superbowl. This team was a dynasty and Patrick Mahomes consistently brought them good records and playoff playing. This team had a first round bye in the 2024 playoffs, they played the division round and went against the Houston Texans, which the Chiefs won that game. They ended up going to the AFC Championship which is where they beat the Buffalo Bills, which sent them to the superbowl. During the super bowl they played the Philadelphia Eagles. The Eagles started off the first half winning the game 24-0 and later on ended the game beating the Chiefs 40-22. This potentially hurt the Chiefs legacy and the following season which was the 2025 season the Chiefs star quarterback had torn his ACL towards the end of the season and the Chiefs finished the season going 6-11.
In conclusion, all of these teams were great at one point. That point was last year, some of these teams have a better chance to improve than other teams but all of these teams can potentially have a better record next season. All of these teams earned their spots by regressing as a team and going from a good record last year, to a bad or middle of the road record this year.
References:
(Hubbard, 2019)
Lamar Jackson Picture
https://wonderfulmachine.com/article/shawn-hubbards-lamar-jackson-madden-21/
(Northern Virginia Magazine, n.d)
Jayden Daniels Picture
(Lyons, 2024)
Sam Darnold Picture
https://www.dailynorseman.com/2024/11/25/24305236/sam-darnold-winner
(Durrette, 2024)
(Zurga, 2023)
Patrick Mahomes
Benjamin, C., Jones, J., Clawson, D., Pereles, Z., Backus, W., Crawford, B., & DeArdo, B. (n.d.). 10 reasons why chiefs reached 2024 Super Bowl: Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce can’t be stopped, D-line A force. CBS Sports. https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/10-reasons-why-chiefs-reached-2024-super-bowl-patrick-mahomes-travis-kelce-cant-be-stopped-d-line-a-force/
Baker, D. (2026, January 28). It’s time to admit the Vikings got it wrong on you know who. Vikings Territory. https://vikingsterritory.com/2026/news/opinion/vikings-sam-darnold-regret#:~:text=The%20Vikings%20Were%20a%20Quarterback,McCarthy%2C%20Brosmer%2C%20and%20Wentz.
ESPN Internet Ventures. (2026, January 28). Eagles 40-22 chiefs (Feb 9, 2025) final score. ESPN. https://www.espn.com/nfl/game/_/gameId/401671889/chiefs-eagles
ESPN Internet Ventures.(2026, January 27). Commanders 45-31 lions (Jan 18, 2025) final score. ESPN. https://www.espn.com/nfl/game/_/gameId/401671885/commanders-lions ESPN Internet Ventures. (2026, January 28). Rams 27-9 Vikings (Jan 13, 2025) final score. ESPN. https://www.espn.com/nfl/game/_/gameId/401671882/vikings-rams h.nbgty,uj n
