Best/Worst Season in Redskins history?

[Spaceman Spiff]

Bill Barnwell just released this column on espn.com about a teams best/worst seasons since 1960.  

 

http://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/25403454/which-2018-nfl-teams-having-best-worst-most-mediocre-seasons-franchise-history#wsh

 

Here's his methodology:

 

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Is this the best version of the Saints we've ever seen, Brees or otherwise? And what about breakout teams like the Chiefs or Rams? Are we seeing in 2018 the best teams those franchises have ever built? And on the flip side, is this the worst Raiders or Cardinals team we've ever seen?

 

I wanted to answer those questions, so I ran the numbers for each of the league's 32 franchises, going back through the 1960 season. (Sorry, George Halas.) To estimate a team's level of play, I used its point differential, which is a better predictor of win-loss record than win-loss record itself. This doesn't include playoff performance, but if you're looking for a list of which teams did well in the postseason, that isn't hard to find elsewhere.

 

To account for differing lengths in seasons -- including the unfinished 2018 campaign -- I used point differential per game instead of cumulative point differential. Finally, to adjust for era, I standardized the numbers to get a sense of how dominant (or dismal) each team was versus the competition in its league of the time. For more on that, check out this primer on standardized score and the NFL from 2014.

 

And for us:  

 

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Current season: 6-5 (32nd-best of 59 seasons in franchise history since 1960)
Best season: 1983 (14-2)
Worst season: 1961 (1-12-1)

Washington went 2-21-3 over a two-season stretch between 1960 and 1961 as part of a 12-year run without a winning record. It took the intervention of Vince Lombardi to push the team over .500. In 1982, Washington dominated the strike-shortened season with a slightly above-average offense and the best defense in franchise history en route to their first Super Bowl victory. The following season, Joe Gibbs' team switched it up and combined the best offense in franchise history with a 25th-ranked defense, only to fall short to the Raiders in Super Bowl XVIII.

 

So this season is pretty smack in the middle of being mediocre.  

 

I get that he's not including the postseason, it's all based on point differential...but where's the fun in that?  Let's debate this.  Was the 1983 team better than the 1991 team?  I was 2 in 1983, I barely remember 1991 so I can't definitely say 1991 was better...but I remember the 1991 team being an absolute machine.

 

Worst season?  We've got plenty to pick from.

 

What say you, best/worst teams in Redskins history?  

[LightningBuggs]

Hmmm.  That's actually a really good question.  83 vs 91

 

When I think of the 83 team, I think of the insane turnover ratio.  Wasn't it somewhere in the range of +40 something?  I know it was an NFL record at the time.  When I think of the 91 team, I think of how few times Rypien got sacked.  Less than 10 I think.

 

So both OL's were dominant.  Riggins scoring td's at will in 83 has me leaning slightly towards that team being slightly more balanced than the 91 team.

 

The 91 defense was very, very good with Mann and company but as stated above, the 83 team had a penchant for creating turnovers.  

 

I guess I give a very slight lean to the 83 team.  But it's close.

 

Worst team?  Every team since Snyder took over.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

I'd lean to 1991 because of the balance. I think the 1983 offense was better, but the defense was on easy street and not that great (minus the turnover differential). We never scored fewer than 23 points that year until the Super Bowl. Let that sink in. The defense was tasked with essentially holding teams to 22 points each game and we'd likely win. 

 

In 1991 we had some games where the offense struggled...we won against the second-best team in the AFC (Houston) only scoring 16 points. We won two playoff games in the NFC only giving up 17 total points. The balance that the 1991 team had was remarkable. We won our games that year by an average score of 30-14. That amazingly good on both sides of the ball. 

[hail2skins]

I think I'd have to agree with TD_w on giving the '91 team the nod over '83, simply because of being more balanced overall and that they actually won the whole thing, unlike the '83 team.  We had three shutouts in the first five games of 1991........and haven't had one since!

 

The worst season? I wasn't alive during that 1961 season. Just from my perception, that 1993 season where we went 4-12 was just a shock after Gibbs left, Petitbon becomes HC, and we soundly beat a Emmitt-less Cowboys team in the opener 35-16. But then Ryp gets hurt in the next game, and from there........just a soul-crushing season. In 11 out of the remaining 15 games, we scored 14 or less points.......eight of which were single digits. And had to endure two bye weeks. Yes, we've had a couple of worse seasons record-wise after that (including the '94 team during Norv's first year), but just from the dramatic dropoff from where we were to a rapid fall, that was it. 

 

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/was/1993.htm

[TradeTheBeal!]

3 minutes ago, hail2skins said:

I think I'd have to agree with TD_w on giving the '91 team the nod over '83, simply because of being more balanced overall and that they actually won the whole thing, unlike the '83 team.  We had three shutouts in the first five games of 1991........and haven't had one since!

 

The worst season? I wasn't alive during that 1961 season. Just from my perception, that 1993 season where we went 4-12 was just a shock after Gibbs left, Petitbon becomes HC, and we soundly beat a Emmitt-less Cowboys team in the opener 35-16. But then Ryp gets hurt in the next game, and from there........just a soul-crushing season. In 11 out of the remaining 15 games, we scored 14 or less points.......eight of which were single digits. And had to endure two bye weeks. Yes, we've had a couple of worse seasons record-wise after that (including the '94 team during Norv's first year), but just from the dramatic dropoff from where we were to a rapid fall, that was it. 

 

https://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/was/1993.htm

 

I don’t know if 93 is the worst season, but I was in the stands for 3-0 Jets loss and man...that game was absolutely awful.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

I'd agree with @hail2skins on 1993 (which would be so odd to have the best/worst within two seasons of one another). 

 

I think when you combine the season with the context, it was amazingly jarring. I'm sure we had worse teams but we were coming off a playoff trip and had many of the same players as the Super Bowl team. Also, for me personally, I had never seen a bad season before and think I just assumed we were always going to be a relatively good team. 

 

Going from hoisting the Lombardi in late-January of 1992 to being horrible and losing a home game to the Jets 3-0 just 22 months later was quite a fall. 

[Fat Stupid Loser]

I'm still in shock over the 83 loss to the Raiders. It scarred me deeply.

[nonniey]

I'd say you have to put expectations into the equation. That puts the 1982 and 2000 seasons in contention for each imo.

[hail2skins]

8 minutes ago, nonniey said:

I'd say you have to put expectations into the equation. That puts the 1982 and 2000 seasons in contention for each imo.

Tough to judge the 1982 team due to the strike-shortened season. However, for people who have attempted to invalidate the championship that season due to it being a strike-shortened season, I just point out that they followed that season up with an absolutely monster 1983. And I think if Tony Peters and Jeris White, two pieces of the 1982 secondary, had played on the 1983 team, there's a good chance that team goes 16-0.........although I'm not sure that would've prevented what happened in Tampa on Black Sunday.

 

As far as 2000, its pretty tough to call that season a complete disaster. Yes, there were high expectations to be sure. We did lose our biggest offensive threat in Westbrook early in the season, but were 6-2 at the halfway point. Between then and Snyder firing Norv, a good chunk of the losses came down to not having a good FG kicker. It wasn't like we were getting blown out.......until the wheels fell off after the Giants loss. In fact, the 2000 Giants might go down as one of the worst Super Bowl participants. 

[skins4eva]

I don’t think this is debatable. It’s 1991. That team was utterly dominant and destroyed the competition and won the super bowl. Maybe not quite as good offensively but far better defensively. 

[BraveWarrior]

1991 over 1983. The team was dominant on both sides of the ball, and WON the Superbowl. Remember the 1991 team shutting out 3 of their first 5 opponents, 102 - 0 combined (two of them coming against division foes). Most teams don't shut out any of their opponents in a season. They led the league in scoring and allowed the second fewest points.

 

Even if the '83 team had won their Superbowl, I still think the '91 team was our best.   

[Kilmer17]

The 91 Skins should be considered a top 5 team of all time.  But you know, jersey bias etc 

[Rufus T Firefly]

This is Snyder's 20th season, so for worst season, I'm going to say it's a 20-way tie.

[LMFAO Alex Smith]

43 minutes ago, Kilmer17 said:

The 91 Skins should be considered a top 5 team of all time.  But you know, jersey bias etc 

 

Wasnt that the replacement team during the player strike?

[Rufus T Firefly]

Just now, LMFAO Alex Smith said:

 

Wasnt that the replacement team during the player strike?

No, that was 87. 91 was the best Redskin team (and among the best overall)  of the modern era, by far, imo.

[LMFAO Alex Smith]

13 minutes ago, Rufus T Firefly said:

No, that was 87. 91 was the best Redskin team (and among the best overall)  of the modern era, by far, imo.

 

 

Ok, thank you for clearing it up for me.

 

 I just remembered the replacements movie and growing up hearing opposing fans making fun of the skins for winning a super bowl when the nfc was on strike. Or something to that end, I never chased down the facts so it was always unclear to me.

[bakedtater1]

This season ranks up there with the ****tiest of the **** seasons.. specially when we go from division winners in late November to watching our arc nemesis playing in the Superbowl (cowpukes)in February...hope y'all enjoy the pits of misery..DILLY DILLY ...

[RedskinsLegacy]

8 hours ago, skins4eva said:

I don’t think this is debatable. It’s 1991. That team was utterly dominant and destroyed the competition and won the super bowl. Maybe not quite as good offensively but far better defensively. 

I agree, the 91 team was the most complete, Offense, Defense, Special Teams were awesome. Highest scoring offense in the NFL with 485 points, #2 Defense with 224 points against, and teams quit kicking and punting to Brian Mitchell, or he would of had the return record. 

[Darrell Green Fan]

18 hours ago, TryTheBeal! said:

 

I don’t know if 93 is the worst season, but I was in the stands for 3-0 Jets loss and man...that game was absolutely awful.

 

That was literally the only game I have missed in over 40 years, it came over the holidays and I was traveling and it could not be helped. I feel blessed.

 

I've gone back and forth between '83 and '91 as well. The '83 team lost 2 games by 1 point each, the 2nd on a missed Mosley FG,  That's pretty amazing. But the '91 season was one of the best of all time so I have to go with that team. 

[skins island connection]

The 91' team had a shot at going 15-1, had Gibbs decided not to risk injury to starters by pulling most of them in the 2nd half.

I'm still pissed the Cowboys of ALL teams were the ones to break the winning streak; had we beaten them I believe Gibbs would have kept the starters in for the finale against the Eagles, and we would have won that game. That year the Redskins played something like 5-6 eventual playoff teams, maybe more [ I can't remember ] and beat them all.

 

The 83' Redskins were better coached than the 91' team.  In 91', even Gibbs said that the players had taken it upon themselves to go out there and get this thing done. In 83', the Redskins were coming off their 1st SuperBowl win [ damn doesn't that sound nice? ].  Gibbs was thought of as a surprising up-and-coming head coach, and he proved that. While opponents were focusing on Riggins, Gibbs and Theismann went Coryell on opponents, attacking through the air; when the defense began to flood the secondary he turned to Riggins; it was playing cat-n-mouse. Opponents couldn't stop the offense in general, they had to either stack the line or go into dime pkgs, and Gibbs simply attacked the weaker aspect.

 

But lining the 2 teams up, I'm going with the 91 team, and the difference-maker is th' Posse.

 

The worst season? Wow, the choices!  I'd say either the Swinging Gate season or the season where we played the Giants and fights began erupting in the stands and tear gas was dispersed. What an embarrassment.

[DJHJR86]

I was a little kid throughout their glory years and didn't really hunker down and start following the team and watching every game until Gibbs 2.0.  So for me personally my favorite (or "best") season was 2005.  The worst was a tie between 2013 and 2009.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

I ignored "worst" the other day but here goes (only in my lifetime as a fan): 

 

1988 - Odd considering 7-9 is about the norm now, but it felt like a disaster. We had non-playoff seasons under Gibbs, but (outside of his first season) those were generally 10-6 seasons where the rest of the conference was just better. The 7-9 season in 1988 coming off the Super Bowl was simply shocking at the time. In hindsight it made sense. We were transitioning from that 1986/87 core to the players who would ultimately win the 1991 Super Bowl. 

 

1998 - Again, the record doesn't look bad, but this team started 0-7 after coming off two "winning" seasons in 1996 and 1997. This was the first legitimate rebuild since the Gibbs championship years and Turner had taken the team from 3 to 6 to 9 wins in his first few seasons. This year felt like a HUGE step backwards. We rallied in the second half of the season to win 6 of our final 9 against a relatively soft schedule and discovered Trent Green. But, the icing on the cake of this season was that the ownership situation kept us from retaining Green. Granted we bounced back in 1999, but I think 1998 was horrible. 

 

2013 - Again, coming off of the division title and RGIII's magical rookie season, this campaign seemed troubled from the start. Griffin rushed back, Cousins actually was injured in pre-season so we almost HAD to start Griffin. We got destroyed by the Chip Kelly Eagles to kick off the season on MNF and then were blasted in Green Bay in week 2. Basically, in the span of 6 days, the season was already over and Griffin looked nothing like the rookie who dominated the league in 2012. 

[skins4eva]

6 hours ago, skins island connection said:

The 91' team had a shot at going 15-1, had Gibbs decided not to risk injury to starters by pulling most of them in the 2nd half.

I'm still pissed the Cowboys of ALL teams were the ones to break the winning streak; had we beaten them I believe Gibbs would have kept the starters in for the finale against the Eagles, and we would have won that game. That year the Redskins played something like 5-6 eventual playoff teams, maybe more [ I can't remember ] and beat them all.

 

The 83' Redskins were better coached than the 91' team.  In 91', even Gibbs said that the players had taken it upon themselves to go out there and get this thing done. In 83', the Redskins were coming off their 1st SuperBowl win [ damn doesn't that sound nice? ].  Gibbs was thought of as a surprising up-and-coming head coach, and he proved that. While opponents were focusing on Riggins, Gibbs and Theismann went Coryell on opponents, attacking through the air; when the defense began to flood the secondary he turned to Riggins; it was playing cat-n-mouse. Opponents couldn't stop the offense in general, they had to either stack the line or go into dime pkgs, and Gibbs simply attacked the weaker aspect.

 

But lining the 2 teams up, I'm going with the 91 team, and the difference-maker is th' Posse.

 

The worst season? Wow, the choices!  I'd say either the Swinging Gate season or the season where we played the Giants and fights began erupting in the stands and tear gas was dispersed. What an embarrassment.

 

That 91 teamed played the first game of the season against Detroit in Detroit and beat them 45-0...we played Detroit in the NFC Championship game later that season and destroyed them again...also shut out 3 of our first 5 opponents.

 

[LetThePointsSoar]

Best - 1991 for reasons others have stated. 

 

Worst - 2013 - because it's still fresh in the mind, and was such a kick to the groin after how exciting 2012 was. 

 

Hail. 

[TMK9973]

1 hour ago, skins4eva said:

 

That 91 teamed played the first game of the season against Detroit in Detroit and beat them 45-0...we played Detroit in the NFC Championship game later that season and destroyed them again...also shut out 3 of our first 5 opponents.

 

Almost. The game was in DC.  I was there in Tickets Gary Clark had gotten my sister and she gave to me.  

 

'91 was the year.  Most games were just dominate.  Tony Kornhiser and "The Bandwagon" articles made him a star (outside of DC).   Chip Lohmiller, our kicker, was doing commercials with Michael Jordan.  OUR FREAKING KICKER WAS DOING COMMERCIALS WITH MJ!  For 1 season - We were the greatest football team in history of football.  We were marching to the super bowl and EVERYONE knew it.  The only question being asked that year is "Can anyone stop the Redskins" (Answer -no).

 

It was so great.