Pro Football Reference Blog

Note: Be sure to enter the P-F-R's College Bowl Pool; the deadline to submit your picks is Tuesday.

I was reading The Count over at the Wall Street Journal, and this article caught my eye. Carl Bialik noted that Indianapolis has won eight of its 14 games by eight points or fewer. This made wonder which team set the record for most wins by eight or fewer points? What records did they have and how did they fare in the post-season?

The table below shows the number of wins of eight or fewer points, the overall wins, losses and ties, and how many wins and losses in the playoffs each team had. While the Colts are cutting it close, three teams won all of their games by such a small margin.

But the Colts aren't just cutting it close by winning by a touchdown and a two-point conversion; they've won half of their games by fewer than five points. They've already tied the record for most victories of four or fewer points.

The Colts have been cutting it close. As the table above suggests, they've been cutting it closer than just about any team in NFL history. With another tight victory, Indianapolis will become the first team to ever win eight games in a season by fewer than four points. Finally, let's look at all teams in N.F.L. history that have had eight or more games decided by four or fewer points; so we're not just looking at the close wins. Obviously, with no losses, the Colts have played in eight such games. But if their next two games are close, they can tie the record. Same numbers as in the table above, but now I've added columns showing how many wins and losses each team had in these close games.

That's not a typo -- the '84 Browns went 1-8 in close games, ending the season with a 5-11 record. The Browns' fortunes would change completely the next season, as they would win eight games and become the first division winner in league history with eight losses.