Every NFL Team That Almost Went Undefeated
Only one team has ever actually finished a season without a loss — the 1972 Miami Dolphins, covered in full in our history of NFL perfect seasons. But a handful of other teams got remarkably close, and the specific way each of them fell short says a lot about how hard a truly perfect season is to finish.
1934 Chicago Bears — 13-0, then the “Sneakers Game”
The Bears ran the table on their regular season before facing the New York Giants in the NFL Championship Game on an icy Polo Grounds field. Trailing at halftime, the Giants switched to basketball sneakers for better traction and outscored Chicago 27-0 in the second half, winning 30-13. It’s remembered as the “Sneakers Game” — a reminder that field conditions, not just talent, can end an undefeated run.
1942 Chicago Bears — 11-0 and the league’s best offense and defense
Chicago outscored opponents 376-84 across an undefeated regular season, then lost the championship game 14-6 to a Washington team they’d beaten by 40 points earlier that same year. Even the most dominant regular season doesn’t guarantee anything in a single elimination game.
1985 Chicago Bears — one loss, on purpose (from the other side)
The ‘85 Bears went 15-1, with their only defeat a 38-24 loss to Miami on Monday Night Football. The Dolphins alumni from the 1972 team have long treated preserving their perfect-season exclusivity as a point of pride, and that specific Miami team is often cited as having especially wanted the win. Chicago recovered to dominate the playoffs, winning Super Bowl XX 46-10 over New England.
1998 Minnesota Vikings — an NFL scoring record wasn’t enough
Minnesota went 15-1 while setting what was then an NFL record for points scored in a season (556). They reached the NFC Championship Game against Atlanta and lost in overtime after a missed field goal in the final minutes — one of the more painful near-misses in playoff history, given how dominant the regular season had been.
2015 Carolina Panthers — an MVP season, ended on the biggest stage
Cam Newton won NFL MVP leading Carolina to a 15-1 regular season. The Panthers reached Super Bowl 50 before losing to Denver’s defense 24-10, a game remembered more for Denver’s pass rush than for anything Carolina did wrong.
2007 New England Patriots — the closest anyone has come
The gold standard of near-misses. New England went 16-0 in the regular season — a perfect slate under the 16-game format used from 1978 through 2020 — then won their first two playoff games to reach 18-0. One win from a perfect season, they lost Super Bowl XLII to the New York Giants 17-14 on a last-minute drive that included the famous “helicopter” helmet catch. Final record: 18-1.
What all six have in common
Every team on this list had a legitimate case as one of the best rosters in NFL history for that season. None of it mattered once a single bad half, a single missed kick, or a single defensive collapse showed up in an elimination game. That’s the exact tension 20-0’s own playoff simulation is built to capture — a flawless regular season means nothing if the bracket doesn’t cooperate. See our explainer on how the real playoff format works for why a single loss ends everything, no matter how good the team was up to that point.
Frequently asked questions
Which near-miss was the most painful?+
Most fans point to the 2007 Patriots — 18-0 and one win from history before losing Super Bowl XLII to the Giants on a last-minute drive. It's the only near-miss that happened on the sport's biggest stage with a perfect season directly on the line.
Did any of these teams lose a low-stakes game they shouldn't have?+
The 1985 Bears' only loss came in Week 13 to Miami on Monday Night Football, a nationally televised game the Dolphins' alumni specifically wanted to win to protect their 1972 team's exclusivity — reportedly one of the more emotionally charged 'ordinary' regular-season games in NFL history.