Parity Shmarity in the NFL

No league prides itself on its parity more than the NFL, a league that saw the Miami Dolphins go from 1-15 in 2007 to 11-5 in 2008. But now, the league is seeing as large a disparity between the contenders and the nobodies as there’s ever been in history.

On the one hand, there are four remaining undefeated teams -- the New Orleans Saints, Indianapolis Colts, Denver Broncos and Minnesota Vikings. This is the most the league has ever had through this point in the season, which is even more impressive considering the New York Giants were 5-0 before they lost to the Saints last week.

But at the same time, the number of bad teams outweighs the good, and by a large margin. 13 teams have two or less victories, combining for a collective record of 15-58. There are six teams with one or fewer victories, also the most there has ever been through this point. Three teams, the Tennessee Titans, the St. Louis Rams, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are all winless, and it looks like the latter two teams have a solid chance at going 0-16.

The strength of the NFL is that any team can go from a zero one year to the Super Bowl champs in the next. And this holds true even in 2009; the Titans started out 10-0 last year; they’re 0-6 this year. The Cincinnati Bengals and San Francisco 49ers have become relevant again, while the Denver Broncos have become the most dominant team in the AFC West. However, the thought of one of the lower teams beating a higher team is simply unthinkable. It’s hard to imagine that someone other than Giants, Saints, Vikings, Broncos, Colts and Steelers could make it to the Super Bowl -- which is by no means a prediction. This season, the good have not only dominated the bad, they’ve trounced them, as evidenced by the Patriots’ 59-0 beatdown of the Titans.

But it isn’t all bad. The one good thing about a disparity this wide is that every team that isn’t horrendously awful has a realistic shot at making the playoffs. In the NFC, the wildcard spot would currently be held by a 3-2 team, of which there are the Eagles, Cowboys, Packers, Bears, Cardinals and 49ers (should they slip from the NFC West). The 2-3 Carolina Panthers, who looked dreadful through two weeks, are only one game back. In the AFC, the final spot in the playoffs would be currently held by a 3-3 team, of which there are the Jets, Ravens, Texans, and Jaguars. The Chargers and Dolphins are only half-a-game back, while the Oakland Raiders, who Richard Seymour guaranteed would make the playoffs, are only one back, as are the 2-4 Buffalo Bills, who are talking about firing their coach.

The remaining parity lies in the number of teams that could reasonably make the playoffs. The only teams that have no shot at all at the playoffs are those six teams with one loss or less, and the 2-4 Redskins (who have a brutal remaining schedule). Even the 2-4 Seattle Seahawks have a chance, since the NFC West looks to be as mediocre as it was last year.