The Miami Dolphins, Seattle Seahawks, and Baltimore Ravens have finished the NFL preseason with an undefeated record of 4-0. Does this stat have any correlation as to how a team will do in the regular season?

Well let’s see, the Detroit Lions were the only team to go undefeated during the 2008 preseason and ended up losing every game during the regular season, but is that the norm?

Here’s a look back at every preseason since 2000 to see how teams fare after going undefeated.

2000

Preseason:
The Ravens, Jaguars, Broncos and Chargers all finished the preseason undefeated.

Regular season:
The Chargers (1-15) and Jaguars (7-9) both misses the postseason, but the Broncos (11-5) and Ravens (12-4) made the playoffs and faced each other in an AFC Wild Card game. The Ravens won that matchup and ended up winning the Super Bowl.

2001

Preseason:
The Vikings are the only team to go undefeated.

Regular season:
Minnesota misses the playoffs after finishing with a 5-11 record.

2002

Preseason:
The Jets and Falcons both finish the preseason with unblemished records.

Regular season:
The Jets (9-7) won the AFC East and the Falcons (9-6-1) made the postseason as a Wild Card team. Both teams played Wild Card weekend and won, but they were both out of the playoffs the next week.

2003

Preseason:
The Patriots, Titans, Panthers and Cardinals all went undefeated.

Regular season:
Arizona (4-12) was the only team in that group that didn’t make the playoffs. The Panthers (11-5) won the NFC South, the Patriots (14-2) won the AFC East and the Titans (12-4) were a Wild Card team. The Patriots beat the Titans in the Divisional round and ended up winning the Super Bowl, defeating the Panthers.

2004

Preseason:
The Carolina Panthers were the only team to finish the preseason undefeated.

Regular season:
The Panthers missed the playoffs after finishing the season 7-9.

2005

Preseason:
The Denver Broncos were the only team to not get a loss in the preseason.

Regular season:
The Broncos (13-3) won the AFC West and ended up losing in the AFC Championship game.

2006

Preseason:
The Cincinnati Bengals, New York Giants and Carolina Panthers were undefeated in the preseason.

Regular season:
All three teams finished with 8-8 records, but only the Giants made it to the playoffs. New York ended up losing a Wild Card matchup to the Eagles.

2007

Preseason:
No teams went undefeated

2008

Preseason:
Mentioned above, the Detroit Lions were the only team to go undefeated.

Regular season:
The Lions finished with the only winless season in NFL history.

So what have we learned? Well, not very much.

Out of the 17 teams that went undefeated in the preseason since 2000, nine of them have made it to the playoffs. Three of those teams even appeared in the Super Bowl with two of them taking home the Lombardi Trophy.

So basically, you can either finish as the best team in the NFL or have the worst season in NFL history after finishing with a perfect preseason record.

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