The 9 Biggest Playoff Upsets In NFL History

The NFL playoffs are comprised of the best teams in the league, but there still tend to be plenty of blowouts and one-sided affairs in addition to contests where the oddsmakers don’t give the underdog much of a shot at winning. However, those teams don’t always get the memo.

These are the biggest upsets to ever unfold in the NFL playoffs

You can usually get a pretty good read on how a game is going to play out based on the spreads whipped up by the sportsbooks offering action, but there’s obviously a reason they get played as opposed to just handing to win to the team with an advantage on paper.

There’s no shortage of NFL games that highlight that reality, including a number of incredibly unlikely upsets that have unfolded in the playoffs over the years.

1988: Vikings vs. 49ers (-11)

There are four games on this list where the spread was set at 11 points, which is the theoretical margin of victory the 49ers were given heading into their Divisional Round showdown with the Vikings on January 9, 1988.

San Francisco finished the season at 13-2 and boasted an incredibly dynamic duo in the form of Joe Montana and Jerry Rice. Minnesota, on the other hand, snuck into the postseason as an 8-7 wild card team that did make a bit of a statement with a 44-10 win over the Saints in the opening round.

Both teams nailed a field goal in the first quarter before the Vikings racked up 17 unanswered points to take a 20-3 lead into halftime. The 49ers were able to narrow the deficit a bit in the third but largely traded points before Montana was pulled in favor of Steve Young, who failed to serve as a spark in a game where Minnesota earned the 36-24 victory in front of a stunned crowd at Candlestick Park.

However, San Francisco would bounce back from the gut check by winning their first of back-to-back Super Bowls the following season.

1998: Broncos vs Packers (-11)

This is the first of the five upsets on this list that transpired in the Super Bowl and the second where the losing team was an 11-point favorite.

The Broncos had been viewed as Super Bowl favorites the previous season before ending up on the wrong side of an upset I’ll discuss in a bit, and in 1997, the Packers earned that title as defending champions who went 13-3 for the second year in a row.

Super Bowl XXXII promised fans the prospect of a quarterback battle between John Elway and Brett Favre, but Broncos RB Terrell Davis ultimately emerged as the hero for Denver in a back-and-forth game where he earned MVP honors while leading them to the first championship in franchise history in the 31-24 affair.

1999: Falcons vs. Vikings (-11)

The Falcons earned the second seed with an impressive 14-2 showing during the regular season in 1998. However, they were seemingly at a steep disadvantage as 11-point underdogs against a 15-1 Minnesota team led by Randall Cunningham, who had a couple of deadly targets at wide receiver thanks to Cris Carter and Randy Moss.

The two teams met in the NFC Championship Game that unfolded on January 17, 1999 in a contest that turned out to be an all-time classic.

The Falcons were able to rally back from a 13-point hole they fell into toward the end of the first half and forced overtime with a touchdown with less than a minute to go in the fourth quarter.

The two teams traded punts before the Falcons staged a 70-yard drive to set up Morten Andersen for the field goal that clinched the 30-27 victory to punch their ticket to Super Bowl XXXIII (although they ended up falling to the Broncos).

2008: Chargers vs. Colts (-11)

The Colts earned a first-round bye after clinching the second seed in the AFC by going 13-3, and the 11-5 Chargers earned the right to face off against them in the Divisional Round on January 13, 2008 after beating the Titans the previous week.

Indianapolis was the reigning Super Bowl champion with a talented roster that included Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison, and they were 11-point favorites against the Chargers in a game where San Diego had to overcome injuries that ended up sidelining Phillip Rivers and LaDainian Tomlinson for a significant chunk.

Rivers went down after throwing a 56-yard TD that gave the Chargers a 17-14 before Manning responded with a 55-yard pass to put the Colts up 21-17 with around 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter.

However, backup QB Billy Volek rose to the occasion to helm a 78-yard drive he capped off with a sneak to give the Chargers a 28-24 lead with just under five minutes to go—a score that remained unchanged until the clock hit zero.

1970: Chiefs vs. Vikings (-12)

This is the second time the Vikings fell victim to a notable upset, and this one unfolded on the biggest stage possible.

Super Bowl IV marked the last time it featured an NFL team going head-to-head with an AFL team, as the 12-2 Vikings and the 11-3 Chiefs respectively represented the two leagues that would merge the following season.

The NFL still had a superiority complex it had no real business maintaining after the Jets won the Super Bowl the previous year (I’ll also get to that game in a bit), but the Chiefs firmly spoiled that narrative by taking a 16-0 lead into halftime and never looking back while cruising to the 23-7 win.

2008: Giants vs. Patriots (-12.5)

I think most NFL fans know why the Patriots were favored in the showdown they needed to win to become the first NFL team to go 19-0 after winning every single game leading up to Super Bowl XLII.

That, of course, did not end up being the case, as Eli Manning got a little bit of help from David Tyree as the Giants stunned the world with the 17-14 win that ruined New England’s perfect season.

1997: Jaguars vs. Broncos (-12.5)

I promised I’d get back to this one, and here we are.

The Broncos were Super Bowl favorites after clinching the top seed in the AFC with a 13-3 record during the regular season in 1996 and got the week off when the Jaguars beat the Bills to advance to the Divisional Round game against Denver on January 4, 1997.

The Broncos pulled out to a 12-0 lead in the first quarter before Jacksonville took a 13-12 lead of its own into halftime during a run where they scored 23 unanswered points.

Denver attempted to stage a fourth-quarter comeback but ultimately fell short, and while they’d go on to win the next two Super Bowls, both John Elway and Shannon Sharpe cite the loss as one of the worst moments of their career.

2002: Patriots vs. Rams (-14)

This is yet another Super Bowl featuring the Patriots where most NFL fans are familiar with what transpired, although New England was the one that pulled off the upset in this instance.

Drew Bledsoe started the 2001 season as the starting QB for the Patriots before he was sidelined by the injury that gave Tom Brady a chance to step into the spotlight.

The 199th overall pick in the 2000 NFL Draft went 11-3 in relief and led his team to Super Bowl XXXVI against a top-seeded Rams squad that had gone 14-2 and seemed to have a pretty decisive edge over New England.

However,  the Patriots managed to take a 17-3 lead into the fourth quarter before the Rams tied things up. Brady then got the chance to do what he’d do plenty of times going forward with the late-game drive that set up Adam Vinatieri for the game-winning field goal that gave the Patriots their first Super Bowl in franchise history.

1969: Jets vs. Colts (-18)

1969 marked the first year the championship showdown between the AFL and the NFL was officially dubbed the Super Bowl, and it certainly lived up to the new moniker.

Joe Namath famously predicted the Jets would beat the Colts on January 12, 1969, but he was one of the only people who genuinely believed the AFL stood a chance against the NFL team Don Shula had led to a 13-1 record.

However, New York pulled off the stunning upset in a game where they had a 16-0 lead in the fourth quarter before the Colts scored a meaningless touchdown in a contest where Broadway Joe was named Most Valuable Player.