By Emma Dylan
When considering NFL wins and which teams are the most winningest in NFL sports history, there are things to take into consideration other than just total victories versus losses. While you can assess each team based on their percentage of victories to games played and assign each team a point average, you must also take into consideration the duration of the franchise (the length of time it has been in establishment). Comparing a team that was established in 1920 to a team that has only played a few hundred games since the late 90s is apples to oranges when determining which is the winningest team.
A great handicapper can assess these types of scenarios and assign each team a rating based on franchise wins and losses, current trends, players, and a myriad of other factors to come up with their own power rating system to generate their preferred sports picks. It’s important to you as a bettor to make yourself familiar with your favorite handicapper, his or her own power rating system, and overall knowledge of the sport in which they handicap to determine if using them for your picks is a good decision.
How Winning Teams are Determined
In determining the biggest winners in the NFL based on wins alone, you’ll get a completely different spread than if you consider just Super Bowl wins. This doesn’t necessarily give you an accurate depiction of whether a particular team is “the most winningest,” as you can have a team that has won numerous Super Bowls, but has not claimed as many overall game victories as another.
A case in point is comparing the New England Patriots to the Dallas Cowboys. The Patriots have won a total of six Super Bowls, while the Cowboys have only won five, however their winning point averages overall place the Patriots significantly behind the Cowboys. In fact, based on wins alone the Cowboys take first place in overall franchise wins from team inception to present date. The Patriots come in third.
It’s also important to point out that some teams have experienced extremely great success overall without Super Bowl victories. The Chicago Bears, for instance, have only won a single Super Bowl since their franchise inception in 1920. Their inability to secure another Super Bowl victory has led some superstitious fans and handicappers to believe they’re under a curse. However, Super Bowl games and losses aside, the Bears have experienced a record high number of wins and sent the most players to the NFL Hall of Fame. That’s a lot of winning from one team, which makes it important to consider the total amount of winning attributes an NFL team has, and not just the total winning point number.
Points Average versus Wins
Another method of determining which teams are the biggest winners is to determine their overall point average for game play. While a team may win four out of five games, they may only do so by a small margin of points. Compared to a team that has won only three out of five games, but blown their competition out of the water with shut-out style victories, they may not be the biggest victor overall. It’s important to follow a handicapper who can plug this information in and determine the best overall winner before deciding on adding a team to your sports picks. Depending on which teams are playing, the point spread average of a team that has not had as many wins as the team they are playing may actually make them the favorite. For instance, the Broncos may be the tenth winningest team in the history of the NFL franchise based on wins versus losses alone, but in 2013 they were favorited over the Jacksonville Jaguars by the largest point spread since 1970.
Picking a Handicapper
You can always pick a sports handicapper by their popularity, and obviously the most popular handicappers will have the most victories under their belts, but it’s wise not to simply follow the only handicapper with which you are familiar or the one your friends love the most. You’re placing a lot of capital on the line with your sports picks, and as such it is important you not only know the backstory of your handicapper, but also their sports knowledge, which sports they are favorited in, and how they develop their own power rating system. These considerations are extremely helpful when determining which handicapper is best for the sports in which you wish to bet, and which ones are easiest for you to follow.
Many handicappers also release their picks at certain times, so determining when a handicapper releases a pick is also essential for proper betting.
The biggest winners in NFL sports history are hard to determine based simply on victories alone. A great handicapper will have knowledge of which teams have played the best over the entire series of the franchise.
