The Sturm Formula - Part 1

You may or may not remember the Sturm NFL Formula, but here is the latest edition. To recap, a few years ago, a good strong listener asked me to rank the franchises from #32 to #1 based on their accomplishments from Super Bowl I to present.

So I did. I wanted it to be objective, not subjective. I wanted it to be a formula and you would just enter the numbers and it would spit out the rankings with no favoritism or prejudice.

Here is how it works. Each Franchise gets 1 point for each season it makes the playoffs. Then, if it reaches the Conference Championship Game it gets a total of 3 points. If it makes the Super Bowl it gets 5, and if it wins the Super Bowl it wins the maximum total of points in a given year of 11. It used to be 10 for the Super Bowl, but I have adjusted it this year because I didn’t like the idea that 2 Super Bowl losses equaled a Super Bowl win. So, Now 11 points for a win and 5 for a loss in the Super Bowl.

I have been asked why no points are given for wins in the Wildcard round, but I decided that would not make sense with the idea that the playoffs have grown over the years and there is no way to equalize a smaller field to a larger one. Also, a Wildcard win is not that big a deal anymore with 6 teams in the playoffs, so unless you reach the Conference Title game, no additional points beyond the 1 for making the post-season.

Just add up the points for all the years, and that is the entire formula. Otherwise, I break ties based on the team with more Super Bowl wins, then Super Bowl losses, then Championship Game wins, etc. There are no ties. I will settle it somehow.

With that in mind, I am going to release the teams from worst to best over the course of the next 2 weeks. By next Thursday, I will be up to #1 all-time.

Here is #29-#32



#29 – The Jacksonville Jaguars
Total Points: 9
Total Playoff Years: 96C, 97, 98, 99C, 05

The first 5 years of the franchise, the Jags made the playoffs 4 times. Since then, it has been pretty light, but they have done pretty well in just a decade. Twice they have been 1 game from the Super Bowl.



#30 – The New Orleans Saints
Total Points: 8
Total Playoff Years: 87, 90, 91, 92, 00, 06C

They made us happy in 2006, but know that this is the high-water mark in the history of the franchise. Scoring 3 points with their NFC Championship loss puts them safely ahead of Arizona, but still much work to be done to catch expansion teams of the 1990’s.



#31 – The Arizona/St Louis Cardinals
Total Points: 4
Total Playoff Years: 74, 75, 82, 98

Without Question, the most embarrassing franchise in the NFL. There is nothing nice to say about a team that has made the playoffs 4 times in 41 years. Maybe the saddest franchise in all of sports.



#32 – The Houston Texans
Total Points: 0
Total Playoff Years: None

Kind of unfair since the Texans have not existed for very long, but 0 points means they have never made the playoffs, so it is tough to make that sound any better than it is. Jacksonville and Carolina both made the Conference Title game in their 2nd years, so Houston must be disappointed that their biggest win might still be their first game against Dallas in 2002.




Explanation of Years: Just the year means they made the playoffs (1 point). Year followed by “C” means they lost in the Conference Championship Game (3 points), Year followed by “SL” means they lost the Super Bowl (5 points), and Year followed by “S” means they won the Super Bowl (11 points).