Worst NFL in-season collapses

It could be injuries, a tough schedule, or incompetence.

A team’s season can turn on a dime in a split second, toying their fans on the spectrum of a successful season and a top-five draft pick.

Before diving into the rankings for worst NFL collapses, here are the criteria.

I must have been alive for the collapse. Anything pre-2004 is erased from history in this article.

The collapse must be season-related. It can’t be an individual game.

Injuries contribute to a collapse, so they will be taken into account. However, they will not be weighed as heavily as other organizational failures that are more under a team’s control.

Let’s begin.

HM: 2024 New Orleans Saints

They inspired the article, and I have to write through the pain of rooting for this disaster.

The Saints scored 91 points in their first two games. I did a deep dive into Klint Kubiak and the offense.

https://bellisariostudentmedia.psu.edu/story/film-room-how-klint-kubiak-revitalized-derek-carr-and-the-saints-offense

Then, the injuries started. All key players. I would list them all off, but it would make me sad.

New Orleans is 2-5, and they are seven-point underdogs Sunday against the Chargers in Los Angeles. It is bleak.

3. 2018 Carolina Panthers

Even as a Saints fan, I feel bad writing about this one.

The 2015 Cam Newton MVP season revolutionized the youth. Newton and Stephen Curry made Under Armour popular… Think about that!

I was an 11-year-old Saints fan rocking Cam Newton’s signature cleats in Team X flag football.

The 2018 shoulder injury for the Carolina signal-caller marked the end of an era.

T.J. Watt’s hit on Newton in a Thursday night game in Pittsburgh sent the Panthers into a spiral.

After a 6-2 start, they lost their next seven games en route to elimination.

Newton played two games in 2019 before leaving the franchise for New England in the offseason.

2. 2020 Pittsburgh Steelers

Hindsight is 2020, but I think the warning signs lit up red with the Steelers in the COVID-19 season.

The Steelers had an outlier record in one-score games at 6-0 during their 11-0 franchise-record start to the season.

Remember that funky Monday afternoon game in December when Alex Smith threw for 296 yards and a touchdown in the makeup of the postponed game between the “Washington Football Team” and Pittsburgh?

Bonus points if you can guess the leading rushers for both teams in this game…

Any idea?

For Washington, running back Peyton Barber toted the rock 14 times for 23 yards (yuck) and a touchdown.

For Pittsburgh, tailback Anthony McFarland rushed four times for 15 yards.

Crazy pulls!

That was the start of the downfall for the perfect 11-0 Pittsburgh Steelers start to the season.

They lost four of their final five games, and then the infamous start to the Cleveland Browns Wild Card matchup happened.

After a high snap on Pittsburgh’s offense’s first play from scrimmage that was recovered by the Browns in the endzone, Cleveland got out to a 28-0 first-quarter lead. That was that.

From 11-0 to 12-4 and a first-round exit.

1. 2023 Philadelphia Eagles

The ‘23 Eagles started the year with five wins in a row.

After a loss to the Zach Wilson-led Jets on the road, they rattled off five straight again.

They were 10-1.

They finished 11-6 and got bounced in the first round.

The discourse around Philadelphia when they sat atop the NFC in late November all followed a similar tone.

Everybody said they kept finding ways to win.

This was true. Philly won seven one-score games and only lost one through their first 11 games. Their previous four wins before the collapse began were all by one score.

While the analysis was correct, good teams win, but great teams typically dominate in games they should dominate. The Eagles were not doing that.

It started with the blowout loss in a 2022 NFC Championship rematch with the 49ers. 42-19 loss at home.

After that, two losses in primetime against the division rival Cowboys by 20, and a heartbreaker in Seattle as Drew Lock led a game-winning drive for the Seahawks to knock Philadelphia down to 10-4.

The icing on the cake: a four-point loss at home to the Cardinals in Week 17 to allow Dallas to control their own destiny in the division. The Cowboys eventually clinched in Week 18.

This sent the Eagles to Tampa Bay where the Buccaneers put a bow on this collapse with a 32-9 blowout victory to end the 2023 Philadelphia Eagles season.

Rocco Pellegrino is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, email rdp5387@psu.edu.