Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Off the top of my head I can't think of too many big on the road shutouts. Getting shutout at home against an opponent in blowout fashion just seems like the ultimate insult.

1987 Browns at Steelers winning 51-0 and 1985 Bears at Dallas winning 44-0 are what come to mind. And both of those losers made the playoffs those years.

Non-road shutouts I have that 2009 Patriots/Titans game where they won 59-0 and 1984 Seahawks/Chiefs game where they won 45-0 off the back of 4 pick-sixes thrown by a combined 3 different Chiefs quarterbacks.

Worst shutouts, as in, aside from 73-0?

The clear answer is above, but one contender might be Green Bay's 40-0 blanking by Detroit in 1970. Season opener at Lambeau, still a bit of glory-days sheen to the team, just days after Lombardi died...you'd think they'd be a little more fired up. The Packers didn't make a first down until it was 23-0, and didn't get past their own 40 until the third quarter.

Citizen wrote:The clear answer is above, but one contender might be Green Bay's 40-0 blanking by Detroit in 1970. Season opener at Lambeau, still a bit of glory-days sheen to the team, just days after Lombardi died...you'd think they'd be a little more fired up. The Packers didn't make a first down until it was 23-0, and didn't get past their own 40 until the third quarter.

Oh yes, remember it well. That was the game where Greg Landry had a 76-yard QB "sneak." Running QBs were a rarity back then. The Lions closed out the regular season blanking the Pack again, this time 20-zip, in a must-win to make the playoffs. Lem Barney had a pick-six off Starr in each game. Curiously, the first pass ever thrown Lem's way, as a rookie in 1967, was from Starr---and Lem intercepted and ran it back for a TD. Guess you could say Barney had Starr's number.

And six days after shutting out the Packers for the second time, the wild-card Lions were blanked at Dallas, 5-0. What goes around comes around, I guess. But talk about memorable shutouts---that one still hurts oh so many years later.

The 1984 NFC Championship game shutout of the Bears by the Niners 23-0, helped motivate the Bears for 1985. The defense played well against Montana but the Bears knew they had to keep McMahon upright to make 1985 a special season. Same thing with the Giants in the 1985 playoffs against the Bears. If Landetta doesnt miss the ball on a punt attempt or Bobby Johnson doesnt drop the easy TD pass from Simms, its an entirely different ballgame. Instead, the Giants are shutout 21-0 and they are much more focused and determined for the 1986 season.

Just being hypothetical but had the Colts been shutout 16-0 to the Jets in the SB, it might have been the most humiliating loss since 73-0 and the Redskins but Unitas finally got them a TD with 3:19 left on the clock. I still believe had Snell carried the ball on third down instead of Mathis before the missed FG with just over 6 minutes on the clock, the Jets would have gotten the first down and Unitas would have never gotten into enough of a rhythm to put them on the scoreboard in the closing minutes.

Of course for Shula and the Colts, the 1964 NFL Championship game shutout loss to the Browns 27-0 was a signal that everything wasnt quite right in Baltimore. Unitas had never had a bad postseason game up to this point and felt Shula was restricting or trying to "influence" his playcalling more and more. Still, you have to give Shula more credit for drilling into John to protect the ball better but did it make the QB, somewhat more conservative in his approach, compared to when Weeb coached the team?

Either way, the team was a powerhouse and Shula wanted them to keep the winning streaks alive, week after week but probably should have backed off more and let the team relax more before going into postseason play, afterward ...

The Rams 59-0 demolition of the Atlanta Falcons in Week 13 of the 1976 season was one of the most lopsided games that I can recall.

First Downs - Rams 30 Falcons 8
Rushing Yards - Rams 210 Falcons 59
Passing Yards - Rams 359 Falcons 22
Total Yards - Rams 569 Falcons 81

This happened to be a Saturday afternoon game that was nationally televised by CBS, so the entire country got to see it. I think I tuned out at halftime with the Rams leading 24-0.

Tom Dempsey missed 3 extra points which tied him for the most missed extra points in one game, dating back to 1960.

https://www.statmuse.com/nfl/ask/what-i ... %2C%201986.

Retro Rider wrote:The Rams 59-0 demolition of the Atlanta Falcons in Week 13 of the 1976 season was one of the most lopsided games that I can recall.

First Downs - Rams 30 Falcons 8
Rushing Yards - Rams 210 Falcons 59
Passing Yards - Rams 359 Falcons 22
Total Yards - Rams 569 Falcons 81

This happened to be a Saturday afternoon game that was nationally televised by CBS, so the entire country got to see it. I think I tuned out at halftime with the Rams leading 24-0.

Tom Dempsey missed 3 extra points which tied him for the most missed extra points in one game, dating back to 1960.

https://www.statmuse.com/nfl/ask/what-i ... %2C%201986.

In the NFC Championship game in Minnesota, Dempsey had a chip shot FG blocked and run back for a TD. He then missed the extra point when the Rams finally scored a TD. As has been mentioned, Tom Dempsey set a record for the longest FG but had a way of missing extra points.

How about 5-0 Cowboys over Lions in the 1970 playoffs?