luckadjusted

2021 NFL season · final

Regression candidates for 2022

Due to fall back in 2022: the Steelers, the Raiders and the Falcons, whose records ran furthest ahead of their coin flips in 2021. Due to bounce back: the Bills, the 49ers and the Texans.

The measure is coin-flip wins: every kick, fumble bounce, drop, conversion and judgment call re-rolled, everything else kept. A record far above it was built on bounces. It’s the best of our numbers at predicting the rest of a season: from weeks 1–9 to weeks 10–18 it correlates at 0.44 with the later win share, against 0.38 for the record itself (224 team-seasons). One-score records barely carry over at all: 0.12 from one season to the next. Methodology

Due to fall back

Won more than their coin flips, 2021.

TeamRecordCoin-flip winsGapReplay winsOne-score2022
Steelers 9–7–16.1 +3.45.88–2–1 9–8
Raiders 10–77.2 +2.89.27–2 6–11
Falcons 7–105.2 +1.86.77–2 7–10
Titans 12–510.6 +1.49.56–2 7–10
Ravens 8–96.6 +1.48.86–6 10–7
Rams 12–510.9 +1.111.84–2 5–12
Cardinals 11–69.9 +1.110.53–4 4–13
Giants 4–133.1 +0.93.93–3 9–7–1

Due to bounce back

Won fewer than their coin flips, 2021.

TeamRecordCoin-flip winsGapReplay winsOne-score2022
Bills 11–613.5 −2.512.20–5 13–3
49ers 10–712.1 −2.111.35–5 13–4
Texans 4–135.6 −1.63.40–4 3–13–1
Chargers 9–810.2 −1.210.85–5 10–7
Bears 6–117.1 −1.16.63–3 3–14
Vikings 8–99.0 −1.06.46–8 13–4
Seahawks 7–107.9 −0.97.33–5 9–8
Browns 8–98.8 −0.89.55–6 7–10

Other seasons: 2026 · 2025 · 2024 · 2023 · 2022 · 2020 · 2019

2021 luck rankings · One-score records · Expected wins · Luckiest teams since 2019