The 2010-2011 Seattle Seahawks made the
NFL playoffs with a losing record of 7 wins and 9 losses. They were the first NFL team to make the playoffs with a losing record in a non-strike season. I wondered if there were any other teams in professional sports to make their league playoffs with a losing record?
Below you will find a list of teams in each of the three major sports that made the playoffs with a losing record. They are organized by year, team and win-loss record. You may notice great differences in the number of games played. This is because some of the seasons were shortened due to a strike or because leagues have changed the number of games played in a season.
NFL
2010-11 Seattle Seahawks 7-9
1982-83 Cleveland Browns 4-5
1982-83 Detroit Lions 4-5
MLB
1981 Kansas City Royals 50-53
NBA
2007-08 Atlanta Hawks 37-45
2008-09 Detroit Pistons 39-43
2005-06 Milwaukee Bucks 40-42
2006-07 Orlando Magic 40-42
2007-08 Philadelphia 76ers 40-42
1985-86 Chicago Bulls 30-52
1987-88 San Antonio Spurs 31-51
1952-53 Baltimore Bullets 16-54
1959-60 Minneapolis Lakers 25-50
1949-50 Sheboygan Redskins 22-40
1949-50 Philadelphia Warriors 26-42
1958-59 Detroit Pistons 28-44
1952-53 Indianapolis Olympians 28-43
1959-60 Detroit Pistons 30-45
1967-68 Chicago Bulls 29-53
Name_______________________________________
1. I am trying to figure out which NFL playoff team had the worst regular season record? How can you determine the worst record between 7 – 9 and 4 – 5 ?
2. It can be difficult to judge which team had the worst record since they did not play the same number of games. One way to determine this is by figuring out how many games each team won per one hundred games. When we find how many games the team would win per one hundred we are finding the percent of the games that they won. If you have not already done so, find the winning percentage of the Seahawks,
Browns and Lions. Who had the lowest winning percentage?
3. I am curious about the Kansas City Royals record. Was their record or winning percentage better than the NFL teams? To find out you can find their winning percentage and compare it to the other teams. Before finding their wining percentage, try ranking them with the three NFL teams using reasoning or some other mathematical method. Then check your prediction by finding the actual winning percentage.

4. I am trying to figure out which NBA playoff team had the worst record. Work with a partner to narrow down the list to the three worst teams. Give mathematical evidence that supports your choices. Make sure you check your solutions with other groups or the class.
5. You should have noticed that none of the three worst NBA playoff teams played their season recently, nor did they play the current
82 game season format. The worst 82 game season playoff team was the 1985-1986
Chicago Bulls, at 30-52. If those three teams continued winning games at the same rate, how many games would they have each won in an 82 game season? You can write and solve a proportion to determine this for each team.
6. Your final task is to create a team and record for each league that would be the new
“worst playoff team record” for that league.
The “made up” records should be as close to the current worst records for each league as possible.
Here are the stipulations:
The NFL team you create should have played a total of 16 games.
The MLB team you create should have played a total of162 games.
The NBA team you create should have played a total of 82 games.
Give your three teams, their sport and their record below. Be sure to show how you arrived at your solutions.
Sources: http://www.nba.com/2011/news/features/art_garcia/01/
04/playoff-losers/index.html http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/25/sports/football/25rh oden.html http://o.seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/thehotstonelea gue/2013789662_mlb_has_had_one_sub-500_playof.html
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