sports

The Biggest Blowouts in NFL Playoff History

Getty Images

Published May 28, 2024

The common image of an NFL Playoff game is of a tight battle between closely matched teams that goes down to the wire—and is described with about as many clichés as you can imagine. Usually, this is an accurate expectation.

Sometimes, however, one team has got everything clicking and the other team just can't get things going. It's possible, in fact, that once a blowout starts in a playoff game, things are even more likely to get out of hand. After all, the season is suddenly over for the team on the wrong side of the scoreboad—what's the point in even trying to make things respectable at that point?

We have researched the biggest margins of victory in the NFL Playoffs and can now present to you, in descending order, the 10 biggest blowouts in NFL Playoff history (since the 1970 merger with the AFL, which is when the sport began to look like it does today).

All stats and info from NFL.com.

9. (tie) Patriots 45, Colts 7, 2014 AFC Championship (38 Points)

Getty Images

When the Patriots came into this game against the upstart Colts and quarterback Andrew Luck, Tom Brady and Co. hadn't won a Super Bowl in a decade (thanks in part to two SB losses to the Giants, natch), and they were hungry. Given all that, and the cold and rainy weather in Foxboro, is it any shock the Colts were never in this one?

9. (tie) Cowboys 38, Buccaneers 0, 1981 NFC Divisional Round (38 points)

Getty Images

The Buccaneers franchise had only been around for five years when they headed to Dallas for this high-profile matchup with "America's Team." Needless to say, Tampa Bay was not ready for all this (even if their uniforms were sick.)

6. (tie) Jets 41, Colts 0, 2002 AFC Wild Card (41 points)

Getty Images

The Herm Edwards-led Jets gave it all they had to get in the 2002 postseason and they made the most of their first game once they did, overwhelming the Colts in front of a raucous crowd at Giants Stadium that was extra fired up by Sopranos' star Jamie-Lynn Sigler singing the national anthem.

6. (tie) Giants 41, Vikings 0, 2000 NFC Championship (41 points)

Getty Images

The Giants completed the magical portion of a shockingly good 2000 season with this destruction of the Vikings in the NFC Championship. Sadly, the GMen lost by almost as ugly a margin when they met the Ravens in Super Bowl XXXV two weeks later.

6. (tie) 49ers 44, Giants 3, 1993 NFC Divisional Round (41 points)

Getty Images

Niners' running back Ricky Watters (above) ran wild in this one, going for an NFL postseason-record five touchdowns as San Francisco won going away.

5. Redskins 51, Rams 7, 1983 NFC Divisional Round (44 points)

Getty Images

The team now known as the Commanders was once one of the best in the NFL, as they proved during this shellacking of the Rams a couple weeks before they defeated the Dolphins to win Super Bowl XVII.

4. 49ers 55, Broncos 10, 1989 Super Bowl (45 points)

Getty Images

Still the highest-scoring performance, and by far the biggest margin of victory, in the history of the Super Bowl, this destruction in New Orleans gave the 49ers franchise its fourth Super Bowl title and cemented San Francisco as one of the greatest franchises in the history of the sport.

3. Giants 49, 49ers 3, 1986 NFC Divisional Round (46 points)

Getty Images

The 1986 Giants, led by coach Bill Parcells, were on a mission all season long and this game, the team's first postseason matchup, showed just how serious they were. Sure enough, the Giants went on to rout the Redskins in the NFC Championship and then the Broncos in Super Bowl XX to take their first-ever SB victory.

2. Bills 51, Raiders 3, 1990 AFC Championship (48 points)

Getty Images

This dominant performance launched the Bills, who were loaded on both sides of the ball, into the first of four straight Super Bowls. Just don't ask folks in Western New York how those games turned out...

1. Jaguars 62, Dolphins 7, 1999 AFC Divisional Round (55 points)

Getty Images

Shout out to the then-young Jaguars franchise for a record-setting blowout that will probably be on—if not at the top of—lists like this for eternity. But does any NFL fan what this game is really known for...in a sad way? It was the last game of Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Marino, who many observers believe is the greatest pure passer in the history of the sport. Not the way he should have gone out...

Did you like this article?

Liked

Disliked