NFL Point Differential for Every Team That Started 10-1

Key points

65 NFL teams have started a season 10-1. The chart ranks them by point differential after those 11 games.
The 2024 Kansas City Chiefs were +52, ranked 64th of 65. Only the 1976 Oakland Raiders, at +41, were lower.
The 1941 Chicago Bears lead at +249, followed by the 1969 Minnesota Vikings at +243.
Another 2024 team, the Detroit Lions, was 14th at +177.
The Chiefs’ 10 wins were all by 13 points or fewer, and their one loss, at Buffalo, was by 9.

NFL point differential for teams starting 10-1, in text

Title: Point differential for teams that started 10-1. Subtitle: 65 teams have started off 10-1, the 2024 Chiefs point differential of +52 is ranked 64th. The vertical axis is labelled Point differential at 10-1, from 0 to 300. Bars are grey, with the 2024 Chiefs in gold. Footer: Data from Stathead.com (Point Differential = points scored – points allowed). Credits: u/JPAnalyst, @jaydpauley on Threads, @jaydpauley.bsky.social.

Team abbreviations are as printed. CRD is the Chicago Cardinals and POT the Pottsville Maroons.

Rank	Team and season (as printed)	Point differential at 10-1
1	CHI-1941	+249
2	MIN-1969	+243
3	CHI-1948	+227
4	GB-1962	+223
5	PHI-1949	+216
6	SF-1948	+210
7	OAK-1967	+207
8	BAL-1968	+197
9	NYG-1930	+196
10	DET-1934	+185
11	PIT-1975	+183
12	NE-2019	+183
13	BAL-1964	+181
14	DET-2024	+177
15	MIA-1973	+175
16	CLE-1947	+173
17	SF-2019	+169
18	GB-1931	+167
19	CRD-1948	+166
20	MIN-1998	+164
21	CLE-1951	+164
22	JAX-1999	+162
23	MIN-1975	+161
24	PHI-2017	+160
25	PHI-1980	+157
26	NO-2018	+153
27	SF-1984	+144
28	BUF-1964	+140
29	SF-1997	+139
30	MIN-2009	+139
31	GB-1941	+138
32	DAL-2007	+137
33	NE-2015	+135
34	KC-2003	+135
35	NYG-2008	+130
36	GB-1936	+130
37	PHI-2004	+129
38	POT-1926	+128
39	SEA-2013	+127
40	WAS-1942	+125
41	DEN-1996	+121
42	WAS-1972	+119
43	NYG-1990	+118
44	HOU-2012	+116
45	DEN-1977	+116
46	NE-2004	+114
47	GB-2007	+111
48	KC-2020	+110
49	LAR-2018	+107
50	MIN-1973	+107
51	KC-1995	+104
52	BUF-1991	+104
53	DAL-2016	+103
54	NYJ-1986	+100
55	BUF-1988	+95
56	TEN-2008	+92
57	SF-1990	+91
58	PIT-2004	+88
59	PHI-2022	+87
60	ATL-2012	+78
61	DEN-1984	+77
62	IND-2006	+77
63	PHI-2023	+64
64	KC-2024	+52
65	OAK-1976	+41

Inset, Chiefs PD by game. A small bar chart breaks the 2024 Chiefs’ +52 into its 11 games:

Game	Opponent	Chiefs point differential
1	BAL	+7
2	CIN	+1
3	ATL	+5
4	LAC	+7
5	NO	+13
6	SF	+10
7	LV	+7
8	TB	+6
9	DEN	+2
10	BUF	-9
11	CAR	+3

What point differential means

Point differential is points scored minus points allowed, as the chart’s footer defines it. A team that wins 30-20 and loses 17-24 has a differential of +10 minus 7, or +3. It is often used alongside the win-loss record because it shows the margin of the wins and losses, not only their number.

The 2024 Chiefs and the 1976 Raiders

The chart’s creator, Jayd Pauley (u/JPAnalyst), posted it on r/dataisbeautiful in November 2024, after the Chiefs reached 10-1 [1]. In the thread he says the data comes from a Stathead query, the subscription tool from Pro-Football-Reference, and that he made the chart in Excel [1]. Asked why he highlighted the Chiefs rather than the Lions, he replied that being 64th of 65 was the notable part [1]. He also pointed out that the team just to the right of the Chiefs, the 1976 Oakland Raiders, won the Super Bowl [1].

Those Raiders finished the regular season 13-1 and won Super Bowl XI, beating the Minnesota Vikings 32-14 [3]. The 2024 Chiefs finished 15-2 and reached Super Bowl LIX, where they lost 40-22 to the Philadelphia Eagles [2]. Wikipedia’s season article says their full regular season point differential of +59 was the worst of any team finishing with three or fewer losses since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger, outside the strike-shortened 1982 season [2].

Notes on this infographic

Different season lengths. The list runs from 1926 to 2024. Seasons were shorter in early decades, but every value here is measured after the same 11 games.
Snapshot. The chart shows the position at 10-1 only. It does not show how each team finished.
Data source. Stathead is a paid service, so we have not been able to check every value against the original query. The Chiefs’ 11 game margins on the inset add up to the +52 shown.

Questions about NFL point differential

What is a point differential in football?

It is the number of points a team has scored minus the number it has allowed, over a game or a run of games. On this chart it is measured over the first 11 games of a season.

What was the Chiefs’ point differential in 2024?

After their 10-1 start it was +52, ranked 64th of the 65 teams that have started 10-1 [1]. They ended the regular season at 15-2 with a point differential of +59 [2].