Lions win over Cowboys is a Scorigami - What scores have never happened in the NFL?

The Detroit Lions came into AT&T Stadium and brutally defeated the Dallas Cowboys, 47-9. Not only does that score stand out for its sheer humiliation, but it also happens to be a score we’ve never seen before in the NFL. There happens to be a word for a final score that’s never occurred before in the NFL - Scorigami.

In fact, this season has already seen three Scorigamis so far! The San Francisco 49ers’ 32-19 win over the New York Jets and the New Orleans Saints’ 44-19 win over the Cowboys were also Scorigamis. The fact that the Cowboys have been blown out so badly they created a Scorigami twice this season ought to be concerning for Dallas, but I digress!

Scorigami!

Jon Bois coined the term Scorigami to describe every possible final score in an NFL game that has never occurred before.

In football, there are several ways to score points. The official scoring rules of the NFL award two points for a safety, three points for a field goal, six points for a touchdown, one extra point after a touchdown (for a total of seven), and eight points for a touchdown and two-point conversion. In 2015, a new rule allowed teams to score one point. Before this, one-point scores were impossible because extra-point plays were ruled dead, and the referees would stop the play.

Despite the various scoring possibilities, many score combinations have never occurred in NFL history. The highest possible score is considered to be 70-70. Some of the basic score combinations that have occurred are 2–2, 4–0, 4–2, 4–3, 4–4, 5–2, 5–4, 5–5, 6–4, 6–5, 7–4, 8–2, 8–4, 9–4, 11–2, and 11–4. After that, the numbers ending in digits 2, 4, 5, and 8 repeats constantly.

Impossible scores in NFL football

It is important to note that specific score outcomes are impossible due to the scoring rules in place. Specifically, results such as 1-1, 1-0, 2-1, 3-1, 4-1, 5-1, and 7-1 are not viable.

This is because a score of 5-1 can only be obtained through a field goal and a conventional safety, which is highly unlikely. Similarly, a score of 7-1 is impossible as a team can only reach 7 points by scoring a touchdown and successfully kicking a PAT.

One frequently asked question is: “Why is 6-1 not impossible?”

6 to 1 was unviable until the one-point safety was introduced in 2015. However, it’s such a rare situation under NFL rules that it likely won’t happen any time soon. For the result to be achieved, the winning team has to score a touchdown and, in the following one-point safety attempt, somehow make such a poor play that they end up getting scored against.

This outcome has never happened in the NFL and has only been seen twice in NCAA football.

Check all missing results here.