NFL

What is the lowest scoring NFL game of all time? Has a game ever ended 0-0?

Today’s NFL is full of high powered, explosive offenses that put up astronomical points on the board, but there are still occasional one score games.

Rob CarrAFP

There is nothing better than watching a football game between two high powered offenses that light up the scoreboard, trading blows as the lead goes back and forth until the clock hits all zeros. The new aged NFL is full of offensive juggernauts that let their scoring do the talking as the defense just tries limit who much the other team gets into the end zone.

Thirteen points fewest in 2022

Think of the Kansas City Chiefs, the Buffalo Bills or the Cincinnati Bengals. These are teams that have been considered some of the best teams in the league over the last few years in the NFL, while also being some of the most entertaining.

Quarterbacks have taken control of this league, and it seems like each year defenses jobs are getting tougher and tougher. Last year the Detroit Lions and the Seattle Seahawks were locked in a Week 5 battle that ended 48-45, which tied for the 16th highest scoring game in the history of the NFL.

The lowest scoring games of last year had a grand total of 13 points. The first one came in Week 11 when the Patriots beat the Jets 10-3 in a game where no offensive touchdown were scored. The Pats ran a punt back to take the lead with 10 seconds left in the fourth quarter. The Niners beat the Saints 13-0 in the following week in another game that was a defensive clinic.

Lowest scoring games ever

As we know, the lowest scoring game possible in the NFL is 0-0 since games can end on a tie. That has yet to happen in the entire history of the NFL. If the game doesn’t end in a tie, the next lowest score is a 2-0 win in which a team would win off of a singular safety. That hasn’t happened in the NFL either.

The next lowest score, which we have seen a handful of times comes when a team kicks a field goal and shuts the other team out. There have been six different 3-0 games since the NFL merger in 1970, starting with the Vikings win over Green Bay Packers in 1971.

Since then, five games came to an end with just one field goal on the board since then, with the last one coming in November of 2007 when the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Miami Dolphins on Monday Night Football. It must have been a mix of the terrible weather and the Turkey Day hang over, but both offenses failed to enter the end zone and it took a Steelers field goal with 17 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

Before the merger there were five games that ended 2-0, but they aren’t officially counted by the NFL history books. There are plenty of purists who love watching a defensive blood bath, but for the most of us, we tune in on Sundays to watch the scoreboard light up.

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