Ralph Vacchiano
NFL Reporter
The 1972 Miami Dolphins know that at some point, every year, they’ll get to pop their champagne. The fall of the NFL’s last unbeaten team each season has become inevitable.
Sometimes it takes a while, like in 2007 when the New England Patriots’ first loss came in Super Bowl XLVI. And sometimes the celebration starts early, like in 2010 and 2014 when every NFL team had at least one loss by Week 4.
But the party has been thrown for 52 straight years. The only mystery is when the last unbeaten will fall and who it will be.
On average, the longest undefeated season spans eight games in the Super Bowl era. No team has achieved that distinction more than the Rams — an astonishing nine times in 59 years. The Chiefs and Vikings have been the last unbeaten six times apiece and the Colts and Eagles five. All but six of the 32 franchises — the Jets, Jaguars, Browns, Texans, Seahawks and Ravens — have been the league’s last unbeaten standing at least once.
With the recent release of the NFL schedule, we examined every slate to see which teams were best positioned to possibly go unbeaten and predict who will be the last unbeaten in 2025.
Week 1
What a great week this is for crushing dreams and causing fan bases to wildly overreact. Best of all, after a summer of feel-good stories and reminders that everyone is still undefeated, it’ll only take a few hours for reality to slam half the league in the face.
Most of the opening games figure to be chalky. But anyone who has ever entered a “survivor pool” knows there will be at least one big shocker. The pick here is for the Cleveland Browns, the kings of false hope, to edge out one of the NFL’s most notorious slow starters, the Cincinnati Bengals (the Bengals will bounce back, of course, starting somewhere around Week 3 or 4).
Oh, and the hard-luck loser of the week will be the Buffalo Bills, a serious Super Bowl contender who’ll get knocked off at home by the Baltimore Ravens — another serious contender led by the quarterback who should’ve won the MVP last year.
Remaining unbeatens (16): Eagles, Chiefs, Falcons, Browns, Colts, Jaguars, Patriots, Cardinals, Steelers, Commanders, Broncos, 49ers, Packers, Rams, Ravens, Vikings (all 1-0)
The Bills eliminated the Ravens from the playoffs last season. Will Baltimore get revenge in Week 1? (Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images)
Week 2
The undefeated list can thin out fast because, with 16 teams at 1-0, there’ll be a lot of battles of the unbeatens in Week 2. In fact, there are five such games in this case. Meanwhile, four other unbeaten teams have to play on the road. That’s where the unbeaten dream will die hard for the upstart Browns in Baltimore, for example.
The defending Super Bowl champion Eagles are the hard-luck team of this week, with the rematch of their Super blowout of the Chiefs taking place in Kansas City. The Jaguars, meanwhile, are lucky they get to go to Cincinnati early. And the Steelers stay perfect, though it’s worth noting this prediction only counts if Aaron Rodgers, and not Mason Rudolph, is at their helm.
Remaining unbeatens (10): Packers, Ravens, Jaguars, 49ers, Steelers, Rams, Cardinals, Broncos, Chiefs, Vikings (all 2-0)
Week 3
This week’s hard-luck team is the Rams, who not only get the champs coming off a loss, but they also go to Philly where they’ll learn that snow wasn’t why they lost there in the divisional round last year.
Meanwhile, the Bengals wake up just in time to go to Minnesota and hand the Vikings their first loss. And in the unbeaten battle of the week, the Cardinals’ revived defense makes a statement in San Francisco that there might just be a new power in the NFC West.
Remaining unbeatens (5): Packers, Steelers, Cardinals, Chiefs, Ravens (all 3-0)
Will Aaron Rodgers sign with the Steelers? If so, Pittsburgh has the type of schedule that could lead to a strong start. (Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images)
Week 4
Didn’t the Super Bowl feel like a changing of the guard, as if the Chiefs’ dynasty was finally crashing to an end? Well, if it did, this will feel like someone slamming their championship window shut.
The Chiefs were the last unbeaten standing last year, losing in Week 10. They’ve been the last unbeaten twice in the past eight years, and six times in the past 29 years — more than any other franchise in that span. But after making the final five this year, they fall at home this week to the Ravens, the team that’s the biggest threat to their AFC crown.
Meanwhile, in Pittsburgh, Week 4 feels like the perfect time for Aaron Rodgers to start showing his age, while the Vikings show everyone what he can’t admit: that they’re better off without him. And the Cards, who were the last unbeaten standing just four years ago (7-0), win their Thursday night game against the Seahawks to be the surprise entry of the final three.
Remaining unbeatens (3): Cardinals, Ravens, Packers (all 4-0)
Week 5
The Ravens (vs. the Texans) and Cardinals (vs. the Titans) have two relatively easy weeks at home, while the Packers get an early bye week. That just means a long week of obnoxious hype in Green Bay and an unwelcome early break for a team that expects their season to last a long time.
Remaining unbeatens (3): Cardinals (5-0), Ravens (5-0), Packers (4-0)
The Cardinals were the NFL’s last unbeaten in 2021, opening the season 7-0 before falling to the Packers. (Photo by Brooke Sutton/Getty Images)
Week 6
And then there were two. The Cardinals might be a pretty good offensive team and their defense should definitely be better. But it’s hard to justify keeping them in a group of the NFL’s elite for very long. Plus, going against a solid Colts team in Indianapolis is never easy, so this is where their bubble bursts.
There could be close calls this week for the Ravens (vs. the Rams) and the Packers (vs. the Bengals), but they’re both at home, so their dreams of perfection should live another day.
Remaining unbeatens (2): Ravens (6-0), Packers (5-0)
Week 7
While the Ravens rest, the Packers go to Arizona to face the upstart Cardinals. It won’t be easy, but it’s definitely winnable for a Packers team that by this point is looking like a legitimate Super Bowl threat.
Remaining unbeatens (2): Ravens, Packers (both 6-0)
The Packers have won at least 11 games in four of Matt LaFleur’s six seasons as head coach. (Kara Durrette/Getty Images)
Week 8
Two unbeatens left as the halfway point of the season is approaching? The Super Bowl hype will be off the charts. Once the Ravens win at home against the Bears and the Packers beat what’s left of Rodgers in Pittsburgh, their bandwagons will be very full. It’s really a shame they don’t play each other until Week 17. Because that really could be a Super Bowl preview.
Remaining unbeatens (2): Ravens, Packers (both 7-0)
Week 9
At this point, both the Packers and Ravens fan bases are planning trips to Santa Clara, Calif., for Super Bowl LX. And after the Ravens win in Miami and the Packers hold serve at home against the Panthers this week, the prices for the Ravens-Packers battle in Green Bay in the last weekend in December will go through the roof (along with Google searches from the Baltimore area of “how to avoid frostbite”).
Also, stories about the 1972 Dolphins will suddenly begin appearing in the Baltimore and Green Bay newspapers. And their fans stop saying “if” their team goes undefeated. Now they say “when.”
Remaining unbeatens (2): Ravens, Packers (both 8-0)
The Ravens beat the Dolphins by 37 points in their last meeting, in 2023. (Photo by Michael Owens/Getty Images)
Week 10
The Packers have only been the last unbeaten team once in the Super Bowl era — in 2011, when they started 13-0. But their schedule is just too tough for them to do it again. Their dream finally ends at home against the defending champion Eagles, probably in agonizing fashion as they fall to 8-1.
Meanwhile, one state over in Minnesota, the Ravens will surely get a scare from the Vikings. But when they survive, they will be the last unbeaten team left in the NFL for the first time in their history (though their history only began in 1996).
Remaining unbeatens (1): Ravens (9-0)
Week 11
The Ravens will be the 77th team in 59 Super Bowl-era seasons to be part of the last group standing with an unbeaten record, and the 47th team to be standing alone.
Here’s the bad news: 11 of those 77 teams ended up missing the playoffs, though most of those teams had their streaks snapped by Week 6. Ominously, the lone exception was the last Baltimore team to do it — the Baltimore Colts in 1967. That team started 11-0-1, but they missed the postseason when they lost their season finale (and the division title) to the Los Angeles Rams.
The good news? Thirty of the 77 “last unbeatens” have reached the Super Bowl — almost 40% — though only 12 of them actually went on to win it.
Oh, the Ravens are in Cleveland this week, where they become the 16th team in the Super Bowl era to take their season-opening win streak into double digits.
Remaining unbeatens (1): Ravens (10-0)
The Browns have won two of the past three meetings with the Ravens. (Photo by Scott Taetsch/Getty Images)
Week 12
The NFL schedule makers must have planned for this, right? Because it’s just too perfect. As soon as all the other unbeaten teams drop out, the Ravens get back-to-back games against the Browns and the Jets? Is there a better way to guarantee that the unbeaten hype will continue for a few extra weeks?
And by now, everyone in the national media will be covering the Ravens, who become the 14th team in NFL history to start at least 11-0. Eight of those teams reached the Super Bowl. And the 1972 Dolphins, 1985 Bears, 1991 Redskins and 1998 Broncos all ended up as Super Bowl champs.
Remaining unbeatens (1): Ravens (11-0)
Week 13
Now the whole world will be watching. The undefeated Ravens, newly installed Super Bowl favorites, with a quarterback and running back competing for NFL MVP, playing in a stand-alone, nationally televised game against the divisional-rival Bengals on Thanksgiving night. And it will surely be a record-setting ratings bonanza, too.
But the pressure, the scrutiny, and the short week will all just be too much, even in front of their own, frenzied fans. They’ll find out what so many others have learned: The chase for perfection can become a burden. Also, by this point in the season, the Bengals are scrambling to make up for their slow start, which won’t help.
So, all good things must come to an end, and here’s where they do for the Ravens, with the best start to a season in their history and their second-longest win streak ever. They’ll be 11-1 and still in command of both the AFC North and the entire AFC.
Now, all they have to do is something they haven’t had to do all season: figure out a way to bounce back off a loss.
Pop your champagne corks, ’72 Dolphins.
In 2013, President Barack Obama hosted the undefeated 1972 Super Bowl champions who didn’t get the chance to be honored at the White House back then. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Ralph Vacchiano is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He spent the previous six years covering the Giants and Jets for SNY TV in New York, and before that, 16 years covering the Giants and the NFL for the New York Daily News. Follow him on Twitter at @RalphVacchiano.
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