Well that was ugly.
By a very simple measure, Saturday’s Wild Card matchup between the Bengals and Steelers was the second ugliest playoff game in the history of the league when looking at total penalty yards. The teams accounted for a total of 221 penalty yards. Surprisingly, 142 of these came from the Steelers and “just” 79 came from the Bengals, though 30 of those 79 yards nearly single-handedly ended the Bengals’ season by putting the Steelers in easy field goal range at the end of the game.
Of course, by a more subjective measure, the game was probably the ugliest the NFL has ever seen in the playoffs. Between the rain falling for a significant part of the game, the six total turnovers, and what was frankly an unimpressive display from the offenses for the majority of the game, the league has certainly seen more aesthetically pleasing games played in January.
According to the wonderful database over at www.pro-football-reference.com, we can see that in the 447 playoff games in the NFL since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970, there are just ten games in which the teams have been penalized for a total of more than 170 yards. Sunday’s Wild Card game was only surpassed in total penalty yards by the matchup between the Eagles and Cowboys on Jan. 9, 2010. The teams combined for 228 total penalty yards and both teams were equal offenders with 116 coming from the Eagles and 112 coming from the Cowboys. The Steelers’ 142 penalty yards are also second most from a single team in the playoffs, being barely surpassed by the 145 amassed by the 49ers in a Jan. 3, 1982 matchup against the Giants.
Below is the list of the 10 most penalized games in NFL playoff history when combining the total penalty yards amassed by both teams. It’s worth noting that of the ten games below this year’s game between the Steelers and Bengals included the most penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct, roughing the passer, or unnecessary roughness (I excluded facemask penalties from this group as those types of penalties can occasionally be less intentional and thus aren’t always recognized as a dirty play). The next highest total of such penalties in a game was 3, and half of the games below had no such penalties, which can likely partially be attributed to such calls being made on a much less frequent basis than in years past.
Also worth noting is that the high penalty games also have a high number of turnovers per game, with an average of 4.6 turnovers in the games below. It would appear that ugliness begets ugliness.
2009 NFC Wild Card, Philadelphia Eagles at Dallas Cowboys
- Combined Penalty Yards: 228
- Combined Penalties: 23 (also the record – tied – for most combined penalties in a playoff game)
- Penalties for unnecessary roughness/unsportsmanlike conduct/roughing the passer: 3
- Total Turnovers: 5
2015 AFC Wild Card, Pittsburgh Steelers at Cincinnati Bengals
- Combined Penalty Yards: 221
- Combined Penalties: 18
- Penalties for unnecessary roughness for unsportsmanlike conduct: 5
- Total Turnovers: 6
1981 NFC Divisional Round, New York Giants at San Francisco 49ers
- Combined Penalty Yards: 206
- Combined Penalties: 23 (also the record – tied – for most combined penalties in a playoff game)
- Penalties for unnecessary roughness/unsportsmanlike conduct/roughing the passer: 0
- Total Turnovers: 5
1999 NFC Wild Card, Detroit Lions at Washington Redskins
- Combined Penalty Yards: 201
- Combined Penalties: 18
- Penalties for unnecessary roughness/unsportsmanlike conduct/roughing the passer: 3
- Total Turnovers: 4
1988 AFC Wild Card, Houston Oilers at Cleveland Browns
- Combined Penalty Yards: 193
- Combined Penalties: 22
- Penalties for unnecessary roughness/unsportsmanlike conduct/roughing the passer: 0
- Total Turnovers: 5
1978 AFC Divisional Round, Denver Broncos at Pittsburgh Steelers
- Combined Penalty Yards: 192
- Combined Penalties: 19
- Penalties for unnecessary roughness/unsportsmanlike conduct/roughing the passer: 0
- Total Turnovers: 4
2002 AFC Conference Championship, Tennessee Titans at Oakland Raiders
- Combined Penalty Yards: 187
- Combined Penalties: 21
- Penalties for unnecessary roughness/unsportsmanlike conduct/roughing the passer: 3
- Total Turnovers: 3
1982 NFC Wild Card, Atlanta Falcons at Minnesota Vikings
- Combined Penalty Yards: 182
- Combined Penalties: 17
- Penalties for unnecessary roughness/unsportsmanlike conduct/roughing the passer: 0
- Total Turnovers: 3
1976 AFC Divisional Round, New England Patriots at Oakland Raiders
- Combined Penalty Yards: 176
- Combined Penalties: 21
- Penalties for unnecessary roughness/unsportsmanlike conduct/roughing the passer: 0
- Total Turnovers: 4
2002 NFC Divisional Round, San Francisco 49ers at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Combined Penalty Yards: 171
- Combined Penalties: 16
- Penalties for unnecessary roughness/unsportsmanlike conduct/roughing the passer: 3
- Total Turnovers: 7