# In (Gridiron) Football Scores, Do All Final Digits Occur Randomly? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** football-nfl\ **Created:** [February 7, 2023, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-gridiron-football-scores-do-all-final-digits-occur-randomly/979437 "2023-02-07T16:13:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-gridiron-football-scores-do-all-final-digits-occur-randomly/979437/1 "2023-02-07T16:13:10Z")
OK, you know how your favorite bar or your buddy from work sells squares on those grids of 100 squares (0-9 on x and y axes) and if the last digit in the final score of the Super Bowl matches yours\*, you win a prize? Here’s where I’m confused. In (gridiron) football you can score 1, 2, 3, or 6 points, depending on the situation. I’m by no means a mathemetician, but this suggests to me that the final scores would tend to favor certain digits. But then again, I could be wholly wrong. That’s why I’m asking. So, [here are all the scores from every Super Bowl](http://www.espn.com/nfl/superbowl/history/winners). I have neither the time nor the wherewithal to input all of the numbers and then do some math magic to see if they all come up with the same frequency as pure chance. \*For those not familiar, imagine a 100-square grid, where the x axis represents the Chiefs, 0-9 (randomly), and the y axis represents the Eagles, 0-9 (randomly). If the final score is Chiefs 43, Eagles 32, then whoever has square 3(x), 2(y) wins. ---
**Author:** ![Jas09](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d07c76/32.png) [@Jas09](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jas09)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-gridiron-football-scores-do-all-final-digits-occur-randomly/979437/2 "2023-02-07T16:15:49Z")
Enjoy! [https://www.superbowlsquares.org/odds](https://www.superbowlsquares.org/odds) This is based on all games, not just Super Bowls. ETA: As you might imagine, 0, 3, 4, and 7 are good numbers to have. 2, 5, and 9 not so much. ETA2: Here’s the one for this year: [Super Bowl Squares Odds 2023: Best & Worst Numbers - ELDORADO](https://www.eldo.co/super-bowl-squares-odds-probabilities-best-worst-numbers.html) ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-gridiron-football-scores-do-all-final-digits-occur-randomly/979437/3 "2023-02-07T16:30:38Z")
This is why it’s important to randomize the axes AFTER the grid squares have been chosen. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-gridiron-football-scores-do-all-final-digits-occur-randomly/979437/4 "2023-02-07T16:45:10Z")
Yeah, I’ve never played squares where you knew your numbers before all the squares were sold. Else you’d never sell that 2-2 square. (Unless you came up with a formula to tie odds to the pricing of the square.) ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-gridiron-football-scores-do-all-final-digits-occur-randomly/979437/5 "2023-02-07T16:46:15Z")
On the scorigami website you can choose “show counts” to see how often certain numbers appear as final scores. Some are much more common than others. [Scorigami (nflscorigami.com)](https://nflscorigami.com/) ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-gridiron-football-scores-do-all-final-digits-occur-randomly/979437/6 "2023-02-07T17:41:08Z")
Obviously I’m not a football fan, but is 0 score that common in football? A whole hour and not even a field goal? Or is that because a 7+3 is fairly common? ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-gridiron-football-scores-do-all-final-digits-occur-randomly/979437/7 "2023-02-07T17:45:07Z")
A shutout (wherein the losing team scores zero points) happens about 2.6% of the time across all football games, according to some guy who contributed to [Quora](https://www.quora.com/How-frequent-are-shutouts-in-NFL-football#:~:text=Not%20all%20that%20frequent.,%2B%2F%2D%202.6%25%20of%20the%20time.). ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-gridiron-football-scores-do-all-final-digits-occur-randomly/979437/8 "2023-02-07T18:00:49Z")
10 is pretty common because one TD (7) and one field goal (3) are common. 20 also comes fairly often too. In contrast, 11 can only be achieved by unusual combinations of scores, such as TD + 2 and field goal, or safety and three field goals. ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-gridiron-football-scores-do-all-final-digits-occur-randomly/979437/9 "2023-02-07T18:08:11Z")
Incidentally (and because I like both math and football), Benford’s law is (un)surprisingly relevant here: > **[Benford's law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benford%27s_law)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > > > Benford's law, also known as the Newcomb–Benford law, the law of anomalous numbers, or the first-digit law, is an observation that in many real-life sets of numerical data, the leading digit is likely to be small. In sets that obey the law, the number 1 appears as the leading significant digit about 30% of the time, while 9 appears as the leading significant digit less than 5% of the time. If the digits were distributed uniformly, they would ... Though in this case, more for the trailing digit rather than leading digit. [http://clockworkchaos.com/project7/?q=superbowl-squares](http://clockworkchaos.com/project7/?q=superbowl-squares) ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-gridiron-football-scores-do-all-final-digits-occur-randomly/979437/10 "2023-02-07T19:15:58Z")
> [@zimaane](#): > > In contrast, 11 can only be achieved by unusual combinations of scores, such as TD + 2 and field goal, or safety and three field goals. This is only about the final digit in the score, so it’s only the ‘1’ that matters. 21 would be a common way to get that. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-gridiron-football-scores-do-all-final-digits-occur-randomly/979437/11 "2023-02-07T19:21:20Z")
The best grids involve adding up the digits in the score to achieve either a single digit or 10. This gives you a level of sheer randomization that final digit does not. So if the final is Eagles 35, Chiefs 21, your grid numbers are Philly 8, KC 3. It it’s Kansas City 49 Philadelphia 10, it’s KC 4 (4+9=13, then 1+3=4) Philly 0; you go 0-9, not 1-10, and treat a 10 as zero, otherwise someone getting shut out wrecks the grid, leading us to this question: > [@md-2000](#): > > Obviously I’m not a football fan, but is 0 score that common in football? A whole hour and not even a field goal? It does happen, but so far it’s never happened in a Super Bowl. The worst a team has ever done is a field goal, which has happened twice. Back before the Super Bowl, when it was just the “NFL Championship game,” it happened seven times, oddly enough, including of course the infamous 1940 game: Chicago 73, Washington 0. That’s not a typo. This has a randomization effect otherwise hard to attain in football scores. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-gridiron-football-scores-do-all-final-digits-occur-randomly/979437/12 "2023-02-07T19:42:01Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > The best grids involve adding up the digits in the score to achieve either a single digit or 10. This gives you a level of sheer randomization that final digit does not. So if the final is Eagles 35, Chiefs 21, your grid numbers are Philly 8, KC 3. It it’s Kansas City 49 Philadelphia 10, it’s KC 4 (4+9=13, then 1+3=4) Philly 0; you go 0-9, not 1-10, and treat a 10 as zero, otherwise someone getting shut out wrecks the grid, leading us to this question: Unless I’m reading this wrong, wouldn’t that mean you would (essentially) never get “1” as possible score? The only way to get an exactly 1 point score is the 1-point safety which has never occurred in the history of the NFL. ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-gridiron-football-scores-do-all-final-digits-occur-randomly/979437/13 "2023-02-07T19:52:09Z")
Or an Extra Point but without the Touchdown. Also never happened. ---
**Author:** ![slicedalone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slicedalone/32/12515_2.png) [@slicedalone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slicedalone)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-gridiron-football-scores-do-all-final-digits-occur-randomly/979437/14 "2023-02-07T20:03:00Z")
I wonder if anyone’s computed the most common score (for a single team) in NFL history, the second-most common score, etc. There are two completely different ways to figure this out, 1) the brute force method, which is to tally up each game’s score. season by season, and the theoretical method, which would be to somehow figure out what the single most score ought to be, etc. I don’t know if the theoretical method would even work, but if it does I wonder how it would align with the brute force method. Also, this would make for an interesting guessing game, assuming you could come up with an accurate declining list of scores. Which number would you guess is the most common in NFL history? I’ll guess “30.” ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-gridiron-football-scores-do-all-final-digits-occur-randomly/979437/15 "2023-02-07T20:12:55Z")
> [@slicedalone](#): > > I wonder if anyone’s computed the most common score (for a single team) in NFL history, the second-most common score, etc. One could undoubtedly derive it from the same data set that’s used in the NFLScorigami link upthread. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-gridiron-football-scores-do-all-final-digits-occur-randomly/979437/16 "2023-02-07T20:15:25Z")
From this: > **[All Game Scores in Pro Football History | Pro-Football-Reference.com](https://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/game-scores.htm)** > > All Game Scores in Pro Football History The most common winning score is 24 (1295 games) The most common losing score is 7 (1658 games) The most common score overall is 17 (2463 games) Of course, this goes back to the beginning of the NFL, which has changed a lot over the years. For example, the are 73 0-0 games in NFL history, but the last one was in 1943. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-gridiron-football-scores-do-all-final-digits-occur-randomly/979437/17 "2023-02-07T21:36:56Z")
Oh you’re right, sorry; 10s are ones (so 10, but also 19, 28, 37, 46 and 55 will give you one. All of those have actually happened in a Super Bowl.) It’s a 9-by-9 grid. Good for you knowing it’s theoretically possible to have a one point score in American football. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2023, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-gridiron-football-scores-do-all-final-digits-occur-randomly/979437/18 "2023-02-07T22:35:49Z")
[Moderating] While this question is factual, I think it’s probably a better fit for the Game Room. Moving. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2023, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-gridiron-football-scores-do-all-final-digits-occur-randomly/979437/19 "2023-02-08T03:08:42Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > The most common winning score is 24 (1295 games) > The most common losing score is 7 (1658 games) > The most common score overall is 17 (2463 games) So the final score that’s happened the most is 20-17, if I’m reading this correctly. That’s happened 282 times. And the second most common final score is 27-24, which has happened 230 times. By contrast, there are a boatload of scores (over 250!) that have occurred exactly once. Great find! ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2023, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-gridiron-football-scores-do-all-final-digits-occur-randomly/979437/20 "2023-02-08T15:32:16Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > The only way to get an exactly 1 point score is the 1-point safety which has never occurred in the history of the NFL. I’ve been a football fan all my life and I never knew about this! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-gridiron-football-scores-do-all-final-digits-occur-randomly/979437.md?page=2)