# Really stupid football standings question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-stupid-football-standings-question/127718>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [September 9, 2002, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-stupid-football-standings-question/127718 "2002-09-09T21:49:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\
**Post date:** [September 9, 2002, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-stupid-football-standings-question/127718/1 "2002-09-09T21:49:36Z")

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I don’t follow football (or any other “professional” sports), but I am curious about the following scenario:

Since a football game COULD end in a tie, what would happen in the severely unlikely event that EVERY game in the season ended in a tie AND each game ended in a 0-0 score? Every team’s standing would be 0-0-16. How would the playoffs be determined without points for and against to go by?

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**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:** [September 9, 2002, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-stupid-football-standings-question/127718/2 "2002-09-09T22:00:55Z")

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I think at that point you cancel the playoffs and start over next year.

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**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:** [September 9, 2002, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/really-stupid-football-standings-question/127718/3 "2002-09-09T22:04:56Z")

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Of course I had to look it up. From [nfl.com](http://www.nfl.com/news/981202ties.html):

> [@](#):
>
> Three or More Clubs  
> (Note: If two clubs remain tied after third or other clubs are eliminated, tie breaker reverts to step 1 of applicable two-club format.)
> 
> 1. Apply division tie breaker to eliminate all but the highest ranked club in each division prior to proceeding to step 2. The original seeding within a division upon application of the division tie breaker remains the same for all subsequent applications of the procedure that are necessary to identify the three Wild-Card participants.
> 2. Head-to-head sweep. (Applicable only if one club has defeated each of the others or if one club has lost to each of the others.)
> 3. Best won-lost-tied percentage in games played within the conference.
> 4. Best won-lost-tied percentage in common games, minimum of four.
> 5. Strength of victory.
> 6. Strength of schedule.
> 7. Best combined ranking among conference teams in points scored and points allowed.
> 8. Best combined ranking among all teams in points scored and points allowed.
> 9. Best net points in conference games.
> 10. Best net points in all games.
> 11. Best net touchdowns in all games.
> 12. Coin toss

So it’d go down to a coin toss across the board. How they would determine who gets to choose heads or tails is an exercise left to the reader.