NFL: Sportskeeda's Top 5 Teams of the Year

Modified Aug 04, 2023 07:12 GMT

4. Buffalo Bills

AFC Championship - Buffalo Bills v Kansas City Chiefs

AFC East champions, the Buffalo Bills enter the list at number 4. After dominating the AFC East, losing only three games (just one at home), and ending the regular season on a six-game winning streak, Josh Allen and the team came up just short as they went down to last year's Super Bowl champion, the Kansas City Chiefs, in the AFC Conference championship, 38-24.

Looking forward to @BuffaloBills finishing ahead of expectations 😏 https://t.co/HmRuUvtpz6
— wan-Del-vision 🦬 (@DelReid) February 8, 2021

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Bills success stories of 2020: QB Josh Allen was incredible all year and was quite rightly in the discussion for league MVP. He finished the year with 4,544-yards passing (5th in NFL), 37 TD passes (5th in NFL) and a QB rating of 81.7 (3rd in NFL). He also racked up 421 yards on the ground and 8 TDs rushing.

A big reason for Allen's success in the passing game was the great form of wideout Stefon Diggs, who joined the Bills from the Vikings during the offseason. Diggs felt underutilized in a Minnesota offense that relies heavily on star back Dalvin Cook and wasted little time in showing former coach Mike Zimmer exactly what he was missing, notching 288 yards receiving and 2 TDs by Week 3! Diggs went on to amass 1,535 yards receiving yards for the year, which led the NFL.

The Bills were also dominant in pass coverage (T-3rd in the NFL with 15 picks; T-7th best coverage grade on PFF): Tre'Davious White continued to dominate and was one of the best outside corners in the league. PFF ranks White in eighth place overall for both his coverage grade and forced incompletion rate (21.1%). Jordan Poyer and Micah Hyde proved once again to be one of the top safety combos in the league, too.

Heading into next season, the Bills could certainly look to add a more dominant power back to the offense to compliment the scantly Singletary, and if the franchise truly wants to knock the Chiefs off their perch as AFC Conference champions, they may need to strengthen the pass-rush department, too. Nonetheless, the Bills are poised and will be ready to strike back in 2021-22.

3. Kansas City Chiefs

At number 3 on the list is the Kansas City Chiefs, the AFC West division winner and AFC Conference champion.

The Chiefs may have fallen short at the final hurdle on Sunday against Tampa, but clearly the franchise still possesses one of the very best teams in the NFL, if not the best. The loss in the Super Bowl cannot overshadow the success and progress that the team has made in the past three seasons.

Chiefs success stories in 2020: Of course Patrick Mahomes continued to raise the QB bar in the NFL. The Texas Tech graduate threw for 4,740-yards (2nd in NFL), 38 TDs (T-4th in NFL), and posted a QB rating of 82.9 (2nd in NFL). Last year's Super Bowl MVP may have suffered defeat in the Chiefs' title defense on Sunday, but he did go down swinging, despite a brutal onslaught from the Tampa pass rush. Mahomes may have come up short against Brady in the Super Bowl but he's still the face of the NFL moving forward.

Then there was the dynamic receiving duo of Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill. Kelce broke the single-season record for most receiving yards ever by a tight end (1,416- yards; 1st among tight ends; 2nd among all receivers). Tyreek Hill ended the year with 1,276-yards and 15 TDs (2nd in NFL). To get the job done on Sunday, it's worth mentioning the Buccs had to double-team both players in coverage for the entirety of the contest.

The Chiefs do have a few issues to address during the offseason. It will be of some concern to coach Andy Reed that his offensive line fell apart without Eric Fisher at OT against Tampa. The signing of Le'Veon Bell from the Jets doesn't appear to have worked out (he didn't get a snap vs. the Bucs), and rookie sensation Clyde Edwards-Helaire needs support in the running back role to prevent getting burnt out/injured. And finally, the Chiefs don't seem to have a lot of quality depth at wide receiver. There were some big catches dropped on Sunday and adding some more firepower for Mahomes to aim at can only be a good thing going forward.