Issue #265: It’s a Hard Knock Life

By Derrick Ernst

April 05, 2026

TV

Surprisingly, I haven’t watched Hard Knocks all too much throughout my life. Not because I’m not a fan of the content (I am), but rather the Vikes have never been featured and I haven’t always had access to HBO. Most years it feels like the show comes and goes and I see a few headlines and quotes along the way like this one from Dan Campbell after DET lost a preseason game (caution, there are a few vulgarities):

"If we want to go where we want to go, we have to get all the rest of this f*****g s**t out of our stuff man. All of this dirt, everything that's in our f*****g jeans. This last bit of losing has to get out of here. The s**t that f*****g crushes us. That costs us a f*****g game. That costs you a season. Costs you the playoffs. Costs you a championship game. Costs you a Super Bowl. Like, that's the s**t we got to get out.”

I’m going to need you guys to tell me if there’s a better narrative that has been rewritten through Hard Knocks than the one for Dan Campbell. When he was hired on as HC he was talking about bitting knee caps and everyone thought he was crazy. Now he’s one of the most beloved coaches in the league. It’s hard to imagine him coaching anywhere other than DET — he fits the culture and blue collar mentality of the city. It’s actually a breath of fresh air to the rest of the league.

Hard Knocks first aired in ’01 and while it hasn’t featured a team every season since, it has made up for lost time over the past few years by running episodes in-season. We’re going to exclude those team(s) from what we look at today. I wanted to explore how well teams that have been featured in the show fared that season by way of record and production. Traditionally, I believe the show was rooted in the idea of featuring a team who was in the process of “figuring things out.” Said another way, most teams were near the bottom rung of the league at the time of filming, or at least that was my thought. Let’s see if memory served me right.

2001: Baltimore Ravens

Record: 10-6-0 (2nd in AFC Central)

Finish: Lost in AFC divisional round

Points For: 18.9/gm (ranked 18th)

Points Against: 16.6/gm (ranked 4th)

2002: Dallas Cowboys

Record: 5-11-0 (4th in NFC East)

Finish: Didn’t make playoffs

Points For: 13.6/gm (ranked 31st)

Points Against: 20.6/gm (ranked 13th)

2007: Kansas City Chiefs

Record: 4-12-0 (3rd in AFC West)

Finish: Didn’t make playoffs

Points For: 14.1/gm (ranked 31st)

Points Against: 20.9/gm (ranked 14th)

2008: Dallas Cowboys

Record: 9-7-0 (3rd in NFC East)

Finish: Didn’t make playoffs

Points For: 22.6/gm (ranked 18th)

Points Against: 22.8/gm (ranked 20th)

2009: Cincinnati Bengals

Record: 10-6-0 (1st in AFC North)

Finish: Lost in AFC wild card round

Points For: 19.1/gm (ranked 22nd)

Points Against: 18.2/gm (ranked 6th)

2010: New York Jets

Record: 11-5-0 (2nd in AFC East)

Finish: Lost AFC conference championship

Points For: 22.9/gm (ranked 13th)

Points Against: 19.0/gm (ranked 6th)

This was also the last time NYJ made the playoffs. Here’s a look at the longest playoffs droughts in the NFL. I believe NYJ’s drought is the longest across the four major sports!

Source: Facebook (NFL on FOX)

2012: Miami Dolphins

Record: 7-9-0 (2nd in AFC East)

Finish: Didn’t make playoffs

Points For: 18.0/gm (ranked 27th)

Points Against: 19.8/gm (ranked 7th)

2013: Cincinnati Bengals

Record: 11-5-0 (1st in AFC North)

Finish: Lost in AFC wild card round

Points For: 26.9/gm (ranked 6th)

Points Against: 19.1/gm (ranked 5th)

2014: Atlanta Falcons

Record: 6-10-0 (3rd in NFC South)

Finish: Didn’t make playoffs

Points For: 23.8/gm (ranked 12th)

Points Against: 26.1/gm (ranked 27th)

2015: Houston Texans

Record: 9-7-0 (1st in AFC South)

Finish: Lost in AFC wild card round

Points For: 21.2/gm (ranked 21st)

Points Against: 19.6/gm (ranked 7th)

2016: Los Angeles Rams

Record: 4-12-0 (3rd in NFC West)

Finish: Didn’t make playoffs

Points For: 14.0/gm (ranked 32nd)

Points Against: 24.6/gm (ranked 23rd)

2017: Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Record: 5-11-0 (4th in NFC South)

Finish: Didn’t make playoffs

Points For: 20.9/gm (ranked 18th)

Points Against: 23.9/gm (ranked 22nd)

2018: Cleveland Browns

Record: 7-8-1 (3rd in AFC North)

Finish: Didn’t make playoffs

Points For: 22.4/gm (ranked 20th)

Points Against: 24.5/gm (ranked 21st)

2019: Oakland Raiders

Record: 7-9-0 (3rd in AFC West)

Finish: Didn’t make playoffs

Points For: 19.6/gm (ranked 24th)

Points Against: 26.2/gm (ranked 24th)

*For the sake of room, I’m going to skip 2020 as two teams were featured: LA Rams and LA Chargers. The Rams lost in the NFC divisional round to GB, while LAC missed the playoffs after finishing the season 7-9.

2021: Dallas Cowboys

Record: 12-5-0 (3rd in AFC West)

Finish: Lost in NFC wild card round

Points For: 31.2/gm (ranked 1st)

Points Against: 21.1/gm (ranked 7th)

2022: Detroit Lions

Record: 9-8-0 (2nd in NFC North)

Finish: Didn’t make playoffs

Points For: 26.6/gm (ranked 5th)

Points Against: 25.1/gm (ranked 28th)

2023: New York Jets

Record: 7-10-0 (3rd in AFC East)

Finish: Didn’t make playoffs

Points For: 15.8/gm (ranked 29th)

Points Against: 20.9/gm (ranked 12th)

2024: Chicago Bears

Record: 5-12-0 (4th in NFC North)

Finish: Didn’t make playoffs

Points For: 18.2/gm (ranked 28th)

Points Against: 21.8/gm (ranked 13th)

2025: Buffalo Bills

Record: 12-5-0 (2nd in AFC East)

Finish: Lost in AFC divisional round

Points For: 28.3/gm (ranked 4th)

Points Against: 21.5/gm (ranked 12th)

Where does going through all of this put us?

• There have been 21 teams featured on the show during its “main” showing

• Only 8 made the playoffs that year (38%)

• 4 lost in the opening round (50%)

• The combined win/loss record of all featured teams is 167-173-1 (.490)

• Only 4 teams had a top-10 offense (19%)

• 7 teams had a top-10 defense (33%)

A few months ago we pretty much debunked the Madden curse. Albeit we’re talking teams instead of players, I’d say there’s more of Hard Knocks curse, although the show’s win/loss record isn’t as lopsided as you’d think. SEA is slated to be the featured team later this summer. There hasn’t been a great track record of the show featuring teams that made the playoffs in back-to-back seasons. With BUF making it last season, is the writing already on the wall for SEA? Maybe so.