If you look up the rankings for ‘total defense’ in the NFL you will find that teams are listed according to total yards allowed. While most people would agree that this is an important statistic for measuring a defense’s ability to contain the opposing team, there are four other categories that could be also taken into consideration to come up with a combined rank for all five areas that would provide a better measurement of a team’s actual performance.

The following is a breakdown of the top five defenses in the NFL last season in terms of total yards allowed along with their statistics for average points allowed, third-down percentage, penalty yards and take-aways. In the end, this analysis should paint a pretty clear picture of which team truly had the best defense in the NFL for the 2012 regular season.

TOTAL YARDS ALLOWED PER GAME

1) Pittsburgh Steelers - 275.8

2) Denver Broncos - 290.8

3) San Francisco 49ers - 294.4

4) Seattle Seahawks - 306.2

5) Chicago Bears - 315.6

This is still the primary standard by which all defenses are measured and all five of these teams did an excellent job of making life miserable for offensive coordinators throughout the league.

The Steelers clearly were the ‘best of the best’ in this category, but what made all these defenses so tough to move the ball against this season was their ability to successfully defend against both the pass and the run. This was demonstrated by the tremendous balance between the average yards allowed in each of the two categories. The Bears gave-up the most yards against the pass of the five teams on this list at 213.9 a game and Seattle has the highest average of rushing yards allowed at 103.1.

AVERAGE POINTS ALLOWED PER GAME

1) Seattle - 15.3

2) San Francisco - 17.1

3) Chicago - 17.3

4) Denver - 18.1

5) Pittsburgh - 19.6

The bottom-line job of any defense is to keep opposing teams out of the end zone and off the scoreboard altogether. Anytime a defense can hold its opponent to under 20 points, that team is usually going to have a good chance to win the game even if its offense is not firing on all cylinders.

It is easy to see why Denver went 13-3 this past season to earn the No.1 seed in the AFC when you combine its 18.1 points a game allowed with an offense that was ranked second in the league in scoring with an average of 30.1 points a game.

THIRD DOWN CONVERSIONS

1) Denver - 30.6

2) San Francisco - 33.0

3) Pittsburgh - 35.4

4) Chicago - 35.5

5) Seattle - 38.4

The easiest way to keep teams out of the end zone is stopping drives dead in their tracks on third down. One of the most important traits of an all-around solid defense is the ability to quickly get off the field by not letting your opponents get a fresh set of downs. There is nothing more motivating to a defense then forcing its opponent to bring a kicker out on the field; preferably the punter but sometimes even a field goal kicker in certain circumstances.

With the exception of the Seahawks, the first four teams on this list were among the best in the business when it came to preventing third-down conversions. Denver actually led the league in this category at 30.6 percent and Arizona and Houston were the only other teams listed in the top six.

TOTAL PENALTIES AND PENALTY YARDS

1) Chicago- 78/704

2) San Francisco- 93/758

3) Pittsburgh- 100/882

4) Seattle- 102/902

5) Denver- 123/951

How many times during the course of the regular season do you see a team’s defense come up with a huge stop on third down, only to have it waved off as a result of a stupid penalty. On the defensive side of the ball, these kinds of mistakes can be extremely costly anytime during the game especially when they move the ball downfield in bunches as is the case with pass interference or unsportsman like conduct after the play.

Limiting costly penalties is all a matter of coaching and discipline. Loose cannons on this side of the ball are often known for coming up with big plays now and then, but too often they gain their reputation for taking bone-headed penalties at the worst possible time. You can rest assured that none of the defenses on this list have too many players like that on its roster.

TOTAL TAKEAWAYS

1) Chicago - 44

2) Seattle - 31

3) San Francisco - 25

4) Denver - 24

5) Pittsburgh - 20

This should probably be considered the most important statistic when it comes to evaluating the top defenses in the NFL. Chicago raced out to a 7-1 start last season behind a relentless defense that was able to create turnovers in bunches. The Bears were far and away the top team in this category, but the fact that they did not even make the playoffs somewhat diminishes just how good a job they did.

On the other hand, Seattle can probably attribute much of its incredible run all the way to the Divisional Round of the postseason to its defense’s ability to come up with a crucial take-away when the team needed it the most. The take-way remains the biggest game-changing play in the sport and creating them is a vital component of any successful defensive game plan.

OVERALL RANK BY LOWEST IN ALL FIVE CATEGORIES

1) San Francisco - 12

2) Chicago - 14

3) Denver - 16

4) Seattle - 16

5) Pittsburgh - 17

All five of these defenses proved that they belong on this list by their combined performance in each of these categories. The 49ers proved they were the ‘best of the best’ of this elite group by ranking no higher than third in any of the five categories which is a sign of an extremely talented and well-coached squad. Over the course of last season, San Francisco consistently proved that it was the complete package on this side of the ball.



See the Top 5 Offenses of the 2012 NFL Season.



