While a large percentage of NFL success can be attributed to good coaching, game planning, and execution, there’s no denying that there is an element of luck involved in most successful seasons.

Sometimes things like a bad flag shifting a game’s dynamic, a single player making a boneheaded play can end a team’s Super Bowl hopes. But worst of all, a season-ending injury to a key player can completely destroy championship opportunities.

In order to get a view of the most injured teams over the last year, we took a look at data over the past four seasons to see what teams have placed the most players on injured reserve. We pulled individual injury data from Sportrac, and compiled it annually for all 32 teams over the last four years. Below you will see the full breakdown of how many players each team has put on IR since 2015:

NFL injuries by year by team

Here is the breakdown by team on a table for those that want to play with the numbers themselves:

(*) made playoffs this season

Team 2015 2016 2017 2018 Total Minnesota Vikings 5* 9 11* 10 35 Atlanta Falcons 13 13* 8* 10 44 Los Angeles Rams 12 12 8* 14* 46 Los Angeles Chargers 9 19 11 10* 49 Green Bay Packers 6* 7* 18 19 50 Cincinnati Bengals 6* 12 14 20 52 Philadelphia Eagles 13 8 13* 18* 52 Pittsburgh Steelers 20* 12* 9* 14 55 Houston Texans 8* 14* 19 15* 56 Tennessee Titans 11 14 17* 14 56 Dallas Cowboys 18 18* 7 13* 56 Carolina Panthers 9* 14 14* 20 57 Cleveland Browns 12 13 18 14 57 Kansas City Chiefs 13* 14* 17* 14* 58 Denver Broncos 10* 13 16 20 59 New England Patriots 17* 9* 18* 16* 60 Chicago Bears 17 18 16 9* 60 Buffalo Bills 23 19 13* 8 63 Oakland Raiders 14 15* 14 21 64 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 8 14 23 20 65 Detroit Lions 18 13* 18 17 66 San Francisco 49ers 16 13 22 19 70 Seattle Seahawks 12* 20* 20 18* 70 Baltimore Ravens 19 19 18 14* 70 Indianapolis Colts 17 13 20 22* 72 Jacksonville Jaguars 17 19 17* 21 74 Miami Dolphins 23 17* 18 17 75 New York Giants 18 17* 27 15 77 Arizona Cardinals 15* 18 26 22 81 New York Jets 20 20 23 19 82 Washington Redskins 19* 18 20 28 85 New Orleans Saints 19 31 27* 11* 88

Total NFL injuries by year (injured reserve)

Below is a total count of NFL players placed on IR league-wide: