The 1999 Rams weren’t a fluke. They were a shocking team that went from terrible to excellent overnight, but their success in 2000 and 2001 proved that the team wasn’t a fluke.

The 2015 Panthers? That may be a different story. In 2014, Carolina went 7-8-1, before winning 7.5 more games (counting a tie as half a win) in 2015 as part of a magical 15-1 season. Last year, Carolina’s win total dropped by 9 games to 6-10. That means the Panthers 2015 season was, on average, 8.25 wins better than how the team performed in the two surrounding years.

How does that stack up among all teams since the merger? Well, it’s the second biggest outlier since 1970. Can you guess the first?

Trivia hint 1 SelectShow> This team went from 5-11, to 13-3, and back down to 4-12. Like Ron Rivera , this team had the same head coach for all three years and he won Coach of the Year in the middle season.

Trivia hint 2 SelectShow> In the 13-3 season, this team lost in the second round of the playoffs against a team with Rivera as linebackers coach.

Trivia hint 3 SelectShow> The team’s top quarterback went 11-2 that season. The rest of his career, he went 4-10.

The third team, after the 2014-2016 Panthers, with the biggest swing? The 1997-1999 Falcons, who went from 7-9 to 14-2 to 5-11, for an average drop of 8.0 wins. The table below shows the teams since 1970 to have one positive outlier season that produced an average of 6.0 wins (after pro-rating for non-16 game seasons) more than in the year before and year after:

Rk Team Year N N-1 W% Yr N W% N+ W% Avg Win Change 1 Chicago Bears 2001 0.313 0.813 0.250 8.50 2 Carolina Panthers 2015 0.469 0.938 0.375 8.25 3 Atlanta Falcons 1998 0.438 0.875 0.313 8.00 4 Baltimore Ravens 2006 0.375 0.813 0.313 7.50 5 San Francisco 49ers 1981 0.375 0.813 0.333 7.33 6 Miami Dolphins 2008 0.063 0.688 0.438 7.00 9.5 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2010 0.188 0.625 0.250 6.50 9.5 Tampa Bay Buccaneers 2005 0.313 0.688 0.250 6.50 9.5 Pittsburgh Steelers 2004 0.375 0.938 0.688 6.50 9.5 Indianapolis Colts 1999 0.188 0.813 0.625 6.50 9.5 Indianapolis Colts 1992 0.063 0.563 0.250 6.50 9.5 Detroit Lions 1991 0.375 0.750 0.313 6.50 17 Dallas Cowboys 2014 0.500 0.750 0.250 6.00 17 Washington Redskins 2012 0.313 0.625 0.188 6.00 17 Atlanta Falcons 2012 0.625 0.813 0.250 6.00 17 Houston Texans 2012 0.625 0.750 0.125 6.00 17 Cleveland Browns 2007 0.250 0.625 0.250 6.00 17 Green Bay Packers 2007 0.500 0.813 0.375 6.00 17 New York Jets 2006 0.250 0.625 0.250 6.00 17 St. Louis Rams 1999 0.250 0.813 0.625 6.00 17 Houston Oilers 1993 0.625 0.750 0.125 6.00

As always, please leave your thoughts in the comments.