NFL History: Ranking the 30 best wild card teams in NFL history

Ranking the 30 best wild card teams in NFL history: 14. 1978 Houston Oilers

The first year of Earl Campbell was all we needed to see that this guy was going to be special. He ran for 1,450 yards while winning the Offensive Rookie of the Year Award and Offensive Player of the Year Award simultaneously. Campbell was the straw that stirred the drink in Houston, and fans were salivating at what was to come.

There were a lot of marquee wins this season. They beat the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday Night Football at Three Rivers Stadium. They went 10 and 6 to make the playoffs as a wild card.

In the first round, they were expected to lose to the Miami Dolphins. They were lacking the experience the Dolphins brought to the table, and Campbell had to have been tired from running all the time. After trading 13-yard touchdown passes in the first quarter, nobody scored until the fourth quarter. The Dolphins were still unable to get any offensive points the rest of the game, and the Oilers came out with the upset.

The next week, they went into New England to face the Patriots. Of course, this wasn’t the Patriots team of this generation, but New England isn’t exactly an easy place to play in January for a Texas-based team. Mike Barber caught a pair of second-quarter touchdowns, and the Patriots were never able to recover.

The Oilers would face the Steelers in the AFC Championship, the first time the Oilers made the AFC Championship game in franchise history. The moment was a little too much, and the Steelers put a stomping on Houston. Still, the run was a ton of fun and it set the foundation for a fun decade of football in Houston.