If you want to be successful in the NFL, there's one thing your team needs more than anything else – stability.
Yes, in the salary cap era, it is possible for a team to buy a championship, and the key word there is "a." Often the big free agency signings or trades come at the price of mortgaging the future for a Vince Lombardi Trophy today. However, if your team wants a chance at multiple Super Bowls, then there's only one way to go about it.
Introducing The NFL Stability Index
Here at Rotowire, which has compiled the best sportsbook promos, we came up with an index to determine what teams have been the most stable over the past 15 years (the 2010 to 2024 NFL seasons). Now, are these the most stable for 2025? No, but apart from a couple of teams, those in the top 10 rank among the favorites to contend for a Super Bowl trophy for this season.
And beyond.
We looked at four factors to develop our index. The first was the number of starting quarterbacks the team has employed over the past 15 seasons. The fewer the better. Now, a successful team might sit its starting QB late in a season if they've already locked up a playoff spot (as 2025 fantasy football players well know) and backup signalcallers may change over time. However, teams that change in midseason once or more under center aren't likely to demonstrate stability.
Similarly, we looked at the number of head coaches a team has employed. We counted only permanent hires; most interim coaches are just propped up to ride out the remaining few weeks of a season before the team finds a new leader. Including interims would not factor into a franchise's stability, it only shows the team wants to get a head start on finding the next new coach.
Then, of course, there's winning. Franchise stability isn't just about keeping the same coaches and quarterbacks. It's also about having a front office that knows when the time is right to make a change and picking the replacements to keep everything going smoothly and maintain a winning product.
There was some discussion about using playoff appearances over playoff wins, but if the goal is to win a Super Bowl, then just making the postseason is not enough. You need to win there and beat the Super Bowl odds.
So with that, here's the index. The lower the score, the better.
NFL Stability Index: Most Stable NFL Teams
Rank | Team | Total Score |
1 | Green Bay Packers | 15.5 |
2 | New England Patriots | 18 |
3 | Seattle Seahawks | 18.5 |
4 | Baltimore Ravens | 20.5 |
5 | Kansas City Chiefs | 22 |
6 | Pittsburgh Steelers | 34 |
7 | Philadelphia Eagles | 40 |
8 | Cincinnati Bengals | 40.5 |
9 | New Orleans Saints | 47.5 |
10 | Buffalo Bills | 49 |
11 | Atlanta Falcons | 51.5 |
T12 | Dallas Cowboys | 53.5 |
T12 | San Francisco 49ers | 53.5 |
14 | Los Angeles Rams | 56 |
15 | Detroit Lions | 62.5 |
16 | Los Angeles Chargers | 66.5 |
17 | Tampa Bay Buccaneers | 68.5 |
T18 | Indianapolis Colts | 75.5 |
T18 | New York Giants | 75.5 |
20 | Minnesota Vikings | 76 |
21 | Houston Texans | 80.5 |
22 | Denver Broncos | 81 |
23 | Carolina Panthers | 87 |
24 | New York Jets | 89.5 |
25 | Miami Dolphins | 94 |
26 | Washington Commanders | 96 |
27 | Tennessee Titans | 98.5 |
28 | Arizona Cardinals | 99.5 |
29 | Jacksonville Jaguars | 101 |
30 | Chicago Bears | 106.5 |
31 | Las Vegas Raiders | 111 |
32 | Cleveland Browns | 123 |
This analysis is exclusive to RotoWire.com, where information about the best sports betting sites is always within reach.
The top seven teams account for 11 of the 15 Super Bowl winners since 2010, and both the No. 6 Steelers and No. 8 Bengals have made the big game once in that span. As for the other two, the Saints won the Super Bowl for the 2009 season, and the Buffalo Bills have lost to the eventual AFC champion in each of the past five seasons.
Now, in future years, we're likely to see the Patriots and Saints fall down the list, and perhaps the Steelers, too, as these teams manage a rebuild. However, if there's stability in the front office, then that's likely to lead to a shorter turnaround.
Titletown Is Stabletown
The Green Bay Packers have just one Lombardi Trophy over the past 15 years, in the 2010 season, but no other franchise has been as stable for the past 15 years. Heck, perhaps the past 35 years.
The franchise in the NFL's smallest market has reached the postseason 12 times and made the NFC Championship Game five times since 2010. The Packers are the only team to rank in the top five in each category. Green Bay comes in fourth for fewest starting quarterbacks (seven), tied for third for fewest head coaches (two), third in regular season winning percentage (.643) and fourth in playoff wins (12).
Considering that Jordan Love appears to be the answer in Green Bay, just as Aaron Rodgers was to Brett Farve, it's likely the Packers will stay at or near the top of NFL odds for years to come.
Instability In Cleveland
As the bird flies, Cleveland is about 380 miles from Green Bay. In terms of NFL franchises, the distance is much, much further than that.
You could call the Browns the Bizarro Packers. They fell into the bottom five in every category that we tracked. They and the Raiders tied for last with seven head coaches. Their .338 winning percentage only topped the Jaguars. Their one playoff victory in the past 15 years ties them for 28th in the league with the Bears and Cardinals. Only the Raiders and Dolphins have zero playoff wins since 2010. Will these trends continue for these fans and NFL betting in 2025?
What truly sets Cleveland apart, in a bad way, is its quarterback situation. The 26 starting signalcallers for the Browns in the past 15 years is by far the most (or worst) in the NFL since 2010. The Bears, Commanders and Colts were tied for 29th with 18 each.
That list should only get longer this season as the Browns have Dillon Gabriel, Shedeur Sanders, Kenny Pickett and Tyler Huntley are all in training camp, along with 2023 season savior Joe Flacco, vying for the starting job. Browns fans with the jerseys showing every QB since the teams return in 1999 likely need to make room for a couple more nameplates this season.
Other Teams To Note
The Seahawks coming in at No. 3 might be a surprise to some. But the franchise has at least seven wins in each season since 2010 and Pete Carroll had a long stay as coach in the Pacific Northwest. Now that Carroll is in Las Vegas, can he turn around the Raiders, the second-least stable franchise in the league? Caesars Sportsbook lists the Raiders at +310 odds to make the playoffs this season and -400 odds to miss.
Most of the top 10 teams were in the top 10 across the board. Notable exceptions included the Chargers, who had the fewest starting quarterbacks (four) but ranked in the bottom half in the other categories, and the 49ers, who had the third-most playoff wins (13) but had just as many quarterbacks (tied for 15th with the Bills and Cowboys) and five head coaches (tied for 19th).
Cincinnati coming in at No. 8 may also open some eyes. The Bengals have the worst winning percentage (.504) and, along with the Steelers and Saints, have the fewest postseason wins (five) of any top-10 team. Their score is supported by having only eight starting quarterbacks since 2010 (tied with the Buccaneers for sixth) and being tied for third with the Seahawks, Packers and Patriots with only two head coaches during that time.
One could argue that the Bengals' ownership might be more complacent than stable, with the back-to-back playoff runs after the 2021 and 2022 seasons a key reason why they're ahead of other teams. That said, Cincinnati also has had nine winning seasons and reached the playoffs seven times since 2010. Several fan bases wish their teams could duplicate that.
The Bengals are among the most talented teams in the league, especially on offense, and could make a run at a second Super Bowl appearance in five years. At bet365 Sportsbook, the Bengals have +2200 odds, as of Aug. 14, to capture their first Lombardi Trophy in February. They also could miss the postseason for a third straight year, which would lead to additional calls to fire coach Zac Taylor.
Should Cincinnati miss the playoffs, then we're likely to get the answer if the Bengals are stable or complacent.
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