Ranking All 32 NFL Franchises Since 2000 Using Advanced Analytics

Outside of those with a pure hatred for the New England Patriots, I'm sure we could agree they're the best team in the NFL in the last 10-plus years or so. After them, we have an idea of which teams make up that next echelon of success. And, the teams at the bottom, they're probably the easiest to point out.

But, do we determine all this based on championships, or lack thereof? Or is it by playoff appearances and wins? Maybe even regular season wins?

No matter which way you try to slice it, there usually isn't one certain way to determine "best of the rest" and the "worst of the bottom feeders." Enter our problem-solving nERD metric to help figure it out.

If you're new to nERD, it is a calculation of how good a team really is, based on expected point differential against a league-average team. If a team possesses a nERD rating of 10, that means that we would expect them to win by 10 points against a league-average opponent, or one with a nERD of 0.

We have labeled each team with a nERD score back to the 2000-01 season, and after summing the total of all 17 seasons, that has allowed us to rank each franchise using the nERD accumulated since the turn of the century.

Beginning with 32 and ending with the NFL's best team, according to advanced analytics, here's how things shook out.