What is the Lowest Score in NFL History? Pre and Post-Merger Records

In an era dominated by dynamic offenses and quarterback-centric view of football, games typically see more points on the board. However, as we saw in Week 14 of the 2023-24 season, scores are not always guaranteed. Therefore, we pose the question – what is the lowest score in NFL history?

What is the Lowest Score in NFL History?

It is worth noting that the lowest score in NFL history has been matched a total of six times in the post-merger era.

The most recent occurrence of this came, as mentioned, in Week 14 of the current NFL season, when the Minnesota Vikings and Las Vegas Raiders – both of whom are out of the playoff picture –  played out the dampest of squibs in a 3-0 contest.

It wasn’t until the latter stages of the fourth quarter that the Vikings managed to break the deadlock, albeit with a field goal from Nick Mullens. The eventual match-winner was introduced from the bench after starting signal caller Joshua Dobbs threw for just 63 yards; his opposition counterpart didn’t fare much better with just 142 yards.

In a landscape saturated with pass-orientated schemes and refereeing that lends itself to offensive plays, this season has bucked the trend of rising scorelines. We were reminded of this in the regular season climax, as the Buccaneers only managed to put up nine points against the NFL’s worst team of 2023 – the 2-15 Panthers – who also drew blank.

Typically, low scoring contests arise as a result of offensive injuries, or in the case of Week 18, when teams rest key players with a view to safeguarding their postseason prospects.

Lowest Scoring NFL Games Since 1970 Merger

As mentioned, the lowest scoring NFL game since the NFL and AFL merger in 1970 is 3-0, occurring a total of six times since then.

As you will find below, it is interesting to note that until this year, that feat had not been repeated for 16 years since a deluge at Heinz Field (now the Acrisure Stadium) saw the Pittsburgh Steelers – who are missing sack leader T.J. Watt for their Wild Card game – and Miami Dolphins play out what has now been coined as the ‘Mud Bowl.’

Jeff Reed wins the Mud Bowl against the Dolphins on Monday Night Football in 2007. #Steelers #NFL pic.twitter.com/8RCddZ6McA

— Steelers Depot 7⃣ (@Steelersdepot) October 23, 2022

Find each of the seven 3-0 scorelines since 1970 below.

Pre-merger, low-scoring NFL games were much more common. In fact, starting from the league’s inception in 1920, there were a total of 46 games with exactly three points over the next 50 years.

However, an even more popular scoreline in the NFL/AFL era was a scoreless stalemate, which occurred an astonishing 73 times – the last of which came in November 1943 when the Lions drew with the Giants at Briggs Stadium.

Sandwiched in between the ‘0-0’ and ‘3-0’ scorelines is, of course, the infamous ‘2-0.’ This is an incredibly rare occurrence that has only happened five times across the 124-year history of the NFL.

This is only achieved through a safety score, the last of which came all the way back in 1938.