(Bill Kostroun/AP)
The Atlanta Falcons scored two points in Sunday's wild-card loss to the New York Giants. How rare is it for a team to only score a safety in a game? Shutdown Corner looks back at the unusual history of the two-point finish.
• Atlanta's two-point total was the first such score in NFL playoff history and only the seventh in any game since the AFL-NFL merger.
• It was the first time a team's safety was its only score since 1993 when the Cincinnati Bengals lost to the New England Patriots, 7-2.
• Only 34 other times in NFL history has a team scored a total of two points in a game. Most of those games took place before 1940. In five of them, the winning team scored two points. The first 2-0 game was between the Akron Pros and Buffalo All-Americans. The final time it happened, in 1938, the teams were slightly better known: The Chicago Bears defeated the Green Bay Packers, 2-0.
[ Recap: Giants dominate Falcons in wild-card showdown ]
• The highest-scoring two-point game was in 1972. The San Francisco 49ers defeated the New Orleans Saints, 37-2.
• The 1922 Chicago Cardinals scored four points in a loss to the Racine Legion. It was the only such point total in the record books.
• Only one two-point score has been duplicated in modern NFL history. In 1972, the Steelers beat the Chargers 24-2. Eight years later, New England beat Buffalo by the same score. The final in Sunday's wild-card game? 24-2.
Thanks to Pro-Football-Reference for its invaluable (and endlessly fascinating) game score page.
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