The 2018 season was the greatest offensive season in NFL history. Teams averaged a whopping 23.3 points per game, which technically ranks second behind the 2013 season (23.4). But there is no doubt that the 2018 season was the better offensive season:

In 2018, teams scored 1,286 offensive touchdowns; in 2013, teams scored 1,214 offensive touchdowns.

Field goal kickers were better 5 years ago; teams hit 863 field goals in 2013, and just 802 this season. And don’t forget about the effect of the rules changes on extra points: teams connected on 99.6% of extra points that year, compared to just 94.3% this year while kicking from much farther away. Had kickers had the same rate on extra points in 2018 as they did in 2013, the NFL would have seen 66 more points; meanwhile, teams scored just 33 more points in 2013 compared to 2018.

Teams also scored 20 special teams return touchdowns in 2013, compared to just 13 this year. In addition, teams scored a whopping 26 more touchdowns on defense (95 in 2013, 69 in 2018), and 9 other return touchdowns came in 2013, versus 4 other return touchdowns this year.

So yes, 2018 was the greatest offensive season in history, and it wasn’t particularly close. But that didn’t translate to the Wild Card round of the playoffs, where teams averaged just 18.1 points per game across four games. That’s pretty low by Wild Card round standards: take a look.

Of course, the 4 highest scoring teams of the 2018 season were all on bye this week. We’ll see how that changes in the Division Round.