Our third NFL Thursday miniseries continues today with a look at the Philadelphia Eagles, a team born in 1933 (and part of the infamous 1943 Phi/Pitt Eagles/Steelers single-season merger). The team has won four NFL titles (1948, 1949, 1960, 2017)—the last two being rather famous. However, only one of those squads made this sabermetric list below, which only goes back to 1950 anyway, as has been our demarcation line.

Editor’s Note: With 29 postseason appearances, the Eagles have been mediocre and successful—as the franchise’s .493 overall winning percentage is very close to break-even territory.

No. 5: 1992 Philadelphia Eagles

With an 11-5 record, these Eagles finished second in the NFC East Division and qualified for the playoffs as a wild-card team. Philadelphia had the No. 5 offense, the No. 6 defense, and the No. 3 overall ranking in the SRS as well. In the first round of the postseason, the Eagles beat the New Orleans Saints on the road, but in the divisional round, Philly had to play division rival Dallas—the eventual Super Bowl champions. Ooops.

Four players stood out in Approximate Value (AV): defensive end Clyde Simmons (18), linebacker Seth Joyner (16), quarterback Randall Cunningham (15), and DE Reggie White (15). Down 20-7 in New Orleans, the Eagles scored 29 straight points in the second half to win, 36-20. Against the Cowboys, though, it was Dallas scoring 34 straight points after Philly opened the scoring. So goes the pendulum.

No. 4: 2017 Philadelphia Eagles

The only team in franchise history to win the Super Bowl, these Eagles posted a 13-3 record to win the NFC East. They boasted the No. 3 offense, the No. 4 defense, and the No. 1 overall SRS ranking, too. Philly opened the playoffs with a hard-fought win over the Atlanta Falcons, the previous season’s NFC champion. Then, the Eagles blew out the Minnesota Vikings to advance to the Super Bowl—winning a memorable matchup.

Center Jason Kelce (16 AV), offensive tackle Lane Johnson (15), defensive tackle Fletcher Cox (14), and QB Carson Wentz (13) topped this roster in value. However, Wentz was injured for the postseason, so the 15-10 win over Atlanta did not come easy. However, against the Vikings, the Philly offense clicked on all cylinders, scoring 38 unanswered points in a 38-7 blowout. Then, the Eagles did America great honor against cheaters.

No. 3: 1980 Philadelphia Eagles

This Philadelphia squad won the NFC East for the first time ever with a 12-4 record—based on the No. 6 offense, the No. 1 defense, and the No. 1 overall SRS ranking, as well. The Eagles downed the Vikings by scoring the last 17 points of the game in a 31-16 victory, and then Philadelphia dropped Dallas, 20-7, in relatively dominant fashion to advance to the Super Bowl against the Oakland Raiders. That didn’t go well.

The dominant quartet for this team? Nose tackle Charlie Johnson (16 AV), QB Ron Jaworski (15), LB Jerry Robinson (15), and strong safety Randy Logan (14). After a slow start to the Minnesota game, the Eagles rolled over the Vikings and then Dallas—in a tough division rival matchup, again—to advance to the team’s first Super Bowl; the Cowboys managed just 206 total yards. So, the Super Bowl loss, 27-10, was frustrating.

No. 2: 1953 Philadelphia Eagles

This was a different era, to be sure: this team posted a 7-4-1 record to finish second in the NFL’s East Division—thereby missing out on the title game. But Philly’s plus-137 scoring differential was second best in the 12-team league. Overall, the Eagles were No. 3 on offense, No. 3 on defense, and No. 3 in the SRS rankings. Alas, there was no wild-card playoff spot for second-place teams during this time period.

QB Bobby Thomason was 6-2 as a starter, but the team went just 1-2-1 without him, and that may have cost them a shot at catching the Cleveland Browns for the division title. Receiver Pete Pihos was our choice for the NFL MVP this season, even though there was no official award at the time. Philadelphia did hand Cleveland its only loss of the season, though, and that hurt the Browns when they played in the title game.

No. 1: 1950 Philadelphia Eagles

This may be one of the most weird entries so far in our miniseries: the best sabermetric team in franchise history posted just a 6-6 record, despite being the two-time defending NFL champions. These Eagles were No. 7 on offense, No. 1 on defense, and No. 2 overall in the SRS rankings. But … they finished third somehow in the American Division and—of course—that meant no playoffs for this statistically strong squad. Whoa!

Without any dominant players, in truth, the team got off to a 5-1 start in the regular season, but then it lost five of its last six games by a combined 18 points. Philadelphia’s overall plus-113 scoring differential ended up being fourth best in the NFL, but that didn’t matter, obviously. The Eagles won their six games by an average of 26.0 points each, but losing the close games like this team did will kill a season every time, easy.