SRS of Final Four

By jason Mon Jan 22nd, 2024 2:18PM PST Last Updated: Mon Jan 22nd, 2024 2:18PM PST

The Simple Rating System (SRS) measures a team's scoring compared to the league average, taking into account the strength of the opponents. It can quickly answer, "which team is stronger." It has some drawbacks to keep in mind, like treating all points as equal.

The image below has the SRS of the four remaining teams: San Francisco, Detroit, Kansas City, and Baltimore. The current season is highlighted in red for each team. Other interesting items are marked in gold.


SRS Comparisons

The 49ers SRS this year is 7.1 on offense and 4.7 on defense, which is better than the 2019 team that went to the Super Bowl; 6.7 on offense and 4.3 on defense. This 2023 team is better on both sides of the ball.

The Lions are worse than the 49ers on offense (6.0) and worse than league average on defense (-1.8).

Kansas City's offense (-0.6) has lost potency compared to prior years, but the defense (4.4) is much stronger. It is on the level of the 49ers.

The Baltimore Ravens have the highest SRS; 13.2 compared to 49ers' 11.8. The '9er offense is rated higher and is the highest of the remaining four teams, but the BAL defense is the highest of the four at 6.5.

SRS may (or may not) show which team is stronger, but that doesn't always mean a lot in football. In 2019 the Chiefs won the Super Bowl over the 49ers despite having a lower SRS on both offense and defense. That same year, Lamar Jackson won the MVP and the Ravens had an outstanding rating of 15.6. They lost 28 - 12 to the Tennessee Titans in the first round of the playoffs.

In 2012, the Ravens won the Super Bowl with a measly 2.9 SRS.

Here are the stats with links to pro-football-reference.com where I found them.


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Simple Rating System (SRS) of SF, DET, KAN, and BAL.

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