The top two have finished with nothing at all between them in 53 NFL races, most recently the 2025 NFC South race. Below, every division race charted since 1970, ranked by final margin and by lead changes. How each list is computed is spelled out under the lists.
The 1999 AFC West race finished tied, the Seattle Seahawks and the Kansas City Chiefs separated by nothing at all, with five lead changes.
The 1981 AFC West race finished tied, the San Diego Chargers and the Denver Broncos separated by nothing at all, with four lead changes.
The 2011 AFC North race finished tied, the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers separated by nothing at all, with four lead changes.
The 2023 NFC South race finished tied, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the New Orleans Saints separated by nothing at all, with four lead changes.
The 1988 NFC East race finished tied, the Philadelphia Eagles and the New York Giants separated by nothing at all, with three lead changes.
The 1992 AFC East race finished tied, the Miami Dolphins and the Buffalo Bills separated by nothing at all, with three lead changes.
The 2001 AFC East race finished tied, the New England Patriots and the Miami Dolphins separated by nothing at all, with three lead changes.
The 2009 NFC East race finished tied, the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles separated by nothing at all, with three lead changes.
The 2010 NFC East race finished tied, the Philadelphia Eagles and the New York Giants separated by nothing at all, with three lead changes.
The 2010 NFC West race finished tied, the Seattle Seahawks and the St. Louis Rams separated by nothing at all, with three lead changes.
Most lead changes
The lead in the 1971 NFC West race changed hands seven times, and the San Francisco 49ers won it by half a game over the Los Angeles Rams.
The lead in the 1999 AFC West race changed hands five times, and the Seattle Seahawks and the Kansas City Chiefs finished tied.
The lead in the 1971 AFC East race changed hands five times, and the Miami Dolphins won it by half a game over the Baltimore Colts.
The lead in the 2014 AFC North race changed hands five times, and the Pittsburgh Steelers won it by half a game over the Cincinnati Bengals.
The lead in the 1972 NFC West race changed hands five times, and the San Francisco 49ers won it by 1.5 games over the Atlanta Falcons.
The lead in the 1973 AFC West race changed hands five times, and the Oakland Raiders won it by 1.5 games.
The lead in the 2025 NFC North race changed hands five times, and the Chicago Bears won it by 1.5 games over the Green Bay Packers.
The lead in the 1981 AFC West race changed hands four times, and the San Diego Chargers and the Denver Broncos finished tied.
The lead in the 2011 AFC North race changed hands four times, and the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers finished tied.
The lead in the 2023 NFC South race changed hands four times, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the New Orleans Saints finished tied.
How these lists are ranked
Everything on this page comes from the same season files the charts draw, with standings read as each week ended. All 384 charted NFL races from 56 finished seasons enter: every division race from 1970 to 2025. Wild card races are not ranked; their story is the playoff cutoff, not first place. The 2026 season joins these lists when it ends.
Tightest finishes ranks races by the final gap between first and second place, in games. Ties are broken by how late the winner took first place for good, then by lead changes, then oldest first; a race that finished tied counts as decided on its last week, so races that finished tied are ordered by lead changes and then oldest first. Two teams the standings cannot separate are shown as tied, with no winner named; where the league settled such a race another way, the linked race page tells that story.
Most lead changes counts a change only when the lead passes to new hands. A team that only catches the leader shares first place but does not take the lead: the lead stays with the team or teams that already held it for as long as any of them is still on top, and passes on the week none of them is, so a tie can never inflate the count. On a finished season's last week, a tie the league broke counts for the team it named, so a team that ends the last week tied with the leader and wins on the league's tiebreak has taken the lead. The count starts on the first week somebody held first place, a week on which every team at the top had played at least once: before that, a team can sit on top, alone or tied with others, without having played a game.
A days-within-one-game list is left off this page: the NFL plays once a week, so nearly every close race stays within a game all season and the count separates nothing.
Only finished seasons are ranked. Seasons shortened by strikes or other stoppages count as played; every irregularity in the record is listed in the data notes.