The Psychology of the Perfect Season

By Patrick J. Cohn, Ph.D.

Breaking long-standing records or scoring a perfect season are just as much a mental game challenge as a physical one. Athletes can easily stifle their success with self-imposed limits on their success. Self-limiting behavior comes in many forms including expectations, which I often write about.

The Greenbay Packers of the NFL are pitching a perfect season at 12-0 after their latest win. Completing a perfect season or breaking records in sports represent the highest achievement of human potential and thus become both mental and physical obstacles for athletes or teams to break through…

Jack Nicklaus won anastonishing 20 majors in his career. Babe Didrickson Zaharias won a staggering 27 consecutive tournament titles in 1947. Babe Ruth hit 715 career home runs, which stood for 39 years. Hank Aaron's career 755 home runs stood for more than 32 years. Wilt Chamberlain scored a record 100 points in a basketball game. Wayne Gretzky still holds the record for most career goals with 894. Nolan Ryan had seven career no-hitters. All of these records stood the test of time.

Attempting to complete a perfect season in the NFL is very rare. The 1972 Miami Dolphins had a perfect season of 14-0. The 2007 New England Patriots went 16-0. But only the 1972 Miami Dolphins won the Super Bowl and finished 17-0 including the playoffs. Today, this task is even more difficult to achieve. A team would have to win a minimum of 18 games including the playoffs.

An athlete or team’s self-defined limitations about what is possible to achieve makes all the difference. When Roger Bannister broke the 4-minute mile, everyone started doing it because a mental barrier was removed. Humans have much greater resources for success than they do tend to use.

If you examine the psychological makeup of history's greatest athletes, the ones who have broken long-standing records, a pattern exists among them. These athletes had the ability to rise above their own expectations and break records that were considered beyond reach. It's clear that these athletes were not conformers; they were not confined by the expectations of others.

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"It's so impressive when you watch a team that can string together that many victories going all the way back to last season," Tom Brady said, via the Boston Herald. "It really tells you what the character and the make-up of the players on that team are. So them getting off to the start that they've gotten off to is very impressive.”

Going for a perfect season in the NFL is similar to a baseball pitcher trying to throw a no-hitter. A no-hitter is just as much a mental game feat as a physical feat. As the game progresses, it becomes harder and harder to focus on the task of pitching because each batter can end the no-hitter. The pitcher is out of his comfort zone when trying to keep a no-hitter going later in the game. To make matters worse for the pitcher, everyone in the stadium knows what is happening when a pitcher is working on a no-hitter.

Like the no-hitter, the biggest challenge for the Packers is to not think about an undefeated season and continue to focus on one game at a time. "I understand the importance of 16-0, but after 38-35 (last week), you understand the task at hand too," Packers' coach McCarthy said. "To me, it’s a waste of time and energy to talk about it [being undefeated]. To keep people on point and focused every single day, I tell them what’s right in front of us, not potentially what’s five or six weeks down the road. And that’s all I’ve tried to do since I’ve been here.”

“We’re not going to change our goal in the middle of the year just because we won a bunch of games (and say), ‘Hey, maybe we can do something else.’ I’m not wired that way,” quarterback Aaron Rogers said.

Indeed, throwing a no-hitter or going for a perfect season in the NFL can be a distraction and pressure for many athletes. It might even turn into THE goal for some. “We're 12-0 and we're focused on that," said linebacker Clay Matthews.  "It's been something we've been talking about since we were 7-0 or 8-0. So we'll keep going from that." However, coach McCarthy thinks otherwise. He prefers to take one game at a time. Prepare the best you can for the next opponent and then execute. “There’s so much more in front of us to accomplish,” coach McCarthy said. “And that’s why we continue to stay focused on what’s that (next) point, and that point is the Oakland Raiders.”

Four Tips for Pushing Past Mental Barriers and Milestones:

(1) The first step is to unlock your self-imposed limits or your own success. I want my students to identify their own mental barriers and unhealthy beliefs that prevent them from consistently playing their best. If you think you are not capable or breaking a performance barrier, then you most likely will not break through.

(2) Step two is to eradicate unhealthy expectations and irrational beliefs so you can unlock your own success. For example, once Roger Banister broke the four-minute mile, everyone broke it because the barrier had been shattered. The first step is to break your own self-limiting beliefs that limit your potential.

(3) Don't follow the crowd (or listen to them). The top athletes in the world are not conformers; they do not let their thinking be confined by the expectations of others, such as media and fans, or what others think is possible.

(4) When performing, focus on the process and not the outcome or the record you are trying to break. Focus on one shot, one play, or one game at a time instead. Focusing on the process is the key to winning performances. You have to give each and every play or shot the same intensity no matter how close you are to breaking a personal record or long-standing record.

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