It’s undeniable that there are certain teams that just get on sports fans' nerves, it’s common, it happens in every single league, and it’s just part of sports. These stories have helped us create some of the biggest rivalries in sports, like New York Yankees vs Boston Red Sox in the MLB, for example, Boston Celtics vs LA Lakers in the NBA, Real Madrid vs Barcelona in Spanish football, and so on.

This clearly happens in the NFL as well, and rivalry intensity varies depending on the era, of course, but we pretty much see it all the time when teams from the same division clash, and some other factors combine.

However, do you know which is the most hated NFL team right now? Is this even possible to know? Well, according to an online study recently made, in which they basically geotagged Twitter data from over 90.000 tweets from NFL fans, the Pittsburgh Steelers are the most hated team in the league by NFL fans, and this is not only coming from AFC North rivalries, but it turns out that the Steelers are most hated in a total of 8 different states, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Indiana, Delaware, and Maryland.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are the only team that remained undefeated in this NFL season after 7 weeks, after beating the Tennessee Titans in Week 7 and taking away their perfect record, so, no wonder most of America hates them right now, and can’t wait for them to lose and join all the other 31 teams of the league.

On a curious note, in Pennsylvania, home of the Steelers, the most hated team is the Baltimore Ravens, according to this same study. This result is not surprising at all, considering that the Ravens are actually the favorites to win the AFC North, according to sportsbooks, while Pittsburgh’s 2020 success is actually kind of unexpected.

Other results from this same NFL study

Just as general pop culture, it’s interesting to take a look at some of the other results gathered by this Twitter study.

The Green Bay Packers are the most hated team in most of the Northern region of the United States, in a total of 6 states, while in Wisconsin, of course, the most hated team is the Chicago Bears. However, in the Northwest, it’s not the Packers, but the 49’ers, the team that gets the most heat.

The Seattle Seahawks are the most hated team in Los Angeles and Arizona, while in Nevada and Utah it’s the Kansas City Chiefs. In the Central part of the United States, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas and Colorado, the Las Vegas Raiders is the one getting all the hate, while in Missouri, it’s the LA Rams for some reason. Remember that the Rams used to play in St. Louis, but the franchise moved to LA a while ago.

The Philadelphia Eagles are the villains in most of the South, from New Mexico to Arkansas, going through Texas, and Oklahoma. The New England Patriots are the most hated team in Florida, in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and North Carolina they hate the Atlanta Falcons, while in Georgia and South Carolina they hate the Saints. The whole Northeast region of the USA is a battleground between the AFC North teams, and curiously, the most popular and criticized team in the league, the one that gets all the memes every weekend, the one with the biggest fanbase and value, the Dallas Cowboys, are the most hated team only in Virginia.

What do you think of all this? Do you agree with this study?