The answer, quite simply, is not many. Which brings us to the curious matter of unnatural scoring.
Scoring multiple, unnatural touchdowns in a single game is a rarity in NFL history. Out of the thousands of games played, no team has every returned a kickoff, a punt, an interception and a fumble for a touchdown in the same game.
Eighteen times a team has returned two punts for a touchdown in a single game and 13 times they have returned two kickoffs for a touchdown, but no team has ever returned both two punts and two kickoffs for touchdowns in the same game. In fact, no team has ever returned two punts and a single kickoff for a touchdown in one game.
However, back on November 6, 1966, the Philadelphia Eagles returned two kickoffs and a punt for touchdowns in a game against Dallas. The Eagles held on to win the game by the slimmest of margins, 24-23. I think the breakdown on special teams by the Cowboys directly impacted the result of that game. As somewhat common as kickoff returns and punt return touchdowns are, doubling up on them in a single game is quite rare and no team has ever returned either three punts or three kickoffs for a touchdown in one day.
Fumble recovery and interception return touchdowns, also rare, are a different animal altogether than kick returns. 47 teams have returned two fumbles for touchdowns in a game. Out of those 47 instances, only four teams – the 2005 49ers, 2002 Chargers, 2000 Seahawks and the 1975 Saints – managed to lose those games. Curiously enough, no team has ever returned three fumbles for touchdowns in one contest.
Interception return touchdowns are by far the most common unnatural score NFL teams achieve. 139 times teams have scored at least two touchdowns in a game off of interceptions. Out of those 139 games, the team with 2+ interception return touchdowns lost only five times and tied once.
Teams have managed to return three interceptions for touchdowns eight times and only once in NFL history has a team scored four interception touchdowns in a single game. The Seattle Seahawks accomplished this feat on November 4, 1984 in a game against the Kansas City Chiefs, which they easily won, 45-0.
While no team has ever returned a kickoff, a punt, an interception and a fumble for a touchdown in the same game and no other teams have ever duplicated the unique set of touchdowns scored by New England on Monday night, two teams have scored combined sets of unnatural touchdowns to win a game.
In a game against the New York Giants on November 13, 2005, the Minnesota Vikings won 24-21 on the strength of a kickoff return touchdown, a punt return touchdown and an interception returned for a touchdown. The Vikings remain the only team to have ever accomplished this unique combination of scores.
The Kansas City Chiefs scored an even rarer combination of unnatural touchdowns when they crushed the St. Louis Rams 49-10 on December 8, 2002. The Chiefs padded their victory by returning a kickoff, a punt and a fumble for touchdowns. Kansas City alone has achieved this winning combination.
Unnatural touchdowns can happen on any play, which makes football one of the most exciting sports in the world. However, scoring multiple times by these kinds of touchdowns in a single game is quite uncommon. To appreciate the true rarity of games like Monday night and the others listed above, you only have to look at the following items –
NFL teams have rushed for 4 or more touchdowns in 425 games since 1940.
NFL teams have thrown 5 or more touchdown passes in 3,160 games since 1940.
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