High-water mark
676.5256
career-best overall
94.0% of a perfect 720
Their best day on record: 676.5256 at Smoke on the Mountain — 94.0% of a perfect 720.
- Master
- 2025-07-25
Lil Bear BBQ
At a glance (everything the results say about this team, in numbers)
Rating
1489
peak 1489 · rated over 3 contests ⓘ
Contests
5
in the data
First seen
2025-04-18
latest 2025-09-19
Best ToY finish
#699
Master 2025
Grand champs
0
0 reserve
Category wins
0
0 podiums
Overall top-10s
0
of 5 contests
Avg finish
top 73%
overall standings
Perfect 180s
0
Current form
672.83
last 3 Master vs avg 672.83 (+0.00)
Walk rate
0%
contests with a top-10 call
Consistency
±4.76
std dev of Master overall scores (lower = steadier)
Strongest meat
Chicken
avg 172.16 · weakest Pork Ribs (163.96)
Road miles
1,269
mi across 5 mapped stops · furthest 373 mi
Schedule strength
84%
of rated fields were softer than their average draw (1612)
Purse competed for
$26K
listed at 4 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0 🏅
GCs in 4 state-championship entries
Master avg
672.83 / 720
3 Master contests · 0 GCs
Storylines (4 found in this team's record)
Each card leads with the number that made it a story — read straight out of their results, no editorialising.
A tough matchup
3–0
behind in the head-to-head
Bleacher Bums BBQ ahead in 100% of their meetings
Bleacher Bums BBQ has come out ahead in 3 of their 3 shared contests.
The weak link
−8.2
points behind their best meat
Pork Ribs is where the weekend gets away from them — it averages 8.20 points below their chicken, and turns into a call 0% of the time against 0%.
- Pork Ribs avg 163.96
- Chicken avg 172.16
- 0 calls in 5 entries
They cook the hard rooms
1612
average field rating faced
A tougher draw than 84% of rated fields
The fields they enter average a 1612 power rating — a tougher draw than 84% of every rated contest in the data.
- 3 rated contests
Teams like this (closest power rating)
The nearest teams in the power rankings, with a different reason on each card — six teams on one rating are rarely on it for the same reason. Rating decides who makes the list; where teams tie on it, the ones this team has actually cooked against come first, then teams at a similar point in their own career. KCBS doesn’t publish where a team is from, so nothing here is inferred from geography.
Lil Bear BBQ has 3 rated contests — short of the five it takes to earn a power ranking — so this rating has barely moved off the 1500 every team starts on and 148 rated teams sit within a point of it. Read the list as the nearest company at a number nobody here has moved far from, not as a verdict on who this team belongs with.
#3712 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1504
No shared contest yet.
Careers of much the same size, 5 contests to 5, so neither rating has had more chance to settle than the other.
⚔ Head-to-head#3730 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1502
No shared contest yet.
Both teams' first contest in the data came in 2025.
⚔ Head-to-head#3740 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1504
No shared contest yet.
Level with Lil Bear BBQ on power rating, which is the whole reason they're on the list.
⚔ Head-to-head#3726 of the rated field
- Contests
- 6
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 33%
- Peak
- 1489
No shared contest yet.
Their last contest in the data was back in 2021, 4 years before Lil Bear BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Head-to-head#3733 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 20%
- Peak
- 1511
No shared contest yet.
Their last contest in the data was back in 2018, 7 years before Lil Bear BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Head-to-head#3720 of the rated field
- Contests
- 5
- GCs
- 0
- Top-10s
- 0%
- Peak
- 1504
No shared contest yet.
Their last contest in the data was back in 2017, 8 years before Lil Bear BBQ's most recent — their rating stopped moving when they stopped cooking.
⚔ Head-to-headBy meat
| Category | Entries | Calls | Wins | Podiums | Best | Worst | Average | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicken | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 173.1084 | 170.8228 | 172.16 | top 52% |
| Pork Ribs | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 168.0000 | 157.0856 | 163.96 | top 80% |
| Pork | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 173.1084 | 162.2628 | 167.21 | top 72% |
| Brisket | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 173.7028 | 167.3828 | 171.22 | top 49% |
“Calls” = top-10 category finishes (getting called to the stage). Scores here are the final weighted totals KCBS publishes; per-criterion appearance/taste/tenderness marks aren’t in the public results feed.
By state / province
| Where | Contests | GCs | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| IL | 1 | 0 | top 88% |
| VA | 1 | 0 | top 59% |
| MI | 1 | 0 | top 71% |
By contest size
| Field | Contests | GCs | Avg finish |
|---|---|---|---|
| Medium (20–39) | 1 | 0 | top 59% |
| Large (40+) | 2 | 0 | top 79% |
The story so far (16 numbers that describe this team)
On the trail
0.4 yrs
2025-04-18 → 2025-09-19
Busiest season
2025
3 contests
Contests a season
2.5
across 2 seasons in the data
Cooks most in
IN
2 of 5 contests · 4 states/provinces in all
Contests visited
3
0 of them cooked more than once
Most-entered meat
Pork Ribs
5 entries · 0 wins · 0 calls
Strongest meat
Chicken
averages 172.16 · weakest Pork Ribs (163.96)
Walk rate
0%
a top-10 call in 0 of 5 contests
Overall top-10 rate
0%
0 of 5 contests
Master average
672.83
out of 720 · 3 contests · 0 GCs
Opponents faced
149
38–123 across every shared overall standing
Road miles
1,269
5 mapped stops · furthest 373 mi
Schedule strength
1612
average field rating faced — tougher than 84% of rated contests
Purse competed for
$26,125
listed at 4 contests — purses, not winnings
State championships
0
from 4 state-championship entries
Power rating
1489
peak 1489 · #null of 6,413 rated
Milestones (the firsts, the round numbers and the personal bests)
- 2024
- First tracked contest Rockin' BBQ Warsaw (ONE MEAT RIBS)
- 2025
- First overall past 90% of a perfect score675.8624 GLBBQA Spring Fling
- Peak power rating (1496) GLBBQA Spring Fling
- Career-best overall score676.5256 Smoke on the Mountain
- Career-best single call (Brisket)173.7028 Smoke on the Mountain
- Most recent contest Murphysboro BBQ Cook-off/Praise the Lard
Power rating over time (1500 = average; recomputed nightly)
📉 Toughest weekends
| Swing | Contest | Date |
|---|---|---|
| -6.6 | Murphysboro BBQ Cook-off/Praise the Lard | 2025-09-19 |
| -3.6 | GLBBQA Spring Fling | 2025-04-18 |
| -1.4 | Smoke on the Mountain | 2025-07-25 |
Category scores over time
Overall finish over time (top-% of field, lower is better)
Where they finish (overall)
Best vs average (by meat)
How entries end (by meat)
Season by season
| Season | Contests | GCs | Top-10s | Category wins | Walk rate | Avg finish | Best overall (% of perfect) | Avg overall (% of perfect) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | top 73% | 94% | 93.4% |
| 2024 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0% | — | — | — |
Contest history (click a row for the event, a column to sort)
| Date | Event | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-09-19 | Murphysboro BBQ Cook-off/Praise the Lard 🏅 Murphysboro, IL | 49 / 56 (666.1140) | 39 (170.8228) | 52 (161.6572) | 47 (166.2512) | 45 (167.3828) |
| 2025-07-25 | Smoke on the Mountain 🏅 Galax, VA | 22 / 37 (676.5256) | 14 (172.5600) | 19 (168.0000) | 34 (162.2628) | 13 (173.7028) |
| 2025-04-18 | GLBBQA Spring Fling 🏅 Charlotte, MI | 40 / 56 (675.8624) | 27 (173.1084) | 54 (157.0856) | 22 (173.1084) | 18 (172.5600) |
| 2024-06-07 | Hoosier BBQ Classic (ONE MEAT RIBS) Franklin, IN | — | — | 13 (166.8228) | — | — |
| 2024-05-17 | Rockin' BBQ Warsaw (ONE MEAT RIBS) 🏅 Warsaw, IN | — | — | 23 (166.2516) | — | — |
Career map (orange GC · green top-10 · grey the rest — tap a pin)
Team of the Year standings (rank per category by season — year links to the full board on kcbs.us)
| Year | Series | Overall | Chicken | Ribs | Pork | Brisket |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 ↗ | Master | #699 (195 pts) | #713 (235 pts) | #794 (210 pts) | #748 (195 pts) | #604 (275 pts) |
| 2024 ↗ | Master | — | — | #1156 (100 pts) | — | — |