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A Bear's homer must have written the article
NFL's 100 greatest teams of all time: Which squad is best in league history?
NFL's 100 greatest teams of all time: Which squad is best in league history?
1. 1985 Bears (won Super Bowl XX): Pure dominance. Their 15 regular-season wins came by an average of 18.1 points. The defense collected 64 sacks while allowing just 12.4 points a week. Chicago shut out the Giants and Rams in the NFC playoffs before that epic 46-10 Super Bowl dismantling of New England. All told, the Bears outscored their postseason opponents 91-10. Sure, it would have been nice to see a rematch with Dan Marino and the Dolphins, who handed Chicago its only loss of 1985, on Super Sunday. And maybe you'd like the best team of all time — arguably — to feature a more renowned quarterback than Jim McMahon, but the fact that an offense led by Walter Payton (1,551 rushing yards) was almost extraneous also illustrates just how transcendent Buddy Ryan's "46 defense" was. And for a list like this, a little flair should count for something, and with McMahon, Payton, Ryan, "Refrigerator" Perry, Mike Singletary, coach Mike Ditka and many others — most getting star turns with "The Super Bowl Shuffle" — the '85 Bears had character(s) in spades.
2. 1984 49ers (won Super Bowl XIX): They lacked the pizzazz of the '85 Bears and perhaps don't get their due given the historical proximity to that Chicago team. It's also challenging to distinguish the great Bill Walsh-Joe Montana San Francisco teams that dominated the 1980s. But this bunch was unique. The Niners were the first team to win 15 regular-season games (average margin of victory was nearly 17 points), a feat Chicago would match a year later — though they remain the only teams to finish 18-1 and claim rings. Before suffocating a spectacular Dolphins team, Marino's best, 38-16 in the Super Bowl, the 49ers vanquished the Giants and Bears by a combined score of 44-10 in the NFC playoffs — those franchises would win the next two Super Bowls with teams ranking among the best ever. This all occurred a year before Jerry Rice arrived.
3. 1962 Packers (won NFL title): Widely regarded as the premier team coached by legendary Vince Lombardi, even if it reigned four years prior to the Super Bowl's debut. Green Bay finished 13-1, its wins coming by an average of more than three touchdowns. The roster sported 11 Hall of Famers, not including Lombardi. They onlybeat the imposing Giants 16-7 in the championship game, but it was staged in New York's 8-degree wind chill, which didn't lend itself to much offense. Regardless, that battle helped launch NFL Films to prominence.
4. 1989 49ers (won Super Bowl XXIV): Stacking them up against their '84 brethren engenders a chocolate versus vanilla debate. The '89 Niners — Rice by now the league's top wideout — were a touch less formidable in the regular season, going 14-2 with an average victory margin just short of 14 points. But boy did that '89 juggernaut hit overdrive in the playoffs, winning its three games by a combined 126-26. Their 55-10 beatdown of the Broncos remains the most lopsided in Super Bowl history and also represents the most points scored by one team. However the postseason competition for the '89 Niners didn't approach what the '84 team faced. With a career-best 112.4 QB rating, Montana earned league (and later Super Bowl) MVP honors.
5. 1972 Dolphins (won Super Bowl VII): Yes, it's still the only team to win a Super Bowl without dropping a game (17-0), and there's no real counterargument for "perfection." But it's also a lazy argument. Miami won its three postseason games by a combined 17 points. It also feasted on a horrid regular-season schedule that included just two teams finishing with winning records (both a middling 8-6). This isn't meant to shade the Fins and their "No-Name Defense," a roster with six Hall of Famers plus Don Shula, the winningest coach in NFL history. But context matters, and it already seems a concession ranking the '72 Dolphins ahead of 1970s contemporaries in Pittsburgh, Dallas and even Oakland — not to mention clubs previously ranked on this list. A special group indeed but not the most special for my money.
6. 1991 Redskins (won Super Bowl XXVI): After going 14-2 and outscoring their foes by 261 points in the regular season, they swept through the playoffs with an average margin of victory better than 20 points. The only Washington team to win a Super Bowl in a non-strike season, these underappreciated 'Skins would have gone all the way in most years. They topped 40 points five times and blanked three teams, so excellent balance — and that extended to special teams and return man extraordinaire Brian Mitchell.
7. 1994 49ers (won Super Bowl XXIX): With QB Steve Young now at the helm, they became the only Niners team to surpass 500 points in the regular season. After thwarting a three-peat bid by the Cowboys, they cruised past the Chargers in the Super Bowl, when Young threw a game-record six TD passes, while Rice and Ricky Watters found the end zone three times apiece. And don't forget the other side of the ball, which featured defensive player of the year Deion Sanders.
8. 1975 Steelers (won Super Bowl X): It "feels" a touch disrespectful waiting this long to mention the Steel Curtain dynasty, perhaps the league's greatest. The issue? None of those teams seemed to feature its wealth of Hall of Famers at a simultaneous apex, the defense largely showing the way in the early '70s before the offense truly flourished later in the decade. (A 1970s Pittsburgh team that did not win the Super Bowl might have been the best entry ... keep reading.) But the '75 team's case is compelling given a 12-2 record and the largest point differential (plus-211) in franchise history. Throw in a Super Bowl win against a Cowboys team that was nearly as good, and you have the makings of a powerhouse deserving recognition as one of the NFL's 10 greatest teams.
9. 1999 Rams (won Super Bowl XXXIV): Though many sophisticated passing attacks had shined previously, the "Greatest Show on Turf" was in some ways the vanguard of today's pass-oriented game. QB Kurt Warner, RB Marshall Faulk and WRs Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt truly resembled a game of "Madden" come to life, St. Louis' 13 regular-season wins coming by an average of nearly 23 points. Remarkably consistent, the Rams were held to fewer than 20 points just once (in the NFC title round by Tampa Bay) and eclipsed 30 points 13 times. And Warner's ascension from complete unknown to league MVP and, ultimately, a Hall of Famer is a quintessential rags-to-riches tale. If there's a blemish, it would be a labored playoff run that included a semi-controversial win in the aforementioned 11-6 defeat of the Bucs.
10. 1996 Packers (won Super Bowl XXXI): QB Brett Favre was in the midst of becoming the only player to earn MVP hardware in three consecutive seasons. Reggie White, arguably the best defensive lineman ever, was still a force, collecting three sacks of Patriots QB Drew Bledsoe in the Super Bowl. And from a numbers standpoint, this club ranks favorably with any in Green Bay's vaunted history, going 13-3 in the regular season before trashing its playoff opponents by an average of 17.3 points.
NFL's 100 greatest teams of all time: Which squad is best in league history?
NFL's 100 greatest teams of all time: Which squad is best in league history?
1. 1985 Bears (won Super Bowl XX): Pure dominance. Their 15 regular-season wins came by an average of 18.1 points. The defense collected 64 sacks while allowing just 12.4 points a week. Chicago shut out the Giants and Rams in the NFC playoffs before that epic 46-10 Super Bowl dismantling of New England. All told, the Bears outscored their postseason opponents 91-10. Sure, it would have been nice to see a rematch with Dan Marino and the Dolphins, who handed Chicago its only loss of 1985, on Super Sunday. And maybe you'd like the best team of all time — arguably — to feature a more renowned quarterback than Jim McMahon, but the fact that an offense led by Walter Payton (1,551 rushing yards) was almost extraneous also illustrates just how transcendent Buddy Ryan's "46 defense" was. And for a list like this, a little flair should count for something, and with McMahon, Payton, Ryan, "Refrigerator" Perry, Mike Singletary, coach Mike Ditka and many others — most getting star turns with "The Super Bowl Shuffle" — the '85 Bears had character(s) in spades.
2. 1984 49ers (won Super Bowl XIX): They lacked the pizzazz of the '85 Bears and perhaps don't get their due given the historical proximity to that Chicago team. It's also challenging to distinguish the great Bill Walsh-Joe Montana San Francisco teams that dominated the 1980s. But this bunch was unique. The Niners were the first team to win 15 regular-season games (average margin of victory was nearly 17 points), a feat Chicago would match a year later — though they remain the only teams to finish 18-1 and claim rings. Before suffocating a spectacular Dolphins team, Marino's best, 38-16 in the Super Bowl, the 49ers vanquished the Giants and Bears by a combined score of 44-10 in the NFC playoffs — those franchises would win the next two Super Bowls with teams ranking among the best ever. This all occurred a year before Jerry Rice arrived.
3. 1962 Packers (won NFL title): Widely regarded as the premier team coached by legendary Vince Lombardi, even if it reigned four years prior to the Super Bowl's debut. Green Bay finished 13-1, its wins coming by an average of more than three touchdowns. The roster sported 11 Hall of Famers, not including Lombardi. They onlybeat the imposing Giants 16-7 in the championship game, but it was staged in New York's 8-degree wind chill, which didn't lend itself to much offense. Regardless, that battle helped launch NFL Films to prominence.
4. 1989 49ers (won Super Bowl XXIV): Stacking them up against their '84 brethren engenders a chocolate versus vanilla debate. The '89 Niners — Rice by now the league's top wideout — were a touch less formidable in the regular season, going 14-2 with an average victory margin just short of 14 points. But boy did that '89 juggernaut hit overdrive in the playoffs, winning its three games by a combined 126-26. Their 55-10 beatdown of the Broncos remains the most lopsided in Super Bowl history and also represents the most points scored by one team. However the postseason competition for the '89 Niners didn't approach what the '84 team faced. With a career-best 112.4 QB rating, Montana earned league (and later Super Bowl) MVP honors.
5. 1972 Dolphins (won Super Bowl VII): Yes, it's still the only team to win a Super Bowl without dropping a game (17-0), and there's no real counterargument for "perfection." But it's also a lazy argument. Miami won its three postseason games by a combined 17 points. It also feasted on a horrid regular-season schedule that included just two teams finishing with winning records (both a middling 8-6). This isn't meant to shade the Fins and their "No-Name Defense," a roster with six Hall of Famers plus Don Shula, the winningest coach in NFL history. But context matters, and it already seems a concession ranking the '72 Dolphins ahead of 1970s contemporaries in Pittsburgh, Dallas and even Oakland — not to mention clubs previously ranked on this list. A special group indeed but not the most special for my money.
6. 1991 Redskins (won Super Bowl XXVI): After going 14-2 and outscoring their foes by 261 points in the regular season, they swept through the playoffs with an average margin of victory better than 20 points. The only Washington team to win a Super Bowl in a non-strike season, these underappreciated 'Skins would have gone all the way in most years. They topped 40 points five times and blanked three teams, so excellent balance — and that extended to special teams and return man extraordinaire Brian Mitchell.
7. 1994 49ers (won Super Bowl XXIX): With QB Steve Young now at the helm, they became the only Niners team to surpass 500 points in the regular season. After thwarting a three-peat bid by the Cowboys, they cruised past the Chargers in the Super Bowl, when Young threw a game-record six TD passes, while Rice and Ricky Watters found the end zone three times apiece. And don't forget the other side of the ball, which featured defensive player of the year Deion Sanders.
8. 1975 Steelers (won Super Bowl X): It "feels" a touch disrespectful waiting this long to mention the Steel Curtain dynasty, perhaps the league's greatest. The issue? None of those teams seemed to feature its wealth of Hall of Famers at a simultaneous apex, the defense largely showing the way in the early '70s before the offense truly flourished later in the decade. (A 1970s Pittsburgh team that did not win the Super Bowl might have been the best entry ... keep reading.) But the '75 team's case is compelling given a 12-2 record and the largest point differential (plus-211) in franchise history. Throw in a Super Bowl win against a Cowboys team that was nearly as good, and you have the makings of a powerhouse deserving recognition as one of the NFL's 10 greatest teams.
9. 1999 Rams (won Super Bowl XXXIV): Though many sophisticated passing attacks had shined previously, the "Greatest Show on Turf" was in some ways the vanguard of today's pass-oriented game. QB Kurt Warner, RB Marshall Faulk and WRs Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt truly resembled a game of "Madden" come to life, St. Louis' 13 regular-season wins coming by an average of nearly 23 points. Remarkably consistent, the Rams were held to fewer than 20 points just once (in the NFC title round by Tampa Bay) and eclipsed 30 points 13 times. And Warner's ascension from complete unknown to league MVP and, ultimately, a Hall of Famer is a quintessential rags-to-riches tale. If there's a blemish, it would be a labored playoff run that included a semi-controversial win in the aforementioned 11-6 defeat of the Bucs.
10. 1996 Packers (won Super Bowl XXXI): QB Brett Favre was in the midst of becoming the only player to earn MVP hardware in three consecutive seasons. Reggie White, arguably the best defensive lineman ever, was still a force, collecting three sacks of Patriots QB Drew Bledsoe in the Super Bowl. And from a numbers standpoint, this club ranks favorably with any in Green Bay's vaunted history, going 13-3 in the regular season before trashing its playoff opponents by an average of 17.3 points.
