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Super Bowl power rankings: Which winner is the greatest?

By Cody Williams

St. Louis Rams quarterback Kurt Warner looks to make pass in a 23-16 win over the Tennessee Titans in Super Bowl XXXIV on January 30, 2000 at Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Allen Kee/Getty Images)
St. Louis Rams quarterback Kurt Warner looks to make pass in a 23-16 win over the Tennessee Titans in Super Bowl XXXIV on January 30, 2000 at Georgia Dome in Atlanta, Georgia. (Photo by Allen Kee/Getty Images) /
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PONTIAC, MI – JANUARY 24: Joe Montana #16 of the San Francisco 49ers runs with the ball against the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl XVI on January 24, 1982 at the Silver Dome in Pontiac, Michigan. The Niners won the Super Bowl 26 -21. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)`
PONTIAC, MI – JANUARY 24: Joe Montana #16 of the San Francisco 49ers runs with the ball against the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl XVI on January 24, 1982 at the Silver Dome in Pontiac, Michigan. The Niners won the Super Bowl 26 -21. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)` /

25. 1981 San Francisco 49ers (SB XVI)

As the Sans Francisco 49ers have had so much success over the history of the franchise, it’s less than surprising that you’ll be seeing them a lot throughout these rankings. And while this team wasn’t as bad as the one that was able to win a title in 1988, there’s no question that the 1981 Niners weren’t exactly on par with many of the other Super Bowl winning teams in the history of the franchise.

Though Bill Walsh was there, it actually shouldn’t be wholly surprising that the Niners at this point just weren’t there quite yet. Joe Montana was just a 25-year-old at this point and the full compliment of weapons wasn’t there. This sounds like they won like four games on the season, but they actually went 13-3—however, it’s hard to deny that they played over their heads in the regular season as they weren’t even one of the top-2 teams in the NFL in terms of point differential at the end of the season.

The fact that San Fran hadn’t yet reached the heights that they later would comes up again with how they played in the playoffs. Though they dispatched the Giants by 14 points, they only topped Dallas by a point in the NFC title game and the got past the Bengals by a score of 26-21 in the Super Bowl. They were still the 49ers with Joe Montana, but they weren’t quite the 49ers at this point just yet.

Next: No. 24

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