The league’s 101-year history reduced to 30 outstanding teams for a season.
There’s now been more than a century of an entity that began as the American Professional Football Association and is now known as the NFL. It currently houses 32 franchises and some of these teams have enjoyed more than their share of success while others are still seeking a league championship.
What constitutes greatest? These days, hoisting the Lombardi Trophy. But through the many years of this great game, there have also been clubs that fell short of a title. So here’s a glance into a highly-subjective topic.
30. 2013 Denver Broncos
They would score the most points in one season in NFL history (606) and their quarterback would also set records with 5,477 passing yards and 55 TD tosses. But as great as the Denver Broncos were in 2013, John Fox’s club laid a major omelet on Super Sunday in a 43-8 to the Seattle Seahawks at East Rutherford, New Jersey.
On the first play of Super Bowl XLVIII, NFL MVP Peyton Manning saw a shotgun snap go over his head and result in a safety. It was just a small sample of what was to come and it put the dampers on a 13-3 campaign that saw a record 76 total touchdowns scored but not a lot of defense played by the club.
29. 1979 San Diego Chargers
The Bolts’ surged during the second half of 1978 and finished 9-7 after a 2-6 start. Head coach Don Coryell had an explosive offensive attack led by future Hall of Famers such as quarterback Dan Fouts and pass-catchers such as Charlie Joiner, Kellen Winslow – as well as rookie wideout John Jefferson.
In ‘79, they looked like the most complete team in the NFL, finishing 12-4 and as AFC West champions. The defense included standouts like linebacker Woodrow Lowe, defensive tackle Gary Johnson and Hall of Fame end Fred Dean. But they were stunned by the gutty and undermanned Houston Oilers in the divisional round.
28. 1998 Minnesota Vikings
The club would start the season with Brad Johnson at quarterback but eventually Randall Cunningham took over and enjoyed a monster year. The offence was led by rookie wide receiver Randy Moss and another Hall of Famer Cris Carter while the running game was spearheaded by Robert Smith.
There was plenty of big names on defense, including relentless John Randle. The club finished 15-1 and owned a seven-point lead in the fourth quarter at home against Atlanta Falcons in the NFC title game but couldn’t close the deal. Dennis Green’s club scored a record 556 points in 1998, which has since been topped.
27. 1934 Chicago Bears
Only the Green Bay Packers (13) have earned more NFL championships than this franchise from the Windy City. But this edition of the Chicago Bears would not win a league title despite a 13-0 record and a team that outscored its 13 victims by exactly 200 points (286-86).
But in the second NFL Championship Game, the New York Giants handled the visiting Bears at the fabled Polo Grounds by a stunning 30-13 score. Dubbed “The Sneakers Game,” George Halas’ club owned a 13-3 advantage at intermission. But a switch of footwear at halftime by the home team propelled Steve Owen’s club to a very slick league title.
26. 1968 Baltimore Colts
They would lose just once during a 14-game regular season, a 30-20 home loss to the Browns after a 5-0 start. They outscored their opposition a combined 402-144 and then knocked off the Vikings (24-14) and won at Cleveland (34-0) to get to Super Sunday.
Of course, Don Shula’s talented club wound up on the wrong side of one of the sport’s legendary contests as Joe Namath and the upstart New York Jets of the AFL humbled the Colts, 16-7, in Super Bowl III at Miami’s Orange Bowl. Baltimore turned over the ball five times in the stunning loss. Despite the Super Sunday upset, Shula’s squad put together a dominant year.
25. 1942 Chicago Bears
In 1940, George Halas’ rolled to a 73-0 victory over Washington in the NFL title game. That scoring total still ranks as the most points put up by any club in a game in regular-season or postseason history in the league’s 101-year history. Two years later, the Bears finished 11-0 and outscored their foes by an amazing 376-84 count.
But Ray Flaherty, the head coach on the wrong side of that lopsided loss, had eyes on revenge. Chicago would fall, 14-6, at old D.C. as the team failed to score an offensive touchdown. For the second time (13-0 in ‘34), the team finished a season undefeated but failed to win a NFL championship.
24. 1996 Green Bay Packers
General manager Ron Wolf had brought quarterback Brett Favre to Green Bay via trade with the Falcons in 1992. That team finished 9-7 and just missed the playoffs but the best was yet to come. The franchise would embark on a six-year postseason run that saw the Packers make back-to-back trips to the Super Bowl.
The first of those two came in 1996 and saw Mike Holmgren’s team not only finish with a 13-3 mark but it scored the most and gave up the fewest points in the league. A stingy defense was led by Reggie White but the hero of the Super Bowl XXXI win over the Patriots was kick returner Desmond Howard.
23. 1999 St. Louis Rams
It was a combination of one of the greatest turnarounds in NFL history along with the classic Cinderella story. The then-St. Louis Rams were coming off a 4-12 finish in 1998. Things looked worse when starting quarterback Trent Green went down in the preseason. But head coach Dick Vermeil vowed that his team would rally around Kurt Warner and would play good football.
The results were a stunning 13-3 campaign. The postseason featured a rousing win over the Vikings in the divisional round, a nail-biting 11-6 win over the Bucs and a 23-16 victory over the Titans in a Super Bowl that came down to the final play of the game.
22. 1949 Philadelphia Eagles
The club reached the league’s championship game for a third straight year. Earl “Greasy” Neale’s team fell to the then-Chicago Cardinals in 1947, 28-21, but rebounded a year later to blank the Cards, 7-0. In ‘49, Philadelphia finished the year with an 11-1 record and a plus-230 point differential.
Quarterback Tommy Thompson was the main starter and the only offensive TD scored in the club’s 14-0 victory over the Los Angeles Rams was a 31-yard strike to Hall of Fame end Pete Pihos. The star for this club was Steve Van Buren, who rolled up 1,522 total combined yards and a dozen touchdowns in 12 regular-season contests.
21. 1998 Denver Broncos
It proved to be a big year for running back Terrell Davis, who earned NFL MVP honors by running for 2,008 yards and 21 touchdowns and finished the year with 2,225 yards from scrimmage and 23 trips to the end zone. He propelled Mike Shanahan’s attack, which lost quarterback John Elway for four games while veteran Bubby Brister filled in admirably.
The Broncos won their first 13 games, dropped two straight and finished 14-2. They blasted Miami in the divisional round, spotted the Jets a 10-0 third-quarter lead before scoring the final 23 points of the game and then handled the Falcons, 34-19, in Super Bowl XXXIII.
20. 2007 New England Patriots
It was unlike any offensive team we had seen to date. And it was a departure from the early days of Tom Brady with the franchise. The acquisition of wide receiver Randy Moss and more trust in the then three-time Super Bowl champion quarterback saw the Patriots score 589 points, still the second-most in one season in NFL annals.
Bill Belichick’s club still owns the record for the greatest point differential in a single season as the Pats outscored their 16 victims by a combined 315 points. The club would take an 18-0 record into Super Bowl LII against the Giants and scored its fewest points of 2007 in a 17-14 setback.
19. 1941 Chicago Bears
The franchise from the Windy City has certainly gotten its due on these pages and rightfully so. The club was looking to repeat an NFL champions and embarked on a season that saw them win 10 of their 11 regular-season games. The Bears’ imposing plus-249 point differential (396-147) is tied for 10th in NFL history.
And while George Halas’ team didn’t put up 73 points on either of their ’41 playoff opponents, they bested the Packers (33-14) and Giants (37-9) by a combined 70-23 score. Including the postseason, Chicago scored at least 31 points in 10 of their 13 outings – including 48-plus points on four occasions.
18. 1966 Green Bay Packers
The team is arguably best remembered for winning the initial “AFL-NFL World Championship Game,” which would eventually earn the nom de guerre of Super Bowl I. Vince Lombardi’s club was in the midst of winning three straight NFL titles.
This version of the Packers finished 12-2, held on to beat the Cowboys in the NFL title game and then dominated the AFL’s Kansas City Chiefs in the second half on Super Sunday. Green Bay limited 10 of its 14 regular-season opponents to 16 points or less.
Legendary quarterback Bart Starr enjoyed a solid year and capped it off by capturing Super Bowl MVP honors in the club’s 35-10 win.
17. 1994 San Francisco 49ers
Off back-to-back losses in the 1992 and ‘93 NFC title games to the Dallas Cowboys, the third time would be the charm for a 49ers’ team – bolstered heavily via free agency. The biggest addition was Hall of Fame cornerback Deion Sanders, who spent one season in San Francisco.
But it paid off for both the player and the organization as George Seifert’s club finished 13-3, then exploded in the playoffs. Quarterback Steve Young was the NFL’s Most Valuable Player and his six TD passes in Super Bowl XXIX earned him game MVP honors. The Niners scored 505 points in the regular season and 131 more in three postseason contests.
16. 1986 New York Giants
Bill Parcells became the head coach in 1983 and his debut resulted in a 3-12-1 finish. But the Giants would slowly but surely grow, reaching the postseason each of the next three years and winning at least one playoff game in each instance. The ‘86 campaign started with a Monday night loss at Dallas and seven games into the season the team owned a 5-2 record.
But the Giants would not lose again on the way to a 14-2 regular-season mark. There was a 49-3 thrashing of the 49ers in the divisional round, a 17-0 blanking of Washington in the NFC title game and a come-from-behind rout of the Broncos in Super Bowl XXI.
15. 2016 New England Patriots
Their starting quarterback was suspended for the first four games of the season. And any other team may have been a little deflated by this news. But the Patriots were in the midst of a run which saw them reach the Super Bowl four times in five years. Tom Brady would return in Week 5 and in 12 games threw for 3,554 yards, 28 scores and just two interceptions. The team disposed of the Texans and Steelers in the AFC playoffs but more than halfway through Super Bowl LI the club was down 28-3 to the Falcons. But the Pats responded with the final 31 points of the game, the last six in overtime via a James White TD run.
14. 1950 Cleveland Browns
They had dominated all four seasons of a league names the All-America Football Conference. They, along with the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Colts, joined the NFL in 1950. The Cleveland Browns won the AAFC title in each of its four years of existence.
But how would Paul Brown’s club fare against the more-established NFL? The answer came quickly in a 35-10 conquest of the two-time champion Philadelphia Eagles in the season’s first week. Led by quarterback Otto Graham, the Browns would finish with a 10-2 record and knocked off the talented Los Angeles Rams, 30-28, in a memorable NFL Championship Game.
13. 2004 New England Patriots
Bill Belichick’s team entered the season with a 15-game overall winning streak and the Patriots would best their first six opponents in 2004. Their 21-game winning streak would end with a loss to the Steelers but it would be the first of two visits to Pittsburgh that year. Overall, the club finished 14-2 and entered the playoffs playing balanced football. They limited Peyton Manning and the Colts to a field goal in snowy Foxborough, avenged that loss to the Steelers in the AFC title game then held off the Eagles to win Super Bowl XXXIX. You could make a case that this was the best edition of the Pats’ six Super Bowl title teams.
12. 2013 Seattle Seahawks
Combine a staunch defense that could pressure the quarterback and create turnovers with a dominant running game featuring the one of the most physical backs in NFL history and you have a Super Bowl championship formula.
Pete Carroll’s club would win 13 regular-season games and head into the playoffs with second-year quarterback Russell Wilson, relentless Marshawn Lynch and the “Legion of Boom.” They stifled the Panthers in the divisional round, held off the 49ers in the NFC title game and obliterated the record-setting Broncos in Super Bowl XLVIII – scoring touchdown on offense, defense and special teams.
11. 1991 Washington Football Team
It was a club that would begin the year with 11 straight victories. Washington would stub its cleats at home against the rising Cowboys and then lose at Philadelphia in the regular-season finale, a game in which Joe Gibbs rested starters.
But once the playoffs began, the team was rolling again. Quarterback Mark Rypien enjoyed a career year and went onto capture Super Bowl XXVI MVP honors. The club’s dominant offensive line was never better and the wide receiver trio of Art Monk, Gary Clark and Ricky Sanders combined for 23 TD grabs. The club’s plus-261 point differential ranks sixth in NFL history.
10. 1962 Green Bay Packers
The lone loss by head coach Vince Lombardi’s second NFL title team came after a 10-0 start, a 26-14 setback at Detroit on Thanksgiving Day. The Packers outscored their opponents a combined 415-148 and Green Bay limited seven of its 14 foes to seven points or less – pitching three shutouts.
And a year after blanking the Giants in the NFC Championship Game, 37-0, the Packers prevailed in the rematch in a defensive struggle, 16-7, at New York. There were a slew of Hall of Famers on both sides of the ball. Jim Taylor had a huge year, running for 1,474 yards and 19 scores, and Lombardi’s defense was never better.
9. 1978 Pittsburgh Steelers
After winning back-to-back Super Bowls in 1974 and ‘75, Chuck Noll’s team was a playoff participant the next two years but didn’t get back to the “Big Game.” Then came massive rule changes by the league that opened up the passing attack. And strong-armed Terry Bradshaw and his Hall of Fame wide receiving duo of Lynn Swann and John Stallworth took full advantage.
The defense was still formidable but relied a little more on blitzing than its early days. It added up to 14-2 record followed by a three-game postseason sweep of the Broncos, Oilers and Cowboys in which the Steelers scored 33, 34 and 35 points, respectively.
8. 1976 Oakland Raiders
They lost just one game all season but laid a major egg in New England in Week 4 via a 48-17 setback to upstart Patriots. The Silver and Black cruised to a 13-1 mark, rallied to beat the Pats, stifled the Steelers and overwhelmed the Super Bowl-tested Minnesota Vikings to capture the franchise’s first Lombardi Trophy.
There were a slew of Hall of Famers on offense in quarterback Ken Stabler, wide receiver Fred Biletnikoff, tight end Dave Casper and offensive linemen Gene Upshaw and Art Shell. Linebacker Willie Hall had a big year and underrated speedster Cliff Branch burned defenses deep throughout the year.
7. 1972 Miami Dolphins
It remains the only team in NFL annals to go undefeated and untied for an entire campaign – including the postseason. The 1972 Dolphins were also the first club to feature a pair of 1,000-yard ground gainers in Larry Csonka and Mercury Morris.
Don Shula’s squad, which finished with the league’s top-ranked offense and defense in terms of yardage, totaled an NFL-high 385 points and allowed a league-low 171 points. And that “No Name Defense” limited the Browns, Steelers and Washington to a combined 38 points in the postseason.
But was this really the best Dolphins’ team, which finished a legendary 17-0, to take the field?
6. 1993 Dallas Cowboys
Jimmy Johnson’s club blasted the Bills, 52-17, in Super Bowl XXVII. The following season, minus holdout running back Emmitt Smith, the Cowboys dug themselves a 0-2 hole. He would return and the defending champions would lose just two more games the rest of the year, one of those a fluke on Thanksgiving Day at home.
Smith would not only finish as the league’s MVP but Super Bowl XXVIII’s Most Valuable Player. Dallas’s balanced attack and well-schooled offensive line made life easy for Troy Aikman and company. Johnson’s team disposed of the Packers, 49ers and Bills in the postseason by a combined 95-51 count.
5. 1984 San Francisco 49ers
The team would capture its second Super Bowl title in four years. The team opened the year with six straight victories before stopping its toes at home against the Steelers. But that was it for the remainder of the season when it came to losses as the Niners became the first team to post 15 wins games in a 16-game season.
They got by the tough New York Giants in the divisional round, shut out the Bears in the NFC title game and then humbled 1984 NFL MVP Dan Marino and the Dolphins in Palo Alto, 38-16. Joe Montana was superb and Hall of Famers Ronnie Lott and Fred Dean paced an underrated defensive unit.
4. 1973 Miami Dolphins
Miami won its season opener against the San Francisco 49ers and then saw their 18-game overall winning end in Week 2 vs. the Raiders at Cal Berkley. But Don Shula’s club would drop only one more contest the rest of the year (Week 13) and was dominant in the postseason.
The Dolphins made easy work of the Bengals, Raiders and Vikings – the latter in Super Bowl VIII. So how can a team with a 15-2 overall record top perfection and a 17-0 mark? These ‘Fins featured a well-schooled offensive front, a power ground game and an efficient “No Name” defensive unit. Simply put, the club built on its magical 1972 campaign.
3. 1985 Chicago Bears
What team had the greatest defense for one season in NFL history? The 1976 Steelers, the 2000 Ravens, 2002 Buccaneers, 2013 Seahawks and 2015 Broncos come to mind.
But put together a powerful offensive attack with the league’s best running game and an aggressive defense led by Buddy Ryan and you have a combination that jumped out to a 12-0 start and eventually a 15-1 record. The Bears outscored the opposition during the regular season by a combined 456-198 scores.
Mike Ditka’s team pitched shutouts in the NFC playoffs vs. the Giants and Rams and then stifled the wild card Patriots in Super Bowl XX, 46-10.
2. 1975 Pittsburgh Steelers
The Steelers were coming off what would be the first of four Super Bowl titles in six years. And that 1975 team dominated throughout with the exception of a Week 2 home loss to the Bills and running back O.J. Simpson.
Chuck Noll’s club followed that setback with an 11-game winning streak, sweeping the powerful AFC Central which featured the 11-3 Bengals and the 10-4 Oilers. The Steelers took a 12-2 record into the postseason and knocked off the Colts, Raiders and Cowboys on the way to winning Super Bowl X.
Lynn Swann enjoyed a big season and physical cornerback Mel Blount was the NFL Defensive Player of the Year.
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1. 1989 San Francisco 49ers
You could argue that the Super Bowl XXIV champions were the most complete team in NFL history. The defense didn’t get nearly the accolades that the 49ers’ explosive attack did. But safety Ronnie Lott and linebackers Charles Haley, Keena Turner and Bill Romanowski led an underrated unit that played very physical football.
Quarterback Joe Montana rebounded from a subpar 1988 and enjoyed the best year of his Hall of Fame career. First-time NFL head coach George Seifert spearheaded a club that finished 14-2. And in the playoffs, the Niners dominated the Vikings, Rams and Broncos by a combined score of 126-26.