Wins that began/started an era

[7DnBrnc53]

2011 Broncos: The win over the Steelers in the playoffs began a new era that has seen the Broncos win five straight AFC titles, two AFC titles, and one SB win.

[BD Sullivan]

2011 Broncos: The win over the Steelers in the playoffs began a new era that has seen the Broncos win five straight AFC titles, two AFC titles, and one SB win.

Realistically, the signing of Manning got that era started.

[CSKreager]

The Peyton Manning era in Indianapolis really took off when they beat Dallas in a battle of 4-2 team on Halloween '99.

[7DnBrnc53]

2011 Broncos: The win over the Steelers in the playoffs began a new era that has seen the Broncos win five straight AFC titles, two AFC titles, and one SB win.

Realistically, the signing of Manning got that era started.

That took it to another level, but before 2011, the Broncos missed the playoffs for five straight years, and they were coming off of the disasterous Josh McDaniels tenure.

[Gary Najman]

I would put the 1990 Thanksgiving game between Dallas and Washington. Dallas was 4-7 at that time, while Washington was 6-4 (in those years there were two bye weeks for each team) and the Redskins were 5.5 point favorites. Emmitt Smith, then a rookie ran for 132 yards and 2 touchdowns (career highs for Smith back then) to help the Cowboys win 27-17. The Cowboys nearly made the playoffs that year, but they lost the last two games when Troy Aikman was injured and Babe Laufenberg replaced him. Before the Redskins game no one viewed the Cowboys as playoff contenders in 1990 and beyond (as Buddy Ryan said to Jimmy Johnson, there were no East Carolinas in the NFL) and many people back then lamented that they lost Herschel Walker and that Smith wouldn't keep with the pounding of the NFL.

[Todd Pence]

Week 3 of the 1960 season - Vince Lombardi's Packers defeat the two-time defending champion Colts 35-21. Up to this point, the Pack really hadn't had a bona fide signature win in Lombardi's year-plus tenure. They rode the momentum of this one all the way to the NFL title game, and the rest is history.

[7DnBrnc53]

1976 Patriots

After an opening day loss to the defending AFC East champion Colts, the Pats beat Miami 30-14. They went on to defeat the Steelers and Raiders the next two weeks en route to an 11-3 finish. That win kicked off a strange era of Patriot football (1976-81) that had excitement, heartbreak, frustration, and underachieving all rolled into one.