Best Barry Sanders-Lions squad besides '91?

[74_75_78_79_]

Four playoff teams to pick from. Two of them 10-6s ('93 & '95), the other two at 9-7 ('94 & '97, the latter under Bobby Ross instead of Fontes). Who's best amongst this quartet?

My pick would have to be '95; and who's to say that '91 is a 'shoe-in' for best Sanders-Lions team overall (I'm sure some here will second this)? That 12-4 finish was product of a soft-enough schedule, and other than spilting with Bears and simply matching up well vs a not-yet-championship-caliber Dallas team, not much going for them. Against the two real 'Big Boys' - Wash & SF - they lose by a combined 78-3 (only to get humiliated again by Wash in NFCC). And, mind you, that Niner pounding came in midst of San Fran's 4-6 start (they getting swept by Atl). Echoing what I already stated in my '91 Power Rankings thread, that finale at Buffalo shouldn't really count and fast-forwarding to '95 (echoing what I said on that Power thread), at least Lions beat San Fran along with spliting with Pack and sweeping Bears - making it four regular season wins vs above-500 teams as opposed to just two in '91. Perhaps Lions were 'spent' going into Philly on that 7-game-win-streak.

[Todd Pence]

I would agree with '95. In fact, pound for pound, they were probably superior to the '91 team. Their unraveling in the play-in loss to the Eagles is one of the most head-scratching post season games I've seen in my lifetime.

[JWL]

The 1995 team is my choice. They lost a bunch of tight games early and then went on a big winning streak at the end of the year. Furthermore, their point differential was better that year than the others.