Top 5 teams since 1980

[74_75_78_79_]

In the 35 years that I've been following football, the 1989 San Francisco Forty Niners IMO are - bar-none - Numero Uno in that very span. No question, to me. Biased or not or somewhere in-between, I can and will argue that my late-'70s Steelers were better, but I won't do so full-throttle. I'll leave the door opened wide enough for an opposing argument; I simply have too much respect. There is strong, respectable argument amongst many outside the 'Burgh that they're the best ever.

As for who's right behind, I not only have a hard time figuring out who the 2nd-best team may be in this 35 year stretch, but even rounding out an entire 'Mt Rushmore'-plus-one of sorts is just too tough. Up until relatively recently, I saw the '90 Niners as the 'slightly weaker twin brother' (they did amaze me that season as well), but I've come to agree more and more with some of you in here in that the '90 installment wasn't really that close behind after all. Very great team, maybe just outside Top 5 (maybe #6), but outside just the same.

You got your obvious '85 Bears whom I may have sort-of underrated through the years due chiefly to their pass-defense IMO (and in the opinion of many others outside Chi-Town) not being truly, properly tested enough during that campaign. Unfair, perhaps, for I always felt they beat Miami in a hypo rematch that January anyway - and by convincing enough margin (10-13 pts, maybe a bit more). They were (still are) quite scary! Maybe there is no other team but '89 SF above them. Now the '00 Ravens I will historically underrate a bit and for that very "pass-D not tested enough" reason. An almost flawless D (vs run-oriented or balanced attacks, that is; would have loved to see them vs Rams that year), but Tennessee was the overall stronger team to me in '00. The criminally, historically underrated '02 Bucs were likely better than the Ravens as well (equal with them at absolute worst).

You got the other obvious ones like the early-'90s Cowboys, '94 Niners, the late-'90s Broncos, the '99 Rams, and let's throw 2013's Legion of Boom into the mix, of course! There are those who "should have" won it all like the '98 Vikings, '07 Pats, and '11 Pack, but only the middle of those three should really be considered. Minn & GB were a bit too pass-heavy/reliant end of day. Yes, 16-0 Pats lacked the balance as well that their earlier (and 2014) installments who actually won it all had, but didn't lack it quite as bad. The 2007 Pats were quite special and really are the only Belichick squad to match up head-to-head with all the greats just mentioned. And then there are the other - like '02 Bucs - classically overlooked squads such as the '83 Raiders, '84 Niners, '86 Giants, '91 Redskins, any of the Pats SB-winners (let's dig deeper, why don't we, by adding '81 Niners & '90 Giants).

Anyways, #1 is the only slot I have filled for now. Who do you all have in the other four slots? Help inspire me, why don't you? Does one or two of you actually have another team at #1??

[conace21]

1984 49ers
1985 Bears
1989 49ers
1998 Broncos
2002 Bucs

In chronological order...

[Bryan]

I'm not really understanding the love for the 2002 Bucs. It was an upset for them to beat Philly in the NFC title game, considering they lost to Philly during the regular season, too. The Brad Johnson-Michael Pittman-MeShawn Johnson offense just doesn't do it for me. Statistically, there is no way the Bucs could be considered better than teams like the 1991 Skins or 1996 Packers. The most amazing thing about the 2002 Bucs is their pass defense, holding opposing QBs to a 48.4 rating (facing Randy Fasani, Rodney Peete & Tim Couch in a 5-game stretch doesn't hurt)...yet the 1994 Niners have a better QB rating differential than the Bucs (+43.3 vs. +37.9).

This is a much more difficult question than I originally thought. The multiple-title winning teams didn't really have the best single-year squads other than the 49ers. The Cowboys and Pats can lay claim to Team of the Decade, but I don't know if they were 'better' than the 1985 Bears. The last back-to-back winners were the 2003-2004 Pats, and they impressively went 14-2 both years...yet they still don't make my top 5 list. Maybe I am biased towards the older teams, or maybe its a product of the salary cap era, but it seems like the recent teams don't have the collection of talent that a team like the 94 Niners or 93 Cowboys had. The 1994 Niners might have been the last "super team" in NFL history. Teams today wouldn't have the cap space to sign Deion Sanders and have guys like Richard Dent and Tim Harris sitting on the bench.

1) 1984 Niners - great depth and a bit stronger on defense than the 1989 team, IMO. No Jerry Rice, though
2) 1985 Bears - the only team in memory that has laid waste to the NFL landscape "like Samson among the Philistines" since the Colts in 1968. A dominant season.
3) 1989 Niners - could be #1, not much difference between the top 3, IMO.
4) 1991 Redskins - probably way off base, but I love this team. Great mix of coaching, talent and experience.
5) 1994 Niners - strange that Seifert has 2 of the top 5 teams. I don't think many/any team in the last 35 years can match their talent level.

[3533]

1984 49ers
1985 Bears
1989 49ers
1991 Redskins
1998 Broncos

[74_75_78_79_]

'84 Niners getting the love, I see....

Despite finishing 15-1, the '84 Niners are unfairly overlooked. They're certainly a strong 'Top 5 since 1980' candidate as well as for the #2 spot. As far as being #1, however, IMHO it is Rice (and Taylor, and Brent Jones) that make all the difference to me when overall comparing them to the '89 installment. A huge difference. '84 Niners vs '85 Bears head-to-head? Because of that very receiving tandem not being present, I give the Bears an edge (slight edge), but in a tournament vs all-time greats, I'm bringing along the '84 San Fran D instead of the '46' - especially if I have to go up against the likes of the early-'80s Chargers, '84 PHINS, '94 Niners, '98 Vikes, '99 Rams and what not. I won't argue against that D being slightly better than the '89 one hence being the best Niner D ever.

Not sure why Dallas is being ignored. 1992 and/or '93 (no real difference between the two) no question a super-strong candidate for 'Top 5' or #2 as well. Super talent and well-balanced at both sides of the ball with the perfect HC for that very squad who built that fine oiled machine from scratch! They vs '84 Niners? Who knows? I sure don't. One of many, many examples why I may never be able to fill out the four other spots.

'02 Bucs? I might be giving them too much 'underrated' love. I'm not saying they should be in the 'Top 5', but they should generally be mentioned more by the masses and definitely deserved to be mentioned in my original post; and mentioned no less than the '00 Ravens IMO. Either they're the same or the Bucs get the nod. I lean heavy on the latter.

'96 Packers...I'm so glad Favre got a Ring! I wish he would have won more, but JMHO as I've said before, they winning in '96 had enough to do with them avoiding Dallas (or at least Jimmy Johnson) and Shanny shooting Denver in the foot that December by resting his starters. Even if they get by Dallas which is still likely enough to me, I think Denver likely prevails in a hypo '96 SB between the two. As much as I wish Favre would have won vs Denver in '97, I think Denver was likely the better team the year before as well. Could be wrong though. Either way, I should have mentioned the '96 Broncos in the original post.

[Bryan]

'84 Niners getting the love, I see....

Despite finishing 15-1, the '84 Niners are unfairly overlooked. They're certainly a strong 'Top 5 since 1980' candidate as well as for the #2 spot. As far as being #1, however, IMHO it is Rice (and Taylor, and Brent Jones) that make all the difference to me when overall comparing them to the '89 installment. A huge difference.

84 Niners had the superior run game (2465 yards, 4.6 AVG, 21 TDs vs. 1966 yards, 4.0 AVG, 14 TDs) and IMO were stronger in the OL. Roger Craig had a ton of mileage on him from 1985-1988, and was slowing down in 1989. The 84 Niners might not have had the star power of the 89 Niners, but I think they were a more well-rounded team. JMO.

Not sure why Dallas is being ignored. 1992 and/or '93 (no real difference between the two) no question a super-strong candidate for 'Top 5' or #2 as well. Super talent and well-balanced at both sides of the ball with the perfect HC for that very squad who built that fine oiled machine from scratch! They vs '84 Niners? Who knows? I sure don't. One of many, many examples why I may never be able to fill out the four other spots.

I didn't ignore them, but there's only 5 spots. Again, the 1984 Niners had better rushing stats across the board than the 92 or 93 Cowboys. Montana threw 11 TDs in the 1989 postseason...Aikman threw 15 TDs in the 1993 regular season. Dallas was a great team, and perhaps deserve one of the top 5 spots, but I think there is a clear 'greatness' deliniation between them and the great Niners squads of 1984 and 1989.

'96 Packers...I'm so glad Favre got a Ring! I wish he would have won more, but JMHO as I've said before, they winning in '96 had enough to do with them avoiding Dallas (or at least Jimmy Johnson) and Shanny shooting Denver in the foot that December by resting his starters. Even if they get by Dallas which is still likely enough to me, I think Denver likely prevails in a hypo '96 SB between the two. As much as I wish Favre would have won vs Denver in '97, I think Denver was likely the better team the year before as well. Could be wrong though. Either way, I should have mentioned the '96 Broncos in the original post.

Denver was probably better in 1996 than 1997, but the Packers were #1 in both offense and defense in 1996, and also had the NFL MVP at QB. Don't know if thats ever happened in NFL history, and I don't really see how you can conclude that Denver was the better team that year. I'm guessing GB would have had a good chance of beating Dallas in the playoffs in 1996 considering they finally had HFA. They beat Dallas 45-17 the following year, FWIW.

[Reaser]

Most the of the teams from the mid-2000's to current would end up at/near the bottom of the list for an 'all-time' SB champion list. It's more like a crapshoot than great teams (save for the last two years), compared to previous eras when at the end of the season you feel like the best team won. So it's easy to take all those teams out, take out all the wild card 'champions', take out the two jacked up seasons ('82 and '87) and you're starting with a smaller list. No one is going to pick '81 49ers (not that there's anything wrong with them) and outside of the '02 Bucs pick (mildly surprising) I doubt any other 2000-current teams would be picked. So really it's Top 5 teams from 1983-1999 (minus '87 and '97) ...

I think these three are the most obvious: 1984 49ers, 1985 Bears and 1989 49ers ...
... and 1994 49ers is an easy choice for me.

The 5th team can be; 1986 Giants, 1991 Redskins or the 1998 Broncos. I'd probably go with the latter just because it seemed like such an easy SB pick. There's been other seasons I "knew" who was going to win ('94 49ers, '13 Seahawks) but before 1998 there was no doubt before the season, Denver was obviously going to win. During the season Minnesota was exciting and of course it became "Denver v. Minnesota" but that obviously didn't happen. So to me the Broncos were #1 before the season, 1a during the season, then easily won the Super Bowl.

[Rupert Patrick]

In order:

1985 Bears
1989 49ers
1994 49ers
2007 Patriots
1998 Vikings

I know the last two are somewhat controversial since they did not win the Super Bowl, but I really think they were the best I have seen, and if the postseason were run thru a dozen times, they would have won the Super Bowl 9 times out of 12.

[conace21]

I forgot about the 96 Packers. I'm bumping the Bucs in favor of the Pack. I forgot Green Bay ranked number 1 in offense and defense...the first team since the undefeated Dolphins to do so.

[Gary Najman]

I forgot about the 96 Packers. I'm bumping the Bucs in favor of the Pack. I forgot Green Bay ranked number 1 in offense and defense...the first team since the undefeated Dolphins to do so.

The 1977 Dallas Cowboys also finished 1st in yards in offense and defense.


http://www.pro-football-reference.com/t ... l/1977.htm