Re: Were the '87 49ers the BEST ONE-AND-DONE playoff team ever?
Posted: Sun Jul 26, 2026 2:10 pm
Bringing the '73 Vikings up was simply a change-of-subject. Just pointing out the new opinion I have that they are the best-ever Viking squad. Finished 12-2, made it to the Super as a real great team, but the result just went to show just how even-greater, a steamroller of a team, that '73 Dolphin squad was.Ten Minute Ticker wrote: ↑Sun Jul 26, 2026 1:43 pmDisagree.74_75_78_79_ wrote: ↑Sun Jul 26, 2026 9:37 amTake away San Fran's scab games, and it's still 10-2. As for #1 in offense and defense, not sure if those stats hold-up if you take away Wks#4-thru-#6. I can't imagine it'd be much less. They were still a SB-win-caliber team to me, only losing at Pittsburgh in the very first game and allowing the Saints, who also finished 10-2, to split with them. I guess they and the '96 Broncos would have to be the top-two teams in this given thread. This, especially, considering they'd each go on to win back-to-back Super Bowls the next two seasons!SeahawkFever wrote: ↑Sun Jul 26, 2026 1:06 am
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: If Fran Tarkenton is on the Vikings his entire prime, then in 1970 they would’ve had a better chance than they ever did with him in reality.
The Purple People Eaters were better in 69 and 70 than 73-77, and in 1970 specifically had they played Dallas, they’d face Craig Morton, not Roger Staubach, and the AFC team was the 1970 Colts (in my book a worse opponent than the four teams they lost to)
The '70 Vikings not only didn't have Tarkenton, but not Kapp either. This definitely keeps them from 'best' one-and-done. And not just that...but no Chuck Foreman yet either! He needs to be mentioned in this in the same way that Fran is!
Of course you got to love Joe Kapp's style - a 'football player' as much as he was a QB! Gritty, smash-mouth, LBer-mentality, played with a kicker's mask, etc. But truthfully, MVP season aside, he was a downgrade from HOFer-to-be Tarkenton. IMO the Vikings with Fran instead don't beat the Chiefs either in SBIV, but maybe with he and Foreman, they have an even-odds chance! And they definitely ought to win-it-all in 1970 with, again, an even-odds chance to beat Dallas (then Miami) in '71 as well.
I've very recently come to the opinion (writing this, actually, for the first time) that the 1973 Vikings are now the best Viking team ever, thus very recently demoting 1969. They did win 12 games, started 9-0, and within that very start beat three winning teams: one of them an AFFCG-participant, and another a team that finished 12-2 just as they did! Yes, Minny's defense by then was beneath their turn-of-the-decade status from a few years prior, but not at all by much. STILL the Purple People Eaters! Tarkenton & Foreman, however, a significant upgrade! Just like I think had Ferragamo/Tyler been with the Rams all decade long, the Rams at least make it to (maybe, just maybe, even win) a Super Bowl prior to '79 - on a bigger scale - I think Fran/Chuck, '69-thru-'71, wins Minny at least one Super Bowl period.
The 1970 Vikings may not have had the offensive names, but they were third in scoring that season. They put 54 on the Cowboys and scored 30 at Detroit that season. In their final two regular season games, admittedly against lousy competition, they scored 35 and 37.
That Vikings team barely gave up 10 points per game. For all of their lack of star power, their best defensive players - Alan Page and Carl Eller - are two of the best of all-time and they were at their zenith in this period. You can't ignore their elite defensive players in assessing them.
Other than as an aside, I'm not sure what makes the 1973 Vikings relevant to this. They weren't a one-and-one. The 1971 Vikings are the comp, but they were much worse than 1970 in terms of scoring even as the defense was slightly better than 1970.
As for the 1987 49ers? I'm sorry, but I cannot take anything from the 1987 season seriously. I think the nature of that season makes historical comparisons disqualifying. All of the team stats are skewed by the strike games. At least in 1982, all of the games were played by bona fide NFL players, even if the much smaller sample size also makes historical comparisons disqualifying.
The non-strike Niners were 10-2 and were obviously good, but they also needed a gift-wrapped victory against the clueless Bengals just before the strike to get there. They finished strong, the margins of victory were well up there, but apart from the Bears, they achieved it against flotsam (Green Bay, Atlanta, Rams).
They both belong on a list of the best without doubt.
I guess one-and-done should also count even if it's a case of losing the ONLY playoff game to be played. If that's the case, then why NOT pick the '42 - and '34 - Bears? This, especially, if I already have been proclaiming the 1941 team as the best-of-all-time.readjack wrote: ↑Thu Jul 23, 2026 6:47 pmYeah, looking just in the SB era when the playoffs became more relevant, the '05 Colts were truly shocking. They had obviously been kicking around for seven years, and '05 seemed like THE year. 14-2, 2nd ranked offense but more crucially, 2nd ranked defense. New England was dipping a bit. The Colts losing in the divisional, and then how they lost, that combo — just stunning.Brian wolf wrote: ↑Thu Jul 23, 2026 6:24 pm Yep ... though I was trying to look at that Bears team from 1940 to 1942 that went what, 31-4 before that loss? Since the modern T-Formation as well.
Other teams to consider:
1964 Colts
2005 Colts -- werent they the first 14-2 team to go one and done?
I was living in Indy at the time and you could feel the dismay after that game. (Same day that my Bears also lost at home, so I was upset for different reasons. But in terms of just feeling the vibe in a city, that loss to Pittsburgh was massive.)
'64 Colts a solid choice in that regard, but I'll place '34 & '42 above them. I'll place both of those Bears teams above the '51 & '53 Browns as well - and also above the '48 Cardinals.
Back to the SB-era, the '05 Colts a solid choice! But the 'Burgh was simply a different and more-improved team from the last time they saw them in that MNF defeat, Steelers learning from it and applying a different strategy - opening things up with more passing to give them that 14-0 early lead while still applying their smash-mouth style.