Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

This is a fun topic! Here are my thoughts on what I think would be the most important victory in each team's history.

Bills - The Comeback
Dolphins - SB 7
Patriots - SB 49
Jets - SB 3

Ravens - SB 35
Bengals - Freezer Bowl
Browns - '50 Week 1 vs. Eagles
Steelers - Immaculate Reception

Texans - '02 Week 1 vs. Cowboys
Colts - '58 LC
Jaguars - '99 DV 62-7 vs. Dolphins
Titans/Oilers - '99 CC vs. Jaguars

Broncos - SB 32
Chiefs - SB 4
Raiders - SB 18
Chargers - '81 DV vs. Dolphins

Cowboys - SB 30
Giants - SB 42
Eagles - '80 CC vs. Cowboys
Redskins - '42 LC

Bears - SB 20
Lions - '57 LC
Packers - The Ice Bowl
Vikings - '69 LC

Falcons - '98 CC vs. Vikings
Panthers - '15 CC vs. Cardinals
Saints - '06 Week 3 vs. Falcons
Bucs - SB 37

Cardinals - '47 LC
Rams - SB 34
49ers - SB 19
Seahawks - SB 48

I was thinking about the Raiders most important victory, and that is a tough choice. It could be the Sea of Hands game, or it could be the 1976 Week 1 comeback game against Pittsburgh, or Super Bowl XI. It could also be the 1976 AFC Championship, where they finally win after losing six previous AFL/AFC Championship games in the past eight seasons (and in all six cases, the team they lost to went on to win the Super Bowl), and it was against the Steelers, who beat them the previous two years on their way to winning the Super Bowl, not to mention Pittsburgh also beating them in the Immaculate Reception game. The previous post mentioned Super Bowl XVIII, which I disagree with; I have to go with the 1976 AFC Championship game as their most important victory.

Rupert Patrick wrote:I was thinking about the Raiders most important victory, and that is a tough choice. It could be the Sea of Hands game, or it could be the 1976 Week 1 comeback game against Pittsburgh, or Super Bowl XI. It could also be the 1976 AFC Championship, where they finally win after losing six previous AFL/AFC Championship games in the past eight seasons (and in all six cases, the team they lost to went on to win the Super Bowl), and it was against the Steelers, who beat them the previous two years on their way to winning the Super Bowl, not to mention Pittsburgh also beating them in the Immaculate Reception game. The previous post mentioned Super Bowl XVIII, which I disagree with; I have to go with the 1976 AFC Championship game as their most important victory.

The '76 New England playoff game was likely the most important win. They came VERY close to losing that game and reinforcing the "can't win the big one" image.

I'm a Steeler-fan who's very open (door off the hinges) to the possibility that Raiders still win the AFC even if Franco & Rocky play. After all, it's not as if Steelers blew them out of the water the last two times they played them in the playoffs or always beat them/had their number up to that moment. As a matter of fact, effective '76, the Raiders would have their number up until that '84 finale in LA. To say Steelers "avoided" having to play Raiders in the '78 & '79 playoffs as well as regular season isn't all-too farfetched.

However, fair or not, the fact that Franco & Rocky were out for that game would prevent me personally from placing it as Raiders' "most important" victory even if I was a Raiders-fan. And I also wouldn't use the '76 opener vs a with Franco/Rocky Steeler team being that Steelers were off to that 1-4 start; and it wasn't exactly the first time the Raiders beat them. "Red Right 88", 1980 AFCC, or SBXV itself IMO are better examples than the '76 AFCC but the ultimate example - in agreement with Andrew - is SBXVIII.

It was their third Title, further solidifying their then 'most-winningest team' status, "should've been a Raider all-along"-Lyle finally getting a Ring (teary-eyed afterward), Marcus Allen "running with the night" (Facenda's final narrated game), and the fact that they utterly destroyed a 14-2 Gibbs team that had already experienced winning-it-all the year prior! This very game/campaign etched their spot in history as one of the league's all-time great runs. This being the 'last hurrah' of this very run (Hendricks & Shell winning themselves another Ring) also adds to my reasoning. That's the game I'd pick if I was a Raider-fan.


What's my "most important" Steeler game? I'll have to forego Immaculate and say Super Bowl XIII. When you think that Dynasty, that's the first thing that comes to my mind.

Cowboys - SB 30

I would definitely have to go with Super Bowl VI for the Cowboys... when they shed the "can't win the big one" label.

Detroit Lions: 1952 NFL championship game. That was the start of Detroit's 1950's dynasty in which they won 3 NFL championships and 4 Western Conference titles. They also came close to another conference title in 1956.

Beating Cleveland in the championship game in 1952 gave the Lions great confidence and was the launch vehicle for the rest of Detroit's success during the 1950's.

Giants - one can argue the most important Giants' game (for their franchise) over the last half century was a defeat - their losing at home to the Eagles in November of 1978. Without that ineptitude and firestorm of criticism, maybe they continue to muddle along as they had been doing since 1964. Instead Tim Mara became involved in the decision making process, and the ownership feud led Pete Rozelle to encourage the Giants to hire George Young from Miami, and with a stellar football man in charge, their history really changed for the better.

P.S. Jerry Barca's new book on the building of the 1986 Giants and their '86 season is excellent.

I'd have to say the '98 NFC championship win over Minnesota,or the win over the Bucs,breaking the streak of never had back to back winning seasons for over 40 years!

falconfan58 wrote:I'd have to say the '98 NFC championship win over Minnesota,or the win over the Bucs,breaking the streak of never had back to back winning seasons for over 40 years!

There's no comparing a conference championship game victory to a regular season win that breaks a streak that is essentially meaningless.

rhickok1109 wrote:I think the Packers have sort of had four eras: Lambeau, Lombardi, Favre, and Rodgers, to list them chronologically. But I'll only go with the first two.

Lambeau era: Beating the Giants 20-6 in New York on Nov. 24, 1929. Going on, the teams were tied for first place; the Giants were 8-0-1 and the Packers were 9-0-0. Green Bay took a 7-0 lead early and never trailed. The Packers were on their way to the first NFL championship and the first of three in a row.

Lombardi era: Their 9-6 victory over the Bears on Sept. 27, 1959, in their first regular-season game under Lombardi. After having their worst season in history the year before, winning just one game. to open with a win over their oldest and bitterest rival was really major. They way they did was a harbinger of things to come: They completed only 4 passes, but Taylor and Hornung combined for 159 rushing yards while the defense held the Bears to just 73 yards on 30 carries.

So how about Favre/Holmgren and Rodgers/McCarthy? Super Bowls over Pats & Steelers respectively would have to be the only choices. Had the Pack had the opportunuty to (finally) topple Dallas en route to their SBXXXI triumph, that very likely would be the choice for that period.



Detroit Lions? I'm surprised no one mentions the '57 Western playoff/comeback at Kezar. That would be my personal pick. As for since-'57? Blowing out Dynasty-to-be Dallas in not only Barry Sanders' lone playoff victory, but only playoff win since that very '57 campaign period.