Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Unless one or some of you think an 8-win team should be mentioned, I'd think the 'nominees' here would be...

'50 Giants, 10-2
'50 Bears, 9-3
'51 Giants, 9-2-1
'52 Rams, 9-3
'53 Forty Niners, 9-3
'56 Lions, 9-3
'58 Browns, 9-3

Who do you think is best among these? I personally lean toward the '56 Lions. I may be wrong, but I think had Layne not gotten knocked out in the end, they make it to, and win, the Title more likely than not. They were championship-caliber, noticeably more-so than '57 if '57 even was; perhaps a 'good' team they were instead, now without Parker/Layne, who made a miracle comeback against another good team, then played an opponent at home whose # they had all decade long along with this opponent no longer having Otto Graham.

1957 Colts ... hands down. They were growing up in a hurry but never should have lost a big lead to Detroit that was mentioned, or allowed Brodie to beat them on a TD pass coming off the bench. Even had they beaten the 49ers, there is no guarantee they would have beaten the Rams in the season finale but it would have been interesting with three teams at 8-4. They probably would have played Detroit in the playoff had they lost to the Rams? Turnovers hurt them in other games. I feel they could have beaten any of the early 50s teams with better records.

The 52 Rams probably should have repeated but they were still alternating QBs and Hirsch wasnt the same player that he was in 1951. The offense fell off, though better balance amongst the receivers but the defense was much better with the addition of Dick Lane. Even with Layne not throwing well, once Det jumped out 14-0 in the playoff game, the Rams couldnt catch up.

1950 Giants had a great defense but I feel the Rams would have outscored them. With Layne healthy, I believe Detroit would have beaten out the Giants and Bears in 1956.*

*My fault with spelling.

Brian wolf wrote: ↑Fri Nov 21, 2025 11:35 am 1957 Colts ... hands down.

That's a very strong choice, Mr. Wolf and one with which I would whole-heartedly concur.
With virtually every member of the Champions of 1958 & 1959 and some of the all-time greats the 1957 Colts were a very, very good team.

The 1953 49ers had talent to burn but just couldnt get by the Lions. They ended the year on a four game winning streak. They could sweep the Rams, who swept the Lions. The Rams could also be added to this thread at 8-3-1 but lost a late game to the Bears that ended their division hopes.

Cool thread just to show how close many of these teams were to winning their divisions.

I know, with only a 7-5 record, its easy to dismiss the Colts who had to learn how to beat teams consistently, but what a year of learning, very similar to the later 1991 Cowboys and 1971 Steelers, who had young players that had been used to winning in college.

JuggernautJ wrote: ↑Sat Nov 22, 2025 4:47 am

Brian wolf wrote: ↑Fri Nov 21, 2025 11:35 am 1957 Colts ... hands down.

That's a very strong choice, Mr. Wolf and one with which I would whole-heartedly concur.
With virtually every member of the Champions of 1958 & 1959 and some of the all-time greats the 1957 Colts were a very, very good team.

VERY interesting opinion! Hard to place a...7-5 installment in the mix yet alone say they were better than all teams mentioned thus far, but coming from both of you, perhaps place it in a petri dish and see if it grows with me. And if not, I guess I can at least consider them a quintessential ANTI-paper-tiger!

Quite the contenders of this decade that seem to mirror/parallel some '90s contenders. Most of this has been mentioned already. For starters there's '51 & '99 Rams. And then back-to-back Colts and back-to-back Broncos...https://profootballresearchers.com/foru ... php?t=7283

Could '92/'93 Cowboys be paired-up with '52/'53 Lions? And how about '54/'94? Browns finally getting over the hump against Detroit, San Fran getting over hump vs Big D. No, Dallas didn't get blown-out as Detroit did but I believe some in here have called the '54 Lions a stronger team that the two previous years as some have opined '94 Cowboys being stronger than their two prior installments as well. Had San Fran repeated in '95, we could match them up with '54 AND '55 Browns!

Super Bowl XXV is arguably the best SB of all-time, the 1950 NFLCG also argued as the best ever LCG game.

Not '96 Bears, but maybe you can compare/parallel the 2006 Bears to their '56 squad.

Yeah, I'll allow the '57 Colts a chance to 'grow' on me. But for now its the '56 Lions. Second-place? I'd say the '50 Giants. Swept Cleveland in the regular season and then held them to 8pts in the tie-breaker. That 'Umbrella'...you're probably right, Wolf, on Rams outscoring them. THAT would have been a Dandy to see...both of them play in 1950 (Bears & Browns didn't play against each other that year either)!

Factoid: just SIX teams total can say that they played in a League Championship Game in the 1950s!

Yeah, the Colts didnt get it done against SF but their defense shut down YA Tittle ... who knew that Brodie would come in and beat them? The Colts had no answer for the "King". I just feel had Tittle not left the game to injury, the Colts would have won 13-10. Give Brodie credit for finding McElhenny for his ONLY completion! Had the Colts won, I believe a totally different mindset for the Rams game, knowing Weeb might get his chance to face and beat his mentor in the championship ...

In the books I have read about the Colts, to a man, they felt they should have won it all in 1957. Some players even felt that team was better than the 1958 squad, before the team had problems with rookie, John Sample. Being blunt, Raymond Berry blamed a couple of losses on Lenny Moore's fumbles but also admitted that they needed his great play to win it all, later.

Youre right about the 1950 Giants, 74-79... they did shut down the Browns and may have shut down the Rams as well. It seemed though that the Rams were more vertical an attack, where the Browns did a more ball-control passing attack. If the game had been in NY, the weather might have affected the Rams more but it would have been a great game I believe.

1957 49ers

All that offensive talent yet they couldn’t onto a sizeable kead vs a decent at best Detroit team without Layne

1957 Western Conference teams with won/lost record (.500 or over) and offensive and defensive rankings (by points, of 12 NFL teams):
Lions 8-4, 6th, 7th
49ers 8-4, 4th, 9th
Colts 7-5 2nd, 8th
Rams 6-6 1st, 10th
With the lowest total being best that puts the Colts at a total of 10, the Rams at 11 and the 49ers and Lions tied at 13.

In the East:
Browns 9-2, 3rd, 1st
Giants 7-5, 5th, 3rd
Steelers 6-6, 12th, 2nd

For the other teams mentioned in the OP:
'50 Giants, 10-2, 6th, 3rd
'50 Bears, 9-3, 5th, 5th
'51 Giants, 9-2-1, 6th, 2nd
'52 Rams, 9-3, 1st, 6th
'53 Forty Niners, 9-3, 1st, 6th
'56 Lions, 9-3, 2nd, 3rd
'58 Browns, 9-3, 3rd, 3rd

Any team (imo) with Jim Brown on it is also worthy of consideration... as long as they don't have to play against a team with Sam Huff in the playoffs.