Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

In what order would you rank the Super Bowl champions of the 1980s:

1980 Oakland
1981 San Francisco
1982 Washington
1983 LA Raiders
1984 San Francisco
1985 Chicago
1986 New York Giants
1987 Washington
1988 San Francisco
1989 San Francisco

1. 1989 San Francisco - one of the great all-time teams and I have them slightly ahead of the 1984 San Francisco team mainly because they had Jerry Rice.
2. 1984 San Francisco
3. 1985 Chicago
4. 1986 New York Giants
5. 1983 LA Raiders
6. 1982 Washington
7. 1981 San Francisco
8. 1988 San Francisco
9. 1987 Washington
10. 1980 Oakland

Your top 10 ranking of the Super Bowl Champions of the 1980s? Now, if you want to really split hairs think of ranking the Super Bowl losing teams of the 1980s!

1. 1985 Chicago-Might very well have repeated if Mac was healthy the next year.
2. 1983 Raiders-Last day in the sun before the decline.
3. 1984 San Francisco-Best team of their five SB winners.
4. 1989 San Francisco-Great playoff run, but I think the Packers, Giants, and Steelers (or Bills) would have challenged them more.
5. 1987 Washington-Most underrated SB winner of the 80's, and better than the 91 team.
6. 1986 Giants-Good team that gets too much love.
7. 1988 San Francisco-Walsh's last stand.
8. 1981 San Francisco-Dawn of a dynasty.
9. 1980 Raiders-Big surprise winner.
10. 1982 Redskins-Kicker leads the way.

1. 1985 da Bearss
2. 1989 49ers
3. 1984 49ers
4. 1983 Raiders
5. 1981 49ers
6. 1986 Giants (take out LT and they drop to 10th)
7. 1982 Redskins
8. 1988 49ers
9. 1987 Redskins
10. 1980 Raiders... Probably no better than the 4th best team in the league. (Even that is generous). But things broke just right for them in my all time favorite NFL season. So much parity.

89 49ers
84 49ers
85 Bears
83 Raiders
86 Giants
88 49ers
81 49ers
87 Redskins
80 Raiders
82 Redskins

The 1989 49ers played a tougher schedule in a more rugged NFC than 1984

7DnBrnc53 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 09, 2026 10:21 am 1. 1985 Chicago-Might very well have repeated if Mac was healthy the next year.
2. 1983 Raiders-Last day in the sun before the decline.
3. 1984 San Francisco-Best team of their five SB winners.
4. 1989 San Francisco-Great playoff run, but I think the Packers, Giants, and Steelers (or Bills) would have challenged them more.
5. 1987 Washington-Most underrated SB winner of the 80's, and better than the 91 team.
6. 1986 Giants-Good team that gets too much love.
7. 1988 San Francisco-Walsh's last stand.
8. 1981 San Francisco-Dawn of a dynasty.
9. 1980 Raiders-Big surprise winner.
10. 1982 Redskins-Kicker leads the way.

In your opinion why are the 87 Redskins better than 91?

I’m not opposed to 1982 being last. That said if the 1983 Redskins won it all, then you are probably ranking that team ahead of at least three or four of the teams above 82 on your list.

SeahawkFever wrote: ↑Fri Oct 09, 2026 5:24 pm

7DnBrnc53 wrote: ↑Fri Oct 09, 2026 10:21 am 1. 1985 Chicago-Might very well have repeated if Mac was healthy the next year.
2. 1983 Raiders-Last day in the sun before the decline.
3. 1984 San Francisco-Best team of their five SB winners.
4. 1989 San Francisco-Great playoff run, but I think the Packers, Giants, and Steelers (or Bills) would have challenged them more.
5. 1987 Washington-Most underrated SB winner of the 80's, and better than the 91 team.
6. 1986 Giants-Good team that gets too much love.
7. 1988 San Francisco-Walsh's last stand.
8. 1981 San Francisco-Dawn of a dynasty.
9. 1980 Raiders-Big surprise winner.
10. 1982 Redskins-Kicker leads the way.

In your opinion why are the 87 Redskins better than 91?

I’m not opposed to 1982 being last. That said if the 1983 Redskins won it all, then you are probably ranking that team ahead of at least three or four of the teams above 82 on your list.

Agreed. in '87 the QBs were average at best. They were -3 in turnovers.
Very good pass rush and pass D

1989 San Francisco 49ers
1985 Chicago Bears
1986 New York Giants
1984 San Francisco 49ers
1983 LA Raiders
1981 San Francisco 49ers
1980 Oakland Raiders
1988 San Francisco 49ers
1982 Washington Redskins
1987 Washington Redskins

In your opinion why are the 87 Redskins better than 91?

Better defense. Williams was a better QB than Rypien. They still had Clint Didier as receiving TE. In 1991, they just had blockers at the position, basically.

7DnBrnc53 wrote: ↑Mon Oct 12, 2026 9:34 am

In your opinion why are the 87 Redskins better than 91?

Better defense. Williams was a better QB than Rypien. They still had Clint Didier as receiving TE. In 1991, they just had blockers at the position, basically.

The thing about Mark Rypien is that he outplayed the level of talent he was in the year Washington won it all with him.

If we ranked the Super Bowl winning quarterbacks, he’s probably always going to end up in the bottom five, ten if we are being generous, but if you go by how they performed in the year itself, he was pretty solid.

No argument for Williams being a better talent if you want to look at it that way though. Didier did more receiving than the tight ends in 91 did, though 87 wasn’t his best year as a target (his raw totals would be lower because of the strike, but either way he averaged only about 20 yards per game).

Defensively I’d say you could go either way, both teams were in the upper quartile of the league (87 ranked 6th, 91 ranked 2nd)