An Alternative Method of Ranking the Top 9 Best Teams of All Time

Hello, people seemed to like my previous post "An Alternative Method of Ranking the Top 10 Worst NFL Teams of All Time." So, I wanted to post the opposite: Teams in the Super Bowl Era who finished with a Margin of Victory (MoV) in the regular season by over two possessions per game (16.1 ppg or higher). Unfortunately, there were only 9, but it doesn't make the list any less compelling. Like before, I am including teams prior to 1994 even though the 2-point conversion did not exist at that time.

For this entry, I"ll have the team name, followed by their MoV, Record, and Margin of Defeat in their losses in separate sets of parentheses, as well as any other relevant notes regarding resting starters that may have affected their final MoV. This will be followed by a paragraph about how they were so dominant. I'll also throw in both their final result for the season, and their best win. [Example: 2015 Arizona Cardinals (+11 MoV) (13-3) (3 losses by a combined 44 points)* - had already clinched the 2 seed prior to Week 17 loss; Starting QB sat out part of the game.]

With that out of the way, here are the Top 10 Teams that won, on average, by more than 2 possessions in the Super Bowl Era (1966-) from "worst" to best:

9: 1985 Chicago Bears (+16.1) (15-1) (1 loss by 14 points) - One of the most infamous teams in NFL history, they're remembered most for their insane 46 defense, which overblitzed teams before they could catch on to the methods of how to beat it, as well as the Super Bowl Shuffle. Forgotten, though, was the fact that they finished 2nd in points scored (while of course being 1st in points allowed). For the era, Jim McMahon had a relatively efficient season, while Walter Payton continued his dominance with 1551 rushing yards. Though, you could argue the defense put them in easy positions to score. Regardless, they both made the Pro Bowl, in addition to 6 more from the defense. Payton won APOY, while Mike Singeltary won DPOY. Even their kicker had the 4th best FG%. The team was simply stacked everywhere. It only turned up more in the playoffs, outscoring the competition 91-10 (and even the one touchdown was in garbage time of the Super Bowl).

Season Result: Super Bowl Champion

Best Win: Super Bowl vs. New England Patriots (46-10). The Patriots had just beaten the one team all year who'd beaten the Bears, and they were rewarded with a brutal beatdown that wasn't as close as the score indicates, despite a 36-point margin.

8: 1991 Washington (+16.3) (14-2) (2 losses by combined 5 points)* - had already clinched 1st seed prior to Week 17 loss; Starters rested midway through the game). - For a couple of decades, I feel as though this team was overlooked, but in the last 10 years, I've seen this team get the recognition it deserves. They had the #1 scoring offense and #2 scoring defense. Their QB, Mark Rypien, finished 4th in MVP voting, and their players combined for over 2,000 rushing yards as a team. On the other side of the ball, Darrell Green was 1st Team All-Pro for a unit that surrendered only 14 PPG. They won by 20+ on 7 separate occasions and featured 8 pro bowlers. None of their playoff games were particularly close, either, as even their closest victory, versus the Bills in the Super Bowl, was a 37-10 score in the 4th quarter before the Bills scored 2 garbage time TD's. I'd wager the main reason this team was overlooked for so long is due to the lack of outspoken, prominent stars, as Darrell Green was their greatest player, and he was a DB, while Art Monk is a mostly forgotten Hall of Famer outside of Washington D.C. Neither had a boisterous reputation. But, as a team, they were nearly unmatched.

Season Result: Super Bowl Champion

Best Win: NFC Championship vs. Detroit Lions (41-10). This was actually the 2nd time that season that Washington had blown out the Lions in D.C., as they started their season with a Week 1 45-0 win over the eventual 12-4 Lions.

7: 1998 Minnesota Vikings (16.3) (15-1) (1 loss by 3 points) - One of the biggest "What If's" of in NFL history, the 1998 Vikings set a then record for total points scored in a season with 556. The offense was stacked, with Randall Cunningham enjoying a career renaissance as a passer alongside two Hall of Fame WR's, Cris Carter and Randy Moss. Robert Smith also made the Pro Bowl as a RB. The offense never scored under 24 in a game, and went over 40 on 4 separate occasions. Meanwhile, multiple members of the defense made it to the Pro Bowl as well, led by All-Pro John Randle. Most are aware that the Vikings had the #1 scoring offense that year, but they also had the 6th ranked scoring defense, forming a dominant team in nearly all facets. They continued their onslaught in the Divisional Round with a 41-21 route of the Cardinals, and seemed on a collision course with the defending champion Broncos before meeting a premature end in the Conference Championship against an underrated Atlanta Falcons squad thanks to a below average performance on both sides of the ball (27-30 final score) while their All-Pro kicker missed a FG that would've iced the game late in the 4th quarter. On a side note, I do find it odd how the team actually scored relatively more points per game as the season went on, even hanging 46 on the 3rd ranked scoring defense (Dallas) on Thanksgiving, yet fell flat offensively by their standards in the NFC Championship.

Season Result: Lost NFC Championship

Best Win: Week 16 vs. Jacksonville Jaguars (50-10), who finished 11-5 that season.

6: 1967 Oakland Raiders* (in AFL) (+16.8) (13-1) (In Week 14 Win, starting QB sat midway through game) - The only AFL team on the list, which is why they get an asterisk, but few are aware of this team's dominance of that season. The underrated bomber QB Daryl Lamonica finished First Team All-Pro, while the team combined for nearly 2,000 rushing yards. The defense were no slouches either, sporting 5 Pro Bowlers and 3 First Team All-Pros. They finished first in scoring offense with an over 33 PPG average, while the defense gave up less than half of that on a per game basis, including giving up 21 or less in 11 of 14 games. Like the previous entry, they also scored 40+ in 4 separate games, but could be boom or bust on offense, with multiple games scoring 21 or under. No better example of this phenomenon occured than in their 2-game playoff run. In the AFC Championship, they hung 40 on the Oilers, but against the Packers in the Super Bowl, they tied their lowest output of the season with 14, while allowing the most points they'd allowed that season in 33. It was probably the latter performance, in-spite of their dominance of their own conference, which led experts to believe that the NFL was simply a superior league. In reality, this ended up more as a choking trend for the Raiders prior to 1976, but that's a story for someone else to tell.

Season Result: Lost Super Bowl

Best Win: AFC Championship vs. Houston Oilers (40-7).

5: 1968 Dallas Cowboys (+17.5) (12-2) (2 losses by combined 17 points) - Probably the most forgotten team on this list, and probably because it didn't win a playoff game. Make no mistake, though; this team was absolutely elite in the regular season. In his final NFL season, QB Don Meredith put up 21 TD to 12 INT in 13 games started, a fantastic ratio for the time, while throwing the 4th most passing yards in the NFL. The team also managed almost 2100 yards rushing. Their #1 ranked scoring offense was nearly matched by their #2 ranked scoring defense, including Bob Lilly, who finished First Team All-Pro and 4th in MVP voting. They allowed 14 or less points in 10 games, while scoring 27 or more in the same number of games. At the end of the day, though, they lost in the first game that truly mattered, 20-31, to the Cleveland Browns in the NFL Divisional Round. Though to be honest, even if they did win that game, it was still a long shot that they'd win the next one, as you'll see later in this post.

Season Result: Lost NFL Divisional

Best Win: Week 2 vs. Cleveland Browns (28-7), who finished 10-4. I'm sure the Cowboys would've gladly traded this win for the playoff loss to them, though.

4. 1969 Minnesota Vikings (+17.6) (12-2) (In Week 14 loss, starting QB sat midway through the game) - The 2nd Vikings team on this list which was covered in the "Missing Rings" series, and justifiably so. They led the NFL both in scoring offense and scoring defense, the latter being the 2nd best ppg average allowed in modern NFL history (9.5 ppg). They allowed less than 2750 total yards to opponents the entire year. Honestly, the defense was so good that it makes you question how good the offense actually was, as they had failed to reach 2000 passing yards or 2000 rushing yards. Still, QB Joe Kapp finished 2nd in MVP voting, while all four of their starting DL made the Pro Bowl. They were complemented by Pro Bowler Gene Washington at WR and Hall of Famer Paul Krause at safety respectively. Whether it was due to short fields or actual prowess, the offense scored 50 points on 3 separate occasions, and scored 23 or more in 11 of 14 games. On the other hand, the team only surrendered more than 14 points one time, and their two losses were by a combined 8 points. But, that was all in the regular season, though even then, they did struggle in their final 3 games. They further struggled vs the Rams in the Divisional Round, then blew out the Browns in the Conference Championship to set up a Super Bowl matchup vs the Chiefs, who were fantastic in their own right, but should not have been at the Vikings' level. Yet, in a stunning display of choking that would come to define the franchise, the Vikings lost 7-23, turning over the ball 5 times.

Season Result: Lost Super Bowl

Best Win: Week 2 vs. Baltimore Colts (52-14), who'd finished 8-5-1, and had made the Super Bowl the year before.

3. 1999 St. Louis Rams (+17.8) (13-3) (3 losses by combined 14 points)* (In Week 17 loss, starters sat midway through the game) - "The Greatest Show on Turf" burst onto the scene in 1999 and lit the league ablaze with nearly 33 PPG. MVP QB Kurt Warner posted absurd stats for the time (65.1 competition percentage, 4353 yards and 41 TDS), especially for a guy who'd never been a full-time starter until then. Marshall Faulk, who finished 2nd in MVP voting, had over 2400 yards from scrimmage, while the trio of Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt, and Az-Zahir Hakim pitched in over 2500 combined receiving yards. They scored 30 or more in 12 of 16 games, and never scored under 21 during the season. Lesser known, though, was the other side of the ball. They actually had the 4th best scoring defense that year, only allowing above 30 twice while holding 11 of 16 opponents to 14 or under. First Team All-Pro Kevin Carter, D'Marco Farr, and Todd Lyght all made the Pro Bowl on defense. The playoffs were rocky at times, as the NFC Championship and Super Bowl were single-score games, but the Rams did manage to seal the deal, a less common result on this list then one might expect. The main knock against this team, in my opinion, was their extremely soft regular season schedule. They only played 1 game prior to the playoffs against a team that finished above .500, and they lost that game (Week 8 @ Titans) (They played 4 games against teams that finished 8-8). I think if their schedule was stronger, and their playoff run was more dominant, and they would deservedly be in talks for the greatest team of all time, because they certainly have the Regular Season MoV and super bowl title to back themselves up.

Season Result: Won Super Bowl

Best Win: Super Bowl vs. Tennessee Titans (23-16), who went 13-3.

2. 1968 Baltimore Colts (+18.4) (13-1) (1 loss by 10 points) (In Week 14 Win, starting QB was sat midway through the game, though the backup was Johnny Unitas, who won the Super Bowl 2 years later as the starter, so idk if this really counts for them in terms of potential lost PPG) - When people discuss the greatest upset in NFL History, there's a reason the Jets win against this Colts team in the Super Bowl is still argued for, and that Jets team was 11-3! Don Shula's squad was completely dominant on both sides of the ball, finishing 2nd in scoring offense and 1st in scoring defense. Earl Morrall, who's somehow made an appearance on both this list and the "10 Worst" list, actually won MVP in place of Johnny Unitas, who was injured most of the year, and led the league with 26 passing TDs, while throwing the 2nd most passing yards. Their rushing attack was middle-of-the-pack, though Tom Matte did make the Pro Bowl as a RB. John Mackey remained a dominant TE, notching his 3rd straight First Team All Pro Season. Meanwhile, the defense had 3 Pro Bowlers, as well as 2 other 2nd Team All-Pros, Billy Ray Smith and Bubba Smith, and allowed a only tad over 10 PPG. They outgained their opponents by over 1300 yards total, allowed under single digit points in half of their games, and scored 27 or more in 10 of 14 games. In the playoffs, they took a 21-0 lead entering the 4th against the Vikings before giving up some garbage time points, then steamrolled the Browns 34-0 in the NFL Championship game, who were the only team to have previously defeated the Colts up until that point. This left only a matchup against the Jets, who were still viewed as belonging to an inferior conference, the AFL. Did the Colts take their foot off the gas due to this perception? At least on offense, they seemed to, only scoring a single garbage time TD in the 4th quarter. Despite an effective rushing attack, averaging 7.25 yards per carry in the game, they only ran 20 times, while the Jets pounded the Colts with 43 rushing attempts. The Jets actually outgained the Colts in yards, but Baltimore's 5 turnovers likely was the bigger issue. It's odd, because the Colts didn't show any real warning signs. In fact, the defense actually improved as the year went on. Yet, their offense simply failed to show up in the most important game of the season, and a potentially legendary season went up in smoke.

Season Result: Lost Super Bowl

Best Win: NFL Championship vs. Cleveland Browns (34-0), who'd gone 10-4 and had beaten both them in Week 6 and the aforementioned 1968 Cowboys the previous week.

1. 2007 New England Patriots (+19.7) (16-0) - Unlike the previous entry, most people alive today were able to witness this team's rise and fall. Still, a review is in order. They were the only team to ever go undefeated in a 16-game regular season. They scored a then-record 589 points. Tom Brady, arguably the GOAT of NFL history, won MVP and threw a then-record 50 TDs to only 8 INTs, while Randy Moss enjoyed a career resurgence while setting the receiving TD record with 23. Wes Welker was also incredible with 112 catches, Donte' Stallworth served as a valuable 3rd WR, and Ben Watson and Kevin Faulk were wonderful safety valves. Their rushing attack was average, yet they still outgained their opponents by nearly 2000 yards. They also sported the 4th ranked scoring defense, though it was often overshadowed by the offense. They had 3 Pro Bowlers on defense, including First Team All-Pros Mike Vrabel and Asante Samuel plus Second Team All-Pro Vince Wilfork, as well as 3 other solid linebackers in Tedy Bruschi, Junior Seau, and Adailus Thomas. The team was absolutely loaded outside of the RB position. They scored 38 points or more in half of their games, while only allowing 30+ on one occasion. This all begs the question: How did they not win the Super Bowl? The defense, which was unheralded all year, actually remained consistent throughout the season, and put up respectable performances in the playoffs. No, their dominance began and ended with their offense. If you look at their season, you can actually see the offense trend downwards. In their first 9 games, pre-bye, they averaged 39.44 PPG. In their final 7 regular season games, post-bye, it dropped to 33.42, though this is still an amazing average. However, in the playoffs, they averaged a whopping...21.33 PPG, with each performance being worse than the last. As the season wore on, teams became gradually more informed on their offense, and more importantly, the ways to stop it. The fact that they only won by 9 at home in the AFC Championship game vs a Chargers team with no LaDanian Tomlinson and Phillip Rivers playing on a torn ACL should've set off huge red flags. However, their opponent, the 10-6 Giants who were very average by most metrics, likely gave the Patriots a false sense of security that their undefeated season was all but guaranteed. But, that Giants team had already defeated the #1 and #2 seeds in the NFC, and had the pass rush talent to fluster Tom Brady all day during the Super Bowl, resulting in a 14-17 defeat for the would-be perfect team. From the context provided, perhaps it wasn't as big of an upset as it's generally perceived? Unlike the 1998 Vikings or 1968 Colts, there were clear signs of the team falling off prior to their final game, relatively speaking. But at the same time, a 16-0 team losing to a 10-6 team in the playoffs cannot be called anything but a colossal upset.

Season Result: Lost Super Bowl

Best Win: Week 8 vs. Washington (52-7), who finished 9-7. They also won 38-14 against the Chargers in Week 2, but I think a 45-point win vs. a team that finished with a winning record is slightly better.

Notable Teams not on this list:

1972 Dolphins (+15.3) (14-0) (Won Super Bowl) - The only team to go undefeated in the regular season and post season in the Super Bowl Era, the team barely missed the list despite finishing with the #1 ranked scoring offense and defense. They only had one crazy blowout, a 52-0 win against the 1972 Patriots (from the other list I did). They also only won their 3 playoff games by a combined 17 points. But if you go undefeated, regardless of how you do it, it's still worth a huge amount of praise in a league where every playoff series is just 1 game.

1984 49ers (+15.5) (15-1) (Won Super Bowl) (1 loss by 3 points) - This team strangely flies under the radar, despite losing only a single game and blowing out both the Bears in the NFC Championship and an otherwise dominant Dolphins team (14-2; 13.5 MoV) in the Super Bowl. They finished with the 2nd ranked scoring offense and top ranked scoring defense. They have sort of the opposite problem as the 72 Dolphins; the 49ers won by 32+ on 4 different occasions, yet the rest of their games were relatively close. Those close ones ultimately kept them off the list.

1989 49ers (+11.8) (14-2) (Won Super Bowl) (2 losses by combined 5 points) - When people discuss dominant 49ers teams, this is the one they usually bring up. The most obvious reason is due to their astronomical MoV in the playoffs (+100!). They were great in the regular season too, just not historically great. They finished 1st in scoring offense and 3rd in scoring defense. The team had a prime Roger Craig, prime Jerry Rice, and MVP Joe Montana. Nothing else really needs to be said. Both this team and the 84 team deserves to be in the conversation for greatest seasons of all time by a team.

2001 Rams (+14.3) (14-2) (Lost Super Bowl) (2 losses by combined 10 points) - After a disappointing loss to the Saints in 2000, the Rams came roaring back to near 1999 form in 2001. Kurt Warner and Marshall Faulk won the same awards as 99 (MVP and OPOY respectively), while the defense was still a respectable 7th in scoring. They won by over 20 on 5 separate occasions, scoring 35+ the same amount while allowing over 30 just once. However, the team actually had a -10 turnover margin, a problem that would plague them in the Super Bowl against the upstart Patriots, despite being rightfully favored by a lot. St. Louis WR Ricky Proehl claimed before the game, "Tonight, a dynasty is born, baby." Alas, the monkey's paw curled.

2013 Broncos (+13) (13-3) (Lost Super Bowl) (3 losses by a combined 16 points) - The highest scoring team of all time (37.9), this team put up 45+ on 5 separate occasions as Peyton Manning threw for a record 55 TDs and 5,477 yards while only tossing 10 INTs. Knowshon Moreno was great at RB with almost 1600 yards from scrimmage, while Demaryius Thomas (RIP), Eric Decker, Julius Thomas, and Wes Welker destroyed defenses through receiving yards. However, there were two problems: 1. Like the 2007 Patriots, the offense slowed down noticeably over time (42.88 PPG pre-bye vs. 32.88 PPG post-bye vs. 19.33 PPG in the playoffs). 2. They had the 22nd ranked scoring defense. Both issues culminated in a brutal 8-43 beatdown vs. the Seahawks in the Super Bowl. 2 years later, a Broncos team with a much worse MoV (+3.7) won the Super Bowl. It demonstrates how the regular season and playoffs are two entirely different games.

2011 Packers (+12.6) (15-1) (Lost NFC Divisional Round) (1 loss by 5 points) - This team was recent enough that people may remember their dominant 13-0 start to the season. They never scored under 24 during that stretch, and Aaron Rodgers won MVP with an absurd 45 TD to 6 INT on 68.3% passing and 4,643 yards. A seemingly fluke loss to a 7-9 finishing Chiefs team squandered a perfect regular season, but the team also had a glaring flaw: a 19th ranked scoring defense. It reared its ugly head in their Division Round game vs. the 9-7 Giants, allowing 37 points, while their offense fell relatively flat to New York's pass rush. This would be the start of Aaron Rodgers' led teams choking in the playoffs, but that's a story for another post.

2015 Panthers (+12) (15-1) (Lost Super Bowl) (1 loss by 7 points) - Even more recently was this team, sporting MVP Cam Newton and a turnover happy defense (+20 turnover margin). They were tops in scoring offense, and a very strong 6th in scoring defense. They played a fair number of close games, lowering their MoV, but did still manage some blowouts, including a 49-15 win in the NFC Championship against the strongest Cardinals team I've seen in my life :( . However, in the opposite case of the 2001 Rams, the Panthers turnover luck actually flipped in the Super Bowl, giving the ball away 4 times in a 10-24 defeat.

So, what does this information mean? Like the previous list, nothing conclusive. Like the previous list, where some of the worst teams didn't actually have the worst record that year or of all time, 6 of the 9 teams on this list didn't actually win the Super Bowl. Granted, the formula did not take postseason MoV into account, but I think it still has some relevance. And there's no way to test the worst teams each season in a reverse postseason gauntlet or something, so I feel like in doing in this way, I'm keeping things consistent. What may be assumed is that the postseason is just completely different from the regular season, leading to a lack of Super Bowl wins by teams on this list. But like the previous list, there are a thousand factors that can affect the result of football games.

Thanks for reading!

Previous entry:

https://old.reddit.com/r/nfl/comments/1j7b7b8/an_alternative_method_of_ranking_the_top_10_worst/