NFL fans who have been watching football for a long time know when a team is destined to be one of the best of all time. The teams that have established benchmarks for offense and defense also often wear the coveted Super Bowl ring. If you’re curious what some of the best NFL teams of all time are and what made them so dominant, this article discusses just that.
1992 Dallas Cowboys
In NFL years, 1992 seems like a long time ago, but this is when the quarterback you might know more today as a television announcer, Troy Aikman, began a historic run while winning three Super Bowls in four years. “Dem Cowboys” were led by Aikman, who threw what seems like a relatively low number of passing touchdowns for the modern NFL with 23, and Emmitt Smith, one of the best running backs the NFL has seen, who scored 19 times and ran for over 1,700 yards in a shorter season.
Admittedly, teams with the offensive prowess of the 1992 Cowboys often forget about defense and just try to score points. Not this team. Their three titles in four years also came because of a stout defensive line, with Jim Jeffcoat and Tony Tolbert both taking down quarterbacks more than eight times each.
Their dominance became very real during Super Bowl XXVII, when they played the Bills, who just couldn’t seem to keep up, as the Cowboys trounced them 52-17. Now that’s a serious beating.
1989 San Francisco 49ers
It’s hard to believe that some combinations of players played on the same team at the same time. This goes for the 1989 49ers, who fielded the legendary quarterback and wide receiver combination Joe Montana and Jerry Rice. It doesn’t hurt that their backfield also included Roger Craig, and they had Ronnie Lott playing safety.
The team didn’t actually play all that well during the regular season, as they were expected to finish better than their 10-6 record. When the playoffs came, however, the team heated up and blew out both the Minnesota Vikings and the Los Angeles Rams before crushing the Denver Broncos by a score of 55-10 in the Super Bowl.
1962 Packers
Admittedly, when choosing which Green Bay Packers team is a top all-timer, it’s hard to choose between an older or more recent team, as the Packers have had generations of success on the gridiron. Let’s instead go with the team that has the modern NFL championship trophy named after their coach, as Vince Lombardi led a team with Bart Starr, Max McGee, and Jim Taylor. Add an outstanding defense, and you have a recipe for a truly dominant team. If statistics help, they outscored their last four opponents 109-14. How did they do that, you ask? Lombardi and company excelled at hitting the jackpot nearly every time with the power sweep—similar to how BonusFinder has reviewed sweepstakes casinos and excelled at helping gamblers find the right platforms to play on.
These Packers took it all the way to what was at the time called the NFL Championship, where they stopped the New York Giants cold with a 16-7 victory.
1999 Rams
While a team doesn’t need to be led to the Super Bowl by a former amateur football quarterback who was bagging groceries and stocking shelves before the season started, it certainly doesn’t hurt their case as one of the greatest teams of all time. Turns out Kurt Warner has a pretty good arm, and when you add another legend, Marshall Faulk, at running back, they might produce a team later nicknamed “The Greatest Show on Turf.”
While we love naming offensive players, the Rams’ defense was pretty good, too. They only allowed an average of 15 points per game but held their own against a strong Tampa Bay team when the offense stuttered but ultimately produced an 11-6 victory.
One might also know the 1999 Rams for one of the closest finishes in Super Bowl history, when Rams linebacker Mike Jones tackled wide receiver Kevin Dyson outstretched at the one-yard line, falling just short of the goal line. That is clutch.
1979 Steelers
The Steelers won the Super Bowl four times in the 1970s, but the 1979 team was probably the best. The “Steel Curtain” defense continued to strike fear into opponents while the offense just got better, with Terry Bradshaw lighting up defenses with 26 touchdowns on the year and nearly 4,000 yards in an era where the rules weren’t as pass-friendly as today. The Steelers would close out the season with a dominant 31-19 win over the Rams in the Super Bowl, cementing the legacy of an already outstanding team.
2007 Patriots
The 2007 New England Patriots were downright destructive with a combination of Tom Brady, Wes Welker, a great defense, and, of course, Randy Moss, who set the record for touchdown catches in a season with a ridiculous 23. The Patriots finished the season undefeated, and everyone thought they were on pace to match the 1972 Miami Dolphins perfect season. In the Super Bowl, they ran into the brick wall known as the Giants’ defense, along with truly miraculous catches by none other than Mario Manningham and David Tyree. The Patriots lost in the closing minutes, but their level of play was unmatched for years.
Conclusion
We’ve presented some of the greatest teams in NFL history, but we had to leave out many teams that became legends on the field, like the 1985 Chicago Bears. Still, our list represents some of the more dominant groups before and after the beginning of the Super Bowl era, and we have to admit, we still watch highlights of these athletes to this day!