transplantbillsfan Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 https://theathletic.com/793402/2019/02/04/the-athletics-nfl-super-bowl-era-franchise-rankings/ Tier One — The Heavyweights 1. Pittsburgh Steelers Last year: No. 1 Total: 114 points The Steelers passed Dallas to vault into first place a few years ago themselves, but now they find their lead completely erased to a single point over the hard-charging Patriots. Yes, they are in first place, but only barely. The Steelers are the most successful team that has accomplished something of note in every decade and have therefore been a worthy leader for some time. They hold the slimmest lead possible over the Patriots by virtue of having been to five more playoffs and one more championship game. Now we will see if New England has another run in them to go first all-time. Until then, the football world continues to chase this fine franchise from Pittsburgh who missed the playoffs this year, but has been in the mix annually for almost as long as the Super Bowl era has existed. Total playoff years: 72C, 73, 74S, 75S, 76C, 77, 78S, 79S, 82, 83, 84C, 89, 92, 93, 94C, 95SL, 96, 97C, 01C, 02, 04C, 05S, 07, 08S, 10SL, 11, 14, 15, 16C, 17 Playoff years: 30 | Final Fours: 8 | Super Bowl losses: 2 | Super Bowl wins: 6 Average: 2.15 points per season 2. New England Patriots Last year: No. 3 Total: 113 points The Patriots made Super Bowl 31 in the final year of Bill Parcells’ tenure and then had two playoff berths with Pete Carroll. That meant that they ended the previous millennium sitting on 17 points and in the NFL’s bottom third. Their surge since is obviously absurd and the most dominant two-decade stretch in NFL history. Thirteen Final Fours, nine Super Bowls, and six Lombardi Trophies boost their point total by 96 with Brady/Belichick, which matches the entire 53 years of the San Francisco 49ers; and they sit fourth all time! It’s hard to believe, but also hard to deny. We’ve never seen anything like the Patriots and we likely never will again. Passing Dallas on Sunday, they now sit just one point back after sitting near the bottom of the league when I started doing this 19 years ago. Total playoff years: 76, 78, 82, 85SL, 86, 94, 96SL, 97, 98, 01S, 03S, 04S, 05, 06C, 07SL, 09, 10, 11SL, 12C, 13C, 14S, 15C, 16S, 17SL, 18S Playoff years: 25 | Final Fours: 4 | Super Bowl losses: 5 | Super Bowl wins: 6 Average: 2.13 points per season Tier Two — The Light Heavyweights Tier Three -- The Middleweights Tier Four — The Welterweights Bears win tiebreaker over Bills based on Super Bowl wins, 1-0. 19. Buffalo Bills Last year: No. 17 Total: 35 points The Bills returned to the playoffs in 2017 for the first time since the turn of the century. The are famously known for winning four consecutive AFC championship games and then losing each Super Bowl in painful succession. As any Buffalo fan will tell you, only a great team can lose four straight Super Bowls, but that doesn’t heal the wound much. Since that final Super Bowl loss at SB28, they have spent the last 25 years quietly. They actually drop two spots this season as the Ravens and Bears have jumped them. Total playoff years: 66C, 74, 80, 81, 88C, 89, 90SL, 91SL, 92SL, 93SL, 95, 96, 98, 99, 17 Playoff years: 15 | Final Fours: 2 | Super Bowl losses: 4 | Super Bowl wins: 0 Average: 0.66 points per season Tier Five — The Lightweights Tier Six -- The Featherweights Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blacklabel Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 Interesting piece. I'll have to check out the whole thing later on. Man, look at Pittsburgh in the 70s. That's dominance... but also, the Patriots from '09 thru '18... holy crap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lurker Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 The Steelers should remain at the top of the list for now. Those 1970s teams were full of HOF players who did it more with brawn than brains, like the Pats... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PlayoffsPlease Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 11 super bowls for the pats compared to 8 for the Steelers. Not sure why the formula gives so much credit to playoff lossess Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buffalo Barbarian Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 They are number one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
row_33 Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 The Bradshaw Steelers were way better teams than the Brady Era and had great competition from several other teams to have to beat can still name every starter on the Steelers D 40 years later Brady's team are full of holes and the competition is extremely weak in this era Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wo-Bah Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 Personally, for me, Niners of the 80's - early 90's. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rico Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 Steelers were the undisputed doormat of the NFL prior to the 70’s though. Great almost 50-year run, I’d take it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ComradeKayAdams Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 38 minutes ago, Rico said: Steelers were the undisputed doormat of the NFL prior to the 70’s though. Great almost 50-year run, I’d take it. Yep. The Steelers were indeed an absolute joke for their first four decades. If they did a complete NFL franchise ranking that took into account 1920-1965, then no way would the Steelers be #1. The Bears and Browns in particular would would fare much better. The Bills would do a little bit better because of their AFL mini-dynasty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foxx Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 i'm kind of embarrassed to admit that when i began to open this thread, i half expected to see that Josh Allen was ranked #1. ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bring it Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 1 hour ago, row_33 said: The Bradshaw Steelers were way better teams than the Brady Era and had great competition from several other teams to have to beat can still name every starter on the Steelers D 40 years later Brady's team are full of holes and the competition is extremely weak in this era Absolutely. Those Steeler teams were great at almost every position particularly on defense!! Unfortunately that makes Brady look even better. But not his teams overall. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SlimShady'sSpaceForce Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 1 hour ago, blacklabel said: Interesting piece. I'll have to check out the whole thing later on. Man, look at Pittsburgh in the 70s. That's dominance... but also, the Patriots from '09 thru '18... holy crap. What is the largest margin of Victory for the Cheats? This may have been the biggest points differential of them all. 10 whole points winning 13 -3 and it took them 3 and 1/2 quarters to get to 10 points Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
whatdrought Posted February 4, 2019 Share Posted February 4, 2019 It makes sense that Pittsburgh is higher than NE. Pittsburgh has always been a contender, not just this decade. It will be really interesting to see how these two franchises move forward into the 2020's. Also, If Jimmy G and Dak end up being decent, both of their respect teams could shake this list somewhat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
transplantbillsfan Posted February 5, 2019 Author Share Posted February 5, 2019 3 hours ago, Foxx said: i'm kind of embarrassed to admit that when i began to open this thread, i half expected to see that Josh Allen was ranked #1. ? Good one! Everything all right there, pal? Last couple years you've just been getting more and more bitter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. WEO Posted February 5, 2019 Share Posted February 5, 2019 5 hours ago, Lurker said: The Steelers should remain at the top of the list for now. Those 1970s teams were full of HOF players who did it more with brawn than brains, like the Pats... NE has done it without all of those HOF players. 70's were a million years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Epstein's Mother Posted February 5, 2019 Share Posted February 5, 2019 Two words make the Pats #1. Salary cap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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