the 1988 49ers

[PowerT83]

I'm watching the special on NFL network, and I have came to the bold conclusion that are the best team in the history of the league. Who doubts it?

 

[DC Vol]

If they played the 02 Bucs... the Bucs would have my money.

 

[volfanjustin]

I would take any of the SB winners over the past 10 years or so and probably some of the teams that lost in the SB over that team. I just think the athletic ability compared to the guys now is not close.

 

[superdave1984]

85 Bears. Hands down. And it isn't even close.

 

[Kingston Vol]

Maybe the best offense, but I don't think the defense would match the '85 Bears.

 

[emainvol]

88 team was good, but I think the 94 team was better.

 

[doozer]

i'll take the 89 squad.

 

[PowerT83]

I'd like to be able to watch any past game of my choosing on my PC, is that possible?

 

[bam15]

72 Dolphins have to get consideration.

 

[Ohio Vol]

1962 Green Bay Packers

Most points
Most first downs
Most rushing yards
Most rushing touchdowns
Fewest turnovers
Highest field goal percentage

Fewest points allowed
Fewest yards/play allowed
Second-fewest first downs allowed
Fewest passing touchdowns allowed (10)
Most interceptions (31)
Fewest rushing touchdowns allowed (4)
Most takeaways

Most kickoffs
Lowest yards/KO return
Lowest field goal percentage against

And on the roster....
Hall of Fame
Herb Adderley
Willie Davis
Forrest Gregg
Paul Hornung
Henry Jordan
Ray Nitschke
Jim Ringo
Bart Starr
Jim Taylor
Willie Wood
Vince Lombardi

First-team All-Pro
Adderley
Dan Currie
Davis
Bill Forester
Gregg
Jordan
Jerry Kramer
Ron Kramer
Ringo
Taylor

Team total - 584 marginal points, one of the highest (if not the highest) in the history of the game, and this was in a 14-game schedule

 

[crusse10]

1962 Green Bay Packers

Most points
Most first downs
Most rushing yards
Most rushing touchdowns
Fewest turnovers
Highest field goal percentage

Fewest points allowed
Fewest yards/play allowed
Second-fewest first downs allowed
Fewest passing touchdowns allowed (10)
Most interceptions (31)
Fewest rushing touchdowns allowed (4)
Most takeaways

Most kickoffs
Lowest yards/KO return
Lowest field goal percentage against

And on the roster....
Hall of Fame
Herb Adderley
Willie Davis
Forrest Gregg
Paul Hornung
Henry Jordan
Ray Nitschke
Jim Ringo
Bart Starr
Jim Taylor
Willie Wood
Vince Lombardi

First-team All-Pro
Adderley
Dan Currie
Davis
Bill Forester
Gregg
Jordan
Jerry Kramer
Ron Kramer
Ringo
Taylor

Team total - 584 marginal points, one of the highest (if not the highest) in the history of the game, and this was in a 14-game schedule

Thank you for posting this. I didn't get the chance to beat ya to it!

 

[Ohio Vol]

I was bored during the overnight, so I put a spreadsheet together of all the NFL champions that meet the following qualifications.
- Post-1935 (standard schedule)
- NFL champion, which also means Baltimore in 1968 and Minnesota in 1969 (since the Super Bowl was an exhibition at the time)

I then went ahead and ran the marginal points formula through. Marginal points scored are defined as points scored in excess of 0.5 times the league average, and marginal points prevented are defined as those prevented below 1.5 times the league average. Football is unique in that the defense and special teams can score points, but the vast majority are on offense.

Anyway, I then created an adjustment to set the conditions of the league to absolute average (40.716 points/game total). This serves to close the gap between teams who played during high-scoring years and those who played in low-scoring years. Then each team's actual points scored/allowed was re-run through the adjustment to get adjusted marginal points. And then (whew!) it was broken down on the plane of adjusted marginal points/game.

So, expressed in terms of adjusted marginal points/game, the top 10 champions are...
1) 1941 Chicago - 48.334 MP/G
2) 1936 Green Bay - 38.909
3) 1968 Baltimore - 38.660 (lost in Super Bowl)
4) 1991 Washington - 37.849
5) 1962 Green Bay - 37.761
6) 1999 St Louis - 37.719
7) 1949 Philadelphia - 37.707
8) 1969 Minnesota - 37.473 (lost in Super Bowl)
9) 1948 Philadelphia - 36.417
10) 1938 NY Giants - 36.135
11) 1972 Miami - 35.724
12) 1985 Chicago - 35.607

In terms of broken down by points scored...
1) 1941 Chicago
2) 1936 Green Bay
3) 1991 Washington
4) 1999 St Louis
5) 1994 San Francisco
6) 1943 Chicago
7) 1971 Dallas
8) 1951 Los Angeles
9) 2009 New Orleans
10) 1935 Detroit

And in terms of by points prevented...
1) 1969 Minnesota
2) 1963 Chicago
3) 1962 Green Bay
4) 1949 Philadelphia
5) 2000 Baltimore
6) 1968 Baltimore
7) 1950 Cleveland
8) 1938 NY Giants
9) 1966 Green Bay
10) 1973 Miami

There's another thing that I did for hockey that involved use of a multiplier that measures competitive balance within the league, meaning that a team that excelled during an expansion year would be downgraded while one that dominated a very even league would be rewarded. Since I haven't come up with the numbers for the NFL, it'll have to wait.

 

[PowerT83]

Watching Cowboys vs Steelers from Super Bowl 30.

This was a pretty good superbowl if I remember correctly. Just thinking back on past rivalries, Cowboys/Niners was a damn good rivalry. Trying to think of a rivalry between today's teams that isn't a divisional rival that even comes close....I'll be thinking a while.

 

[Ohio Vol]

Just for the heck of it, I ran the numbers through for the AFL and AAFC as well, even though there's really no point.

I then figured I'd go ahead and repost the top 10 in the NFL during the Super Bowl championship (post-merger) era. There have been 40 championship teams.

TOTAL MARGINAL POINTS (best overall)
1) 1991 Washington
2) 1999 St. Louis
3) 1972 Miami
4) 1996 Green Bay
5) 1985 Chicago
6) 1975 Pittsburgh
7) 1984 San Francisco
8) 1973 Miami
9) 1971 Dallas
10) 1994 San Francisco

38) 2006 Pittsburgh
39) 1980 Oakland
40) 2007 NY Giants

TOTAL MARGINAL POINTS SCORED (best offense)
1) 1991 Washington
2) 1999 St Louis
3) 1994 San Francisco
4) 2009 New Orleans
5) 1971 Dallas
6) 1998 Denver
7) 1977 Dallas
8) 1997 Denver
9) 1984 San Francisco
10) 1996 Green Bay

38) 1990 NY Giants
39) 2002 Tampa Bay
40) 2008 Pittsburgh

TOTAL MARGINAL POINTS PREVENTED (best defense)
1) 2000 Baltimore
2) 1973 Miami
3) 1975 Pittsburgh
4) 2002 Tampa Bay
5) 1985 Chicago
6) 1972 Miami
7) 2008 Pittsburgh
8) 1996 Green Bay
9) 1990 NY Giants
10) 1978 Pittsburgh

38) 1983 Los Angeles Raiders
39) 2007 NY Giants
40) 2006 Indianapolis

 

[Ohio Vol]

What keeps jumping out at me is the continuous appearance of the 1991 Redskins, which has largely been forgotten. Maybe it's the fact that it was the post-Hog era, maybe it was a largely unknown group of defenders, or maybe it was that Mark Rypien was the quarterback.

But for whatever reason, no one ever remembers them as being a great team, myself included. But consider the following:

- The team as a whole was 10th in offensive plays, but 1st in points scored
- The team was 26th in passing attempts, but 5th in yards and 2nd in touchdowns (and had the 3rd-fewest interceptions) and 7th in first downs through the air
- 1st in rushing attempts, 7th in yards, 1st in rushing touchdowns, and 5th in fewest fumbles
-3rd in turnovers

- Defensively, the team was 9th in fewest plays against, but....
- Had the 3rd-fewest yards allowed
- Had the 2nd-fewest points against
- Had the 2nd-fewest yards/play against
- Had the 4th-fewest first downs against

- Had the 2nd-most pass attempts against, but was...
- 9th-best in passing yards against
- 5th in fewest passing touchdowns against (second-fewest number; four teams had one fewer)
- 2nd in interceptions
- 2nd in yards/attempt against
- 3rd in takeaways

 

[vader]

The last time it was really fun to be a Redskins fan.

 

[Ohio Vol]

Okay, I added the final component. And now, for the dissertation of an explanation.

I determined the index of competitive balance on a year-by-year basis thusly:
1) Take the total number of games in an NFL season
2) Take the total deviation from .500 over that season
3) Divide the deviation by the number of games and subtract from 1

The NFL, to a much greater extent than other leagues, has gone through massive year-to-year swings in competitive balance. Oddly enough, the most competitive season was 1995, which was also an expansion year.

Anyway, so I took the marginal points numbers (scored, prevented, total) and multiplied them by the competitive balance index, which is, after all, a decimal. Teams that dominated badly unbalanced years were punished, those that dominated balanced years were punished less (since there has never been an index of 100; the highest is .75833).

MARGINAL POINTS SCORED PER GAMES (best offense)
1) 1941 Chicago - 17.46825
2) 1999 St Louis - 15.95
3) 1994 San Francisco - 15.5793
4) 1936 Green Bay - 15.4062
5) 1991 Washington - 14.35074
6) 1971 Dallas - 13.83906
7) 2009 New Orleans - 13.78436
8) 1946 Chicago - 13.59061
9) 1935 Detroit - 13.17571
10) 1997 Denver - 13.14094
11) 1996 Green Bay - 13.06122
12) 1998 Denver - 13.01882

MARGINAL POINTS PREVENTED PER GAME (best defense)
1) 2002 Tampa Bay - 13.97593
2) 2000 Baltimore - 13.64293
3) 1966 Green Bay - 13.27126
4) 1938 NY Giants - 13.25265
5) 1985 Chicago - 12.94938
6) 1962 Green Bay - 12.57749
7) 1969 Minnesota - 12.54268
8) 1968 Baltimore - 12.52036
9) 1996 Green Bay - 12.51064
10) 1978 Pittsburgh - 12.44886
11) 1949 Philadelphia - 12.25802
12) 1950 Cleveland - 12.23944

TOTAL MARGINAL POINTS PER GAME (best overall)
1) 1999 St Louis - 27.37698
2) 1996 Green Bay - 25.57186
3) 1941 Chicago - 24.60655
4) 1985 Chicago - 24.47952
5) 1991 Washington - 24.33179
6) 1938 NY Giants - 24.30833
7) 1994 San Francisco - 24.21788
8) 1968 Baltimore - 23.8171
9) 1936 Green Bay - 23.77787
10) 1984 San Francisco - 23.59694
11) 1971 Dallas - 23.28551
12) 1989 San Francisco - 23.16311

 

[stuvol86]

88 team was good, but I think the 94 team was better.

ill have to agree

 

[VolsNSkinsFan]

The last time it was really fun to be a Redskins fan.

Amazing what Mark Ripken was able to do

 

[MWR]

The Steelers and the Dolphins of the 70's were great teams. If not for them, I say the Raiders would have about 5 more Super Bowl appearances and a few more wins.

 

[jaybird_1981]

Amazing what Mark Ripken was able to do

Is that Cal's uncle or something?