5 best NFL teams you’ve seen in your lifetime

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

52 minutes ago, Freddie's Dead said:

If the 1990 Bills had won the Super Bowl, they would be regarded as one of the best teams of all time.  Because they lost, they were relegated to the dust bin of history, right next to Mahogany Rush.

Watch it, bub.  I'm the guy who bought their album. 🤨

*
EDIT:  However, I don't remember anything off the album, but I do remember the Bears 'Super Bowl Shuffle'. 🙁

Edited January 7, 2022 by Ridgewaycynic2013

[Nextmanup]

19 minutes ago, dneveu said:

07 patriots were ridiculous.  Brady/moss/welker/faulk.  Samuel, Vrabel, Wilfork - Harrison/Meriweather.  +315 points differential and undefeated

 

99 Rams are another example.  Warner/faulk/Bruce/Holt.  

 

85 bears - 1 loss team with the best defense probably ever.  In a run driven era, they had 3 teams go over 100.  

I will forever remember watching Bears games that year and thinking the Bears actually had the advantage on defense...like no one could really move the ball on them at all.

 

That's probably not quite right, but I don't ever recall a more dominating defense that literally controlled play and dictated the outcome of games.

 

 

[Rico]

These are my 4 best, by date:

75 Steelers

85 Bears

89 49ers

92 Cowboys

 

One more to get to 5:

76 Raiders

 

[Blainorama5]

2021 Bills.

 

😳

[stinky finger]

49 minutes ago, msw2112 said:

I'd go with the '85 Bears.  Yes, they lost that one game to the Dolphins, but they pretty convincingly beat everyone else, including unprecedented domination in the playoffs and Super Bowl.  The defense was one of the best of all-time (along the the Ravens SB team), and the offense had a great O-Line and running game with Walter Payton.  The passing game was more than adequate with McMahon, Willie Gault, Dennis McKinnon, etc.  Had the great Bills teams of the 90's won a Super Bowl, one of those teams might be in the mix, but without winning it all, they can't be considered.  I also take out the Patriots team that was undefeated in the regular season and playoffs, but lost the SB to the Giants for the same reason.

 

1985 Chicago Bears

 

Regular Season:  15-1

 

Playoffs:

 

Bears 21, Giants 0

Bears 24, Rams 0

Bears 45, Patriots 10 (Super Bowl)

Hard to argue. Watching that team, I felt no team stood a chance. 
 

Utter domination.

[WotAGuy]

Honestly, I can’t remember individual teams, but by decade:

1960s Green Bay

1970s Pittsburgh

1980s San Francisco

1990s Buffalo

2000s New England

 

[oldmanfan]

Bills ‘64 team

Packers ‘61 team

Dolphins undefeated team

Steelers - pick any of their SB teams

Niners- any of their SB teams

[LABILLBACKER]

1 hour ago, Steve O said:

1. Hate to say it, 2007 Patriots🤮

2. 1985 Chicago Bears

3. 1990 Buffalo Bills

4. 1998 Minnesota Vikings

5. 1994 San Francisco 49ers

 

At least the undefeated Dolphins didn't crack the list.

Probably the most accurate list I've seen so far.

[eball]

I started trying to complete this exercise and found myself in complete awe of the 18 year period from 1981-1998 of the SF 49ers.  The 49ers won five SBs but it could (should) have been eight or nine.  They were dominant.  It's still unbelievable the Bills and 49ers didn't match up during our run.  They lost five NFC championship games during that span.  And they did it with two HOF QBs and three HCs, which is what sets them apart from the other dynasties folks talk about.

 

During that span the 49ers' average league rankings were 3.7 on offense and 5.7 on defense.  OVER 18 YEARS.  Are you kidding me?

 

The only run that compares, IMO, is the Pats*** run of eight straight AFC championship games (and three SB wins) from 2011-2018.

 

Dallas' "run" was ironically only really four years; it just happened to coincide with ours.

[Pete]

1984 49ers
1985 Bears

1990 Bills

2000 Ravens 

2007 Patriots

 

the greatest team not in my lifetime- the 1964 Buffalo Bills

[The Frankish Reich]

1 hour ago, Freddie's Dead said:

If the 1990 Bills had won the Super Bowl, they would be regarded as one of the best teams of all time

True. The amount of talent on that team was just sick. 

I always think the same thing about the 1997 Seattle Mariners. Ken Griffey Jr. Alex Rodriguez. Randy Johnson. Edgar Martinez. And they never even made the World Series.

[2003Contenders]

Another team that does not get a lot of recognition is the 1991 Redskins. The great players from our 90's Super Bowl teams say that this was the one team that the Bills lost to in the Super Bowl that was simply better than them:

 

1. Stout defense with some great players at all levels (Mann, Green, Marshall, etc.)

 

2. That Hogs OL may have been the greatest of all time. I think they only gave up like 6 sacks all year long.

 

3. Incredible group of WRs: Monk, Sanders, Clark.

 

4. Mark Rypien was a journeyman QB -- but he played out of his mind that season, thanks largely to 2-3 above.

 

5. They finished 14-2 that year, but in the first 15 games of the season, they lost one game - a nail-biter against Dallas. They rested their starters in the final game of the season

 

[The Frankish Reich]

1 hour ago, Rico said:

These are my 4 best, by date:

75 Steelers

85 Bears

89 49ers

92 Cowboys

 

One more to get to 5:

76 Raiders

 

I can only disagree because you don't include the perfect 1972 Miami Dolphins. They didn't have a lot of blowout victories, but I never had the feeling that the conclusion of the season was seriously in doubt - they were just superb in execution in all phases of the game, and they did have their stars - Griese, Csonka, Warfield, Buoniconti, that incredible O line. I hope the only reason nobody's mentioned them is it's before most people's time ...

41 minutes ago, oldmanfan said:

Dolphins undefeated team

Yep. You got it!

[BillsPride12]

27 minutes ago, eball said:

I started trying to complete this exercise and found myself in complete awe of the 18 year period from 1981-1998 of the SF 49ers.  The 49ers won five SBs but it could (should) have been eight or nine.  They were dominant.  It's still unbelievable the Bills and 49ers didn't match up during our run.  They lost five NFC championship games during that span.  And they did it with two HOF QBs and three HCs, which is what sets them apart from the other dynasties folks talk about.

 

During that span the 49ers' average league rankings were 3.7 on offense and 5.7 on defense.  OVER 18 YEARS.  Are you kidding me?

 

The only run that compares, IMO, is the Pats*** run of eight straight AFC championship games (and three SB wins) from 2011-2018.

 

Dallas' "run" was ironically only really four years; it just happened to coincide with ours.

Agree with this but Dallas's run was also the reason the Niners didn't win 8 or 9

[Rico]

5 minutes ago, The Frankish Reich said:

I can only disagree because you don't include the perfect 1972 Miami Dolphins. They didn't have a lot of blowout victories, but I never had the feeling that the conclusion of the season was seriously in doubt - they were just superb in execution in all phases of the game, and they did have their stars - Griese, Csonka, Warfield, Buoniconti, that incredible O line. I hope the only reason nobody's mentioned them is it's before most people's time ...

Yep. You got it!

Can't give credit to cheaters, and there's never been a bigger cheater than Don Shula.

 

One of my top 5 games ever was when the Raiders beat them in the playoffs (Ken Stabler to Clarence Davis), so they at least made that list.

[cwater10]

2 hours ago, D. L. Hot-Flamethrower said:

Since 1970 when I was 7. Only allowed myself to pick one team from a Dynasty.

 

75 Steelers, 84 49ers, 85 Bears, 92 Cowboys, 07 Patriots

Yep.   This is my exact list.  Tempted to trade out 72 Dolphins for 2007 Pats, but 07 Pats were just better.

[The Frankish Reich]

2 hours ago, Pokebball said:

The 88-89 Denver Bronco team was certainly one of the top 5 teams I've seen in my lifetime.

1997-98?

Edited January 7, 2022 by The Frankish Reich

[njbuff]

2 hours ago, mannc said:

1989 49ers were absolutely incredible.  I don’t know how they lost a game. The Super Bowl that year was like Alabama vs Louisiana Tech.

The 89 Niners were truly the best team I saw.

 

They were the only team on any list to be dominant on both offense and defense.

[Seventeen]

1. 72 Dolphins
2. 75 Steelers
3. 85 Bears 
4. 07 Patriots
5. 89 49ers

[Rico]

I see 2000 Ravens on some lists. That team was 5-4 after week 9 and made the playoffs as a wild-card team. The absolute greatest teams to me dominated their year from start to finish, so they are not in the conversation to me.