I don't expect anyone to agree with this list from top to bottom. My curiousity is if you can pick out a team I missed that can replace one of the 32 teams I have listed. My criteria for the most part was how the team played on the field as championships are vital but not necessary as any team can have a bad day or not play up to their expectations. So in my rule book you don't have to win the Super Bowl to be considered one of the greatest teams of all time.
Courtesy of The Touchdown
Sure people will say "how can you put in a team that didn't win the champiosnhip?" Easy, like I said before, anything can happen in the course of one football game such as injuries, bad calls by the refs, terrible weather conditions and uncharacteristic turnovers are just some examples. A good example of this would be "The Tuck Rule Game" played between the Raiders and Patriots in New England in the cold, snowy elements of the northeast. It wasn't the weather as much as the tuck rule which gave the eventual Super Bowl champion Patriots another chance to tie and eventually win the game.
The Raiders were the better football team that year and even in that divisional round battle but a little luck, a little tuck and snowfall the size of a puck began the greatest dynasty the NFL has ever seen. I wonder, if the call stood on the field and Charles Woodson's strip/sack on Tom Brady led to a Raiders road win, would that Patriots dynasty still have taken off? I mean the following season they didn't even make the playoffs! Perhaps Brady gets benched and Drew Bledsoe remained the Pats starting quarterback. The what if game is a fun one to play in the National Football League.
With all that being said, I've put together what is in my opinion, the 32 best teams in the NFL since 1980, the year I was born. There, now you all know I'm old. Well this old man loves his football and loves making ranking lists. So here you go and let me know what you know! I did the best I could off the top of my head.
BEST NFL TEAMS SINCE 1980
| 5. 1989 - 49ers | 9. 1996 - Packers | 13. 1986 - Giants | 17. 2009 - Saints | 21 2020 - Bucs | 25. 1990 - Bills | 29. 1995 - Cowboys |
2. 2007 - Patriots | 6. 1991 Redskins | 10. 1994 - 49ers | 14. 2014 - Seahawks | 18. 2016 - Patriots | 22. 1997 - Broncos | 26. 2016 - Falcons | 30. 1981 - 49ers |
3. 1992 - Cowboys | 7. 1999 Rams | 11. 2013 - Seahawks | 15. 2006 - Colts | 19. 2002 - Bucs | 23. 1998 - Vikings | 27. 2010 - Packers | 31 2005 - Steelers |
4. 1985 - Bears | 8. 2004 - Patriots | 12. 1998 - Broncos | 16. 2000 - Ravens | 20. 1988 - 49ers | 24. 1983 - Raiders | 28. 1992 - 49ers | 32. 1995 - Packers |