![]() The Colts were the NFL champions in 1968. Keeping the 1968 Colts off this countdown because they lost Super Bowl III to Joe Namath's Jets would be like keeping the 2007 Patriots off for what happened in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl against the Giants.Īctually, it would be worse. You'll meet him and his namesake team a little later in the countdown. While the Eagles were flying bombing missions and storming beaches, a brilliant young coach was keeping morale high by assembling football teams at stateside military bases. The only force that could stop these battle-hardened Eagles was another team with its own military ties. The 1949 team topped the league in points and points allowed, winning a series of 38-7 and 42-0 blowouts before blanking the flashy Los Angeles Rams, 14-0, in the NFL Championship Game, the Eagles' second straight shutout in a title game. With the help of speedy young running back Steve Van Buren, Neale's Eagles stormed the NFL in 19. Fullback-linebacker-punter Joe Muha was an artillery lieutenant at Iwo Jima.Ĭoach Greasy Neale gave his combat veterans a wide berth when it came to discipline he figured General Patton covered that part of their training. Center-linebacker Chuck Bednarik flew 30 bombing missions over Germany as a waist-gunner in a B-24. End Pete Pihos won both the Bronze Star and Silver Star as an infantry lieutenant. Quarterback Tommy Thompson earned a Purple Heart on the beach at Normandy. But the Eagles, just a few years removed from merging with the Steelers for a season due to wartime manpower shortages, had a roster loaded with men just back from the European and Asian theaters. The NFL was full of World War II veterans in the late 1940s, of course. Having helped win World War II, the 1949 Eagles had little trouble winning the National Football League. You know the storyline as well: outstanding in the regular season, foiled by the Patriots or otherwise snakebit in the playoffs.īut this was the year the Colts finally broke through, beat the Patriots in a memorable AFC Championship Game, beat the Bears in a rainy Super Bowl and redeemed all of the Colts teams of previous years that looked so much better in the regular season than this one yet lost in the playoffs like it was their cosmic destiny. The style of play is also familiar: Manning and Harrison running the route tree before dawn on Sunday morning, Manning barking audibles at the line, Dungy's Tampa-2 defense holding opponents at bay when they tried to catch up. The names and personalities are familiar to you: Manning, Tony Dungy, Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne, Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis. ![]() It's a group of teams that kept finishing a victory or two short of reaching our top 10. They're boosted onto the list by a decade of Manning teams that won 12-14 games but lost in the playoffs. The 2005 Colts finished second in the NFL in points allowed, the 2007 Colts first, while the 2006 Colts finished 23rd.įrankly, the 2006 Colts would not have made this countdown at all if teams did not get a bonus for their long-term excellence. The 20 teams won more games and posted much better defensive stats. They just happened to be the one that won a Super Bowl. The 2006 Colts probably weren't the best Peyton Manning Colts team of the mid-2000s. You can quibble with some of the selections and the order, but you can't argue with this countdown's sheer volume of football excellence. But no matter how much time you spend encyclopedia crawling and stat crunching (including Football Outsiders' historical DVOA estimates), comparing great teams across decades and eras is an inexact science. And multi-season dynasties get a boost in the rankings over teams that rose and fell quickly. There are still multiple great Tom Brady Patriots teams and Steel Curtain Steelers on the list, despite the "shadow" effect. To prevent this from becoming just a countdown of 1960s Packers, 1970s Steelers and recent Patriots, each team chosen casts a five-year "shadow." So the 2004 Patriots also represent the 2003 Patriots, the 1998 Broncos represent the 1997 team, and so on. There is one ground rule to keep in mind. You are about to meet an amazing collection of Super Bowl champions, undefeated teams, teams that led the league in offense and/or defense, teams that captured imaginations and defined generations. NFL footage © NFL Productions LLC.A countdown of the greatest teams in pro football history needs little introduction. ![]() All other NFL-related trademarks are trademarks of the National Football League. NFL and the NFL shield design are registered trademarks of the National Football League.The team names, logos and uniform designs are registered trademarks of the teams indicated.
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