15 most successful NFL Franchises of the Super Bowl Era statistically ranked
By Daniel
Nov 10, 2013; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (7) passes the ball against the Buffalo Bills during the fourth quarter at Heinz Field. The Pittsburgh Steelers won 23-10. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
The NFL is by far America’s favorite sport. It’s firmly engrained into our extensive and shared culture, but it hasn’t always been. Most NFL historians point to the 1960s as the time when the nation’s collective fandom shifted from MLB to the NFL. Which directly coincides with the origin of the Super Bowl — in 1966. Since the big game has been played, the sport’s popularity has skyrocketed.
This era has seen many of the best teams and players in the sport’s entire history. Thus, I wanted to rank the NFL’s top franchises of this amazing (and ongoing) era of professional football. Obviously winning the Super Bowl is the most important accomplishment for franchises; it’s the goal of every team every year. But there is a lot more success to be found in the NFL than in just winning the big game.
To account for this, I came up with a weighted point system which values all angles of a franchise’s overall success that can be measured. This system recognizes franchises for making the playoffs, winning divisions, winning conferences and ultimately the main goal of hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.
Essentially, it recognizes and quantifies the most consistently-successful franchises of the Super Bowl era. It’s a simple but effective formula. Everyone knows how many Super Bowl rings each franchise has; this list isn’t a boring reflection of that at all. If you don’t know, ten seconds on Google will give you the answer. This ranking system goes deeper than that. It values year-in and year-out success as determined by the following categories. The objective point system is below.
Point Breakdown:
Super Bowl Championship: 20 Points
Conference Championship: 10 Points
Division Championship: 6 Points
Playoff Appearance:* 4 Points
*For those clamoring for overall winning percentage to be factored into this ranking system, the points awarded for playoff appearances accomplish just that. Franchises with an overall high winning percentage will have reached the playoffs at a more frequent rate, equalling more points. Franchises that have won less regular season games throughout their history (low all-time winning percentage) will have reached the playoffs less times, totaling less points. The two are nearly interchangeable at weighing regular season success in the Super Bowl era.
This point system was applied to every NFL franchise’s Super Bowl Era seasons (1966-Present).
Many NFL fans argue about which franchise is the greatest of the Super Bowl Era. A lot of fans claim that their team has been the best during modern day football citing various reasons. This is understandable though, as NFL history is fluid and in many ways subjective. But when it comes to this debate, there’s no reason to argue anymore. Here are the 15 most successful NFL franchises of the Super Bowl Era.
Next: Franchises 15 Through 11