When you have 48 examples and limit your list to 10, you’re going to leave some greatness out.
We have broken down the previous 48 Super Bowl champions, ranking them from 10 to one. We will also be doing this in two installments, because there is nothing like a little suspense. We are focusing on the team’s season, not their performance in the Super Bowl.
Keep in mind that all 48 champions are worthy of high praise but we think we have the best of the very best.
10. 2004 New England Patriots (17-2); won Super Bowl XXXIX: This was the last and arguably the best of the Patriots’ championship teams to date (New England has a date with the Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX). The Pats carried a 15-game overall winning streak into the 2004 regular season and they would eventually reach an NFL-record 21 consecutive victories. Bill Belichick’s team would lose only twice all season (to the Steelers and Dolphins) but they were rarely challenged. On their way to defeating the Eagles in Jacksonville for their third title in four years, the Patriots held the Colts to three points in Foxborough in the Divisional Playoffs and avenged their first loss of 2004 by handling the 15-1 Steelers at Pittsburgh in the AFC title game.
9. 1986 New York Giants (17-2); won Super Bowl XXI: Big Blue would drop its first game of the season at Dallas and six weeks later, the Giants fell to 5-2 with a loss at Seattle. But the eventual champions would not lose the remainder of the season. In his first three years at the helm, Pro Football Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells nurtured a team that had the ingredients to win a title. In year four of the process, all of the pieces came together, as evidenced by key late-season and thrilling wins over the Vikings, 49ers and Broncos. New York routed San Francisco (49-3), Washington (17-0) and Denver (39-20) in the postseason to capture the Lombardi Trophy.
8. 1998 Denver Broncos (17-2); won Super Bowl XXXIII: One year after winning Super Bowl XXXII via the wild card route, the Broncos stormed out of the gates with a 13-0 mark before finishing 14-2. The offense didn’t miss a beat even when quarterback John Elway was sidelined for a few games. Running back Terrell Davis ran for 2,008 yards, earned NFL MVP honors and helped Denver score an impressive 501 points. Mike Shanahan’s club rolled the Dolphins in the Divisional Playoffs, rallied to beat the Jets in the AFC title game and beat old friend Dan Reeves and the Atlanta Falcons in the Super Bowl in South Florida.
7. 1972 Miami Dolphins (17-0); won Super Bowl VII: They remain the only unbeaten and untied team in NFL history. They are also the last franchise to win a Super Bowl the year after losing a Super Bowl (VI to the Dallas Cowboys). Don Shula’s squad had their share of close calls during the regular season and the playoffs were even more interesting, including narrow wins over the Browns (20-14) and Steelers (21-17), the latter game at Pittsburgh. The Dolphins closed the deal with a 14-7 win over the Redskins in Super Bowl VII at the Los Angeles Coliseum, although the most memorable moment of the game went wrong for the champs.
6. 1993 Dallas Cowboys (15-4); won Super Bowl XXVIII: The defending Super Bowl champions were 0-2 after losses to the Redskins and Bills knocked off the Emmitt Smith-less Cowboys. Head coach Jimmy Johnson knew what a talented team he had and this squad would lose only two more games the remainder of 1993. One of those was the infamous Leon Lett Thanksgiving Day snafu which proved to be Dallas’ last loss of the season. The Cowboys had few problems with the Packers and 49ers in the NFC playoffs. And after trailing the Bills at halftime (13-6) in the team’s Super Bowl rematch in Atlanta, Dallas would score the final 24 points of the game and NFL MVP Smith would become Super Bowl MVP as well.
To be continued…