vince
05-28-2009, 03:51 AM
My submission for the longest post ever, although I think it's a pretty fair take and interesting read on the history of each of the NFL franchises.
I'd tend to want to put the Steelers a little higher based on their success in my lifetime, but I guess that doesn't take into account their lack of success in the 40 years before that.
Was there any doubt who'd be the greatest?
http://www.coldhardfootballfacts.com/Articles/11_2260_A_CHFF_epic:_all-time_franchise_rankings.html
A CHFF epic: all-time franchise rankings
Try as the NFL might to provide the proverbial level playing field, no two franchises are created equal. Certainly, no two franchises perform equally.
In fact, for some organizations, it's a triumph simply to have a winning record and reach the playoffs. For other organizations, the season's a failure if they don't add another Lombardi to the trophy case.
Naturally, inquiring little pigskin minds want to know: what is the best franchise in football? Which is the worst?
We don't mean which are the best and worst today. We mean, the best and worst for all time.
Even for the Cold, Hard Football Facts, there's no truly empirical answer. Sure, overall winning percentage, winning seasons and championship seasons all factor into the equation. But they're not the only criteria. What about the great players who have donned the uniform of your favorite team? How do you quantify their contributions? How do you value the impact a Papa Bear Halas or a Dan Marino had on a team's greatness?
It's simply not possible to do so empirically.
So here's what we did: we tackled the challenge of ranking the franchises from the point of view of the fans, using our Misery-to-Joy Theory of Fan Relativity. Essentially, we measured the amount of misery a franchise has forced upon its fans against the amount of celebratory games, moments, titles and great players and coaches a franchise has gifted upon its fans.
The fans who have endured the most misery will find their teams at the bottom of the list. The fans who have enjoyed the most celebratory moments will find their teams at the top of the list.
This Misery-to-Joy system also allows us to compare franchises of various ages. Some teams have been around since 1920. Other teams are barely a decade old. But, measuring each team by the relative misery-to-joy it has provided its fans, the age is almost irrelevant. A 10-year-old team that won two titles (purely as an example, as no such team exists) would rate incredibly high on the list. An 88-year-old team that won two titles would probably have a lot of 'splaining to do for those other 86 seasons.
So here goes.
32. ARIZONA CARDINALS
First Cardinals season: 1920
History: Chicago (1920-43; 45-59); Card-Pitt (1944); St. Louis (1960-87); Phoenix (1988-93); Arizona (1994-present)
Cardinals franchise record: 464-667-39 (.413) – 28th
Cardinals franchise playoff record: 2-5 (.286)
Cardinals championships: 1925 (pre-title game era), 1947
Face of the Cardinals franchise: Dan Dierdorf
Greatest Cardinals players: Dierdorf, Jim Hart, Night Train Lane, Ernie Nevers, Jackie Smith, Charley Trippi, Larry Wilson
Greatest Cardinals coach: Jimmy Conzelman (1940-42, 1946-48); 34-31-3 (.522) – Led Cardinals through their glory years of 1947 and 1948.
Cardinals claim to infamy: Two playoff wins in 88 seasons.
It never got any better for Cardinals fans than it did on: Dec. 28, 1947
The Cardinals – then in Chicago and still under Bidwill ownership – won their one and only championship game in 88 seasons of NFL football. Elmer Angsman ripped off a pair of 70-yard TD runs, including the game-winning score in the fourth quarter, as the Cardinals beat the Eagles, 28-21, for their sad, lonely, singular NFL title. The Cardinals could have notched back-to-back titles in 1948. But the dominant 11-1 Cardinals fell in a blizzard-coated rematch with the Eagles, 7-0.
Cardinals overview:
The Cardinals have a long and storied history – it’s a sad, sorrowful and pathetic story, but definitely a long one. Like an itinerant Depression Era urchin, the Cardinals have meandered along the old Route 66, dragging their sorry, underfed ass of a franchise from Chicago to St. Louis to the desert of Arizona. It would be truly poetic if the Cardinals some day ended up in L.A., at the end of the old Route 66. Like a Tom Joad of the gridiron, they’ve starved for success every step of the way.
The Cardinals can trace their roots back to 1898, making it the oldest football franchise in the country. They were one of the original NFL franchises in 1920. Along the way, they’ve lost more games (667) and fielded more losing teams (56) than any other organization in football, losing nearly 59 percent of all the games they’ve ever played. The organization bottomed out in the 1950s, posting a decade-long record of 33-84-3 (.288). It hasn’t really got a whole lot better since.
The systemic troubles for the Cardinals are so old and run so deep that not even great coaches can win there: Joe Stydahar, Curly Lambeau, Don Coryell, Bud Wilkinson and Gene Stallings all headed the Cardinals franchise. All had great success elsewhere, whether in college or the pros. All lost with the Cardinals.
The postseason numbers say it all: in 88 NFL seasons, the Cardinals have won just two playoff games. They beat the Eagles in the 1947 NFL championship game and celebrated the glory of 1998 wildcard victory over Dallas. At this rate, the Cardinals – the Los Angeles Cardinals – should celebrate another playoff win around 2040.
31. NEW ORLEANS SAINTS
First Saints season: 1967
Saints franchise record: 254-367-5 (.410) – 29th
Saints franchise playoff record: 2-6 (.250)
Saints championships: none
Face of the Saints franchise: Archie Manning
Greatest Saints players: Joe Horn, Ricky Jackson, Manning, Eric Martin, Sam Mills,
Greatest Saints coach: Jim Mora (1986-96), 93-74 (.557) – Led New Orleans to four of its six playoff appearances and five of its eight winning seasons.
Saints claim to infamy: One conference title game appearance in 41 seasons.
It never got any better for Saints fans than it did on: Jan. 13, 2007
A year and a half after the city of New Orleans was nearly destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, the Saints, at home in the reconstructed Superdome, won just the second playoff game in franchise history with a 27-24 victory over the Eagles and earned the franchise’s first-ever appearance in a conference title game.
Saints overview:
How bad has it been for the Saints? They’ve lost more games since joining the NFL in 1967 (367) than the Browns have lost (360) since joining the NFL in 1950 … and it’s been a long time since the Browns were any good.
The Saints have fielded just eight winning teams in 40 seasons, played 20 years in the NFL before posting a first winning record, and have yet to produce a single Hall of Fame performer (three HOFers ended their careers with the Saints: Doug Atkins, Earl Campbell and Jim Taylor).
And, in one of the great unbelievable Cold, Hard Football Facts ever uncovered, the Saints have an all-time losing record against 23 of the other 31 teams in the NFL. They have a winning record against just one of the 31 other teams in the NFL, Tampa Bay.
The outlook is definitely getting better for Saints fans: they’ve had just two losing seasons in the past six years – an enviable rate by the franchise’s standards – and one of those was the disastrous, post-Katrina 2005 campaign in which it would have been unreasonable to expect any team to win anything. The Saints also appeared in the conference title game just two seasons ago, and seem to have the talent to at least compete in the weak NFC South for a few years to come.
But it will take years of success to erase the dreadful memories of seasons past and for the organization’s highlights to surpass the football-folly lowlights that have defined the No. 31-ranked Aints.
30. HOUSTON TEXANS
First Texans season: 2002
Texans franchise record: 32-64 (.333) – 32nd
Texans franchise playoff record: 0-0
Texans championships: ha, ha, ha! You're kidding, right?
Face of the Texans franchise: David Carr (for better or worse, he was the team’s most recognizable player and symbolic of its frustrations)
Greatest Texans player: DeMeco Ryans, 2006 NFL Rookie of the Year (you got someone better?)
Greatest Texans coach: Gary Kubiak (2006-present), 14-18 (.438) – The jury’s still out, but Kubiak has the inside track over original coach Dom Capers, who led the franchise through its highly unsuccessful first four years.
Texans claim to infamy: No winning seasons.
It never got any better for Texans fans than it did on: Dec. 24, 2006
After nine straight losses, the Texans defeat AFC powerhouse Indy for the first time in franchise history. Humiliated by the loss, the Colts go on to win Super Bowl XLI. Running back Ron Dayne led the victory with a career-high 153 yards, while Kris Brown kicked a game-winning 48-yard field goal as the clock ran out.
Texans overview:
The bar for expansion franchises was set high by Carolina and Jacksonville, who joined the NFL in 1995 and each played in conference title games in 1996. The Texans are following a more traditional expansion-franchise model, struggling to grow competitive.
They had losing records in each of their first five seasons of existence, before climbing to a respectable 8-8 last season in the tough AFC South. They still have, technically speaking, the worst winning percentage of any NFL franchise. But, given Houston’s youth, it’s a little unfair to compare their few short years of ineptitude to the team 31st on the list of all-time franchise records, Tampa Bay.
Among the teams in the bottom quarter of the all-time franchise rankings, Houston is more likely than any other team to rocket up the list toward respectability. A few good seasons over the next five years or so, and the Texans can quickly erase the painful memories over their first six years in the league.
29. ATLANTA FALCONS
First Falcons season: 1966
Falcons franchise record: 256-378-6 (.405) – 30th
Falcons franchise playoff record: 6-8 (.429)
Falcons championships: none
Face of the Falcons franchise: Michael Vick
Greatest Falcons players: Steve Bartkowski, Terence Mathis, Tommy Nobis, Gerald Riggs, Deion Sanders
Greatest Falcons coach: Leeman Bennett (1977-82), 46-41 (.529) – Led franchise to its first three (of eight total) postseason appearances.
Falcons claim to fame: Bennett’s 1977 Falcons fielded the stingiest defense in modern NFL history (9.2 PPG).
It never got any better for Falcons fans than it did on: Jan. 17, 1999
The Falcons earned their first and only Super Bowl appearance by knocking off the 15-1 Vikings at Minnesota in the 1998 NFC title game. Atlanta trailed by 10 points in the fourth quarter to the then highest-scoring team in NFL history (556 points), but forced overtime, thanks in large part to a missed field goal my Minnesota’s Gary Anderson, who was a perfect 35-for-35 that entire season.
Falcons overview:
The Falcons inhabit a place somewhere behind the University of Georgia and Valdosta High School on the list of most popular football teams in the Peach State.
Of course, those two programs built tradition upon mountains of victories, Georgia as the perennial SEC power; Valdosta is the winningest high school football team in U.S. history. The Falcons, however, have fielded 28 losing teams in 42 seasons of NFL football. The most popular player in franchise history, meanwhile, was a dysfunctional quarterback who could barely pass the football at a pro-caliber level, was embroiled in one controversy after another, and finally got busted for, of all things, running a violent dog-fighting ring. Good job, Michael Vick.
The 2007 campaign, with all its problems – the Vick saga, coach Bobby Petrino quitting in the middle of the season – was indicative of a franchise that’s never been well grounded.
The sad part is that you could argue that Atlanta is an organization on the upswing. Three of its eight playoff appearances, and four of the six postseason victories in franchise history, have come over the last 10 years. And with a new coach and a new franchise quarterback, the organization has definitely attempted to make a break with its past. But like the Saints, it will take years of success to erase the history of ineptitude that has marked the organizations first four decades.
28. CINCINNATI BENGALS
First Bengals season: 1968
Bengals franchise record: 268-343-1 (.439) – 27th
Bengals franchise playoff record: 5-8
Bengals championships: seriously, do you have to ask?
Face of the Bengals franchise: Paul Brown
Greatest Bengals players: Ken Anderson, Chris Collinsworth, Corey Dillon, Boomer Esiason, Anthony Munoz
Greatest Bengals coach: Paul Brown (1968-75), 55-56-1 (.496) – The legendary coach founded his second pro football franchise with the Bengals in 1968 and remains its most successful leader. Despite the team’s expansion status and the smaller playoff format of the era, Brown led the Bengals to three of their eight postseason appearances and to their best single-season record of 11-3 (.786) in 1975.
Bengals claim to fame: Annually leads league in disgruntled stars.
It never got any better for Bengals fans than it did on: Jan. 10, 1982
In the coldest game in NFL history (-37 degrees with wind chill), the Bengals beat up the warm-weather Chargers, 27-7, in the AFC championship game. The Bengals fell in the Super Bowl two weeks later to Joe Montana’s first 49ers championship team.
Bengals overview:
The Bengals began with such promise, founded by pro football legend Brown in a football-mad state as an effort to spite owner Art Modell who fired him from Cleveland. The organization has been blessed with its fair share of talent, including three Pro Bowl quarterbacks over the past 35 years at the toughest position on the field to fill (quarterbacks Ken Anderson, Boomer Esiason and Carson Palmer). Most organizations should be so lucky. Somewhere along the way, though, it’s just never clicked for this franchise.
There have been just 12 winning campaigns in 40 NFL seasons, and four of those came in the franchise’s first eights years of existence under Brown. The Bengals have fielded just a single winning team since 1990: The 2005 Bengals went 11-5 and looked like they might be a contender – then Palmer went down with a nasty injury early in a home playoff game against Pittsburgh, setting the stage for their hated divisional rivals to march to their fifth Super Bowl title.
Even the great Cincinnati teams have been snakebitten. The Bengals reached two Super Bowls, but both times fell just a wee dram short of victory against the dynastic 49ers. The Bengals could have bested San Francisco in Super Bowl XVI, but were stuffed four straight times at the goal line, allowing the 49ers to hang on to a 26-21 victory. The two teams met again seven years later in Super Bowl XXIII. The Bengals held a 16-13 lead in the final 3 minutes of the game, but allowed Joe Montana and company to march 92 yards for the game-winning score.
27. TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS
First Buccaneers season: 1976
Buccaneers franchise record: 196-303-1 (.393) – 31st
Buccaneers franchise playoff record: 6-9 (.429)
Buccaneers championships: 2002
Face of the Buccaneers franchise: Lee Roy Selmon
Greatest Buccaneers players: Mike Alstott, Ronde Barber, Warrick Dunn, Simeon Rice, Warren Sapp, Selmon, James Wilder
Greatest Buccaneers coach: Tony Dungy (1996-2001), 54-42 (.563) – After years of futility, included 14 straight losing seasons, Dungy lifted the inept Buccaneers to respectability, including three straight playoff appearances for the first and only time in team history.
Buccaneers claim to fame: Record 26-game losing streak (1976-77).
It never got any better for Buccaneers fans than it did on: Jan. 26, 2003
The Buccaneers won their first and only championship with a 48-21 win over the Raiders in Super Bowl XXXIV. They were led by a tour de force defensive performance as Jon Gruden’s team stifled the Raiders offense he had coached just one year earlier. The Bucs picked off Oakland quarterback Rich Gannon, the MVP of the 2002 season, five times, while returning three of those INTs for TDs.
Buccaneers overview:
The victory in Super Bowl XXXVII is the only thing that keeps the Buccaneers from being mired at the very bottom of the list. Other than that win – a true fluke when compared with the rest of the franchise’s history – Tampa has clearly been one of the worst franchises in all of pro sports.
The organization’s .393 winning percentage is the worst of any team in football, other than the .333 of the Texans, who joined the NFL just six seasons ago. The tone was set for the Bucs in their debut season of 1976, as they went 0-14 to become the only winless team in modern NFL history. They also lost their first 12 games of 1977, for a truly fantastical record 26-game losing streak. No other team, expansion or otherwise, has ever lost more than 19 consecutive games.
The organization has produced just one Hall of Famer, Lee Roy Selmon, and even players who prospered elsewhere – HOFer Steve Young and Vinny Testaverde, for example – performed miserably in Tampa.
The organization boasts 10 winning campaigns in 32 NFL seasons, and a full half of its all-time postseason victories – three – came in that Super Bowl-winning season of 2002. But, hey, at least they have that one Super Bowl championship. Which is more than the Cardinals, Saints, Texans, Falcons, Bengals, Bills, Lions, Jaguars, Panthers, Chargers, Titans, Eagles, Vikings, Seahawks or Browns can say.
26. BUFFALO BILLS
First Bills season: 1960
Bills franchise record: 341-375-8 (.477) – 23rd
Bills franchise playoff record: 14-15 (.483)
Bills championships: 1964 (AFL), 1965 (AFL)
Face of the Bills franchise: O.J. Simpson
Greatest Bills players: Joe DeLamielleure, Doug Flutie, Jim Kelly, Andre Reed, Billy Shaw, Bruce Smith, Simpson, Thurman Thomas
Greatest Bills coach: Marv Levy (1986-97), 112-70 (.615) – The force behind Buffalo’s near-dynastic status of the 1990s and the only man to bring a team to four straight Super Bowls.
Bills claim to fame: Lost four straight Super Bowls; greatest player (allegedly) killed his wife.
It never got any better for Bills fans than it did on: Jan. 20, 1991
The Bills never looked better than they did on this day, with a 51-3 thrashing of the Raiders in the AFC championship game, just a week after they hung 44 on hated divisional rival Miami in the divisional playoffs. The Bills were fresh off a franchise-record 13-win season and headed into the Super Bowl with the No. 1 scoring offense in football and playing at the peak of its offensive power … then they couldn’t get Ottis Anderson off the field and Scott Norwood missed a field goal.
Bills overview:
No group of fans have been kicked in the gonads by their team and by sporting society at large more often than fans of the Bills.
It pretty much says it all when your greatest player is best remembered for committing the crime of the century, your greatest quarterback couldn’t nail anybody better than a B-list wrestling star and your greatest accomplishment is losing four straight title games – one of the them of the aforementioned painful kick-in-the-nuts variety, the other three of the bloody, humiliating, woodshed-beating variety.
But at least the Bills can look back upon their mid-60s dominance of the old AFL, when they won two championships, and their early 1990s dominance of the AFC. Fans in six other cities wish they ever had it so good.
25. SEATTLE SEAHAWKS
First Seahawks season: 1976
Seahawks franchise record: 246-254-0 (.492) – 20th
Seahawks franchise playoff record: 7-10 (.412)
Seahawks championships: none
Face of the Seahawks franchise: Steve Largent
Greatest Seahawks players: Shaun Alexander, Kenny Easley, Cortez Kennedy, Dave Kreig, Matt Hasselbeck, Largent
Greatest Seahawks coach: Mike Holmgren (1999-present), 82-62 (.569) – architect of the glory years, relatively speaking, in franchise history, including the current streak of five straight playoff appearances for an organization that reached the playoffs just five times in the previous 27 seasons.
Seahawks claim to fame: Largent retired after 1989 season with then NFL records in catches (819), receiving yards (13,089) and receiving TDs (100)
It never got any better for Seahawks fans than it did on: Jan. 22, 2006
The Seahawks demolished Carolina, 34-14, before a raucous home crowd to earn its first and only trip to the Super Bowl. They lost two weeks later to Pittsburgh, 21-10, in one of the least entertaining Super Bowls in history.
Seahawks overview:
The Seahawks have been fairly easy to miss. They’ve worn two lousy uniforms, they play in the NFL equivalent of Siberia (in fact, the distance from Seattle to Siberia is about the same as the distance from Seattle to Miami), and they’ve been about as perfectly mediocre as a franchise can be: they’ve won between 6 and 10 in 25 of the 32 seasons in their history and, over those 32 years, they stand just four games from a perfectly mediocre .500 record.
The Seahawks are actually in the midst of their glory years, with a potential Hall of Fame coach, a franchise quarterback, a star-studded young defense and five straight playoffs seasons, easily the longest stretch of success in franchise history.
With only a couple of exceptions, including their debut 2-12 season, the Seahawks have never been a truly awful franchise. Yet they’ve also done little to distinguish themselves beyond a single token Super Bowl appearance at a time when the NFC was clearly inferior to the AFC. Simply note the outcomes of that game, in which the No. 1 NFC seed Seahawks were outmanned and outmuscled by the No. 6 AFC seed Steelers, 21-10.
The Seahawks are just kind of “there” until they can pull together a championship team. And, given the current make-up of the franchise, the present may be the best chance they’ll have for years to come.
24. DETROIT LIONS
First Lions season: 1930
Names: Portsmouth Spartans (1930-33); Detroit Lions (1934-present)
Lions franchise record: 488-553-32 (.470) – 24th
Lions franchise playoff record: 7-10 (.412)
Lions championships: 1935, 1952, 1953, 1957
Face of the Lions franchise: Bobby Layne (great Lions teams), Barry Sanders (lousy Lions teams)
Greatest Lions players: Lem Barney, Alex Karras, Herman Moore, Night Train Lane, Yale Lary, Layne, Sanders, Joe Schmidt, Doak Walker, Alex Wojciechowicz
Greatest Lions coach: Buddy Parker (1951-56), 47-23-2 (.674) – winning records in five of six seasons and architect of Detroit’s dynastic 1950s teams.
Lions claim to fame: Team of the 1950s has earned just one playoff victory since 1957.
It never got any better for Lions fans than it did on: Dec. 27, 1953
In the greatest fourth-quarter drive in championship history before Eli Manning's miracle this past February, Bobby Layne marched the Lions 80 yards, connecting with Jim Doran, a defensive end pressed into offensive duty because of injuries, for a 33-yard score that tied up the mighty Browns at 16-16. Doak Walker’s extra point gave the Lions their second consecutive championship, one of three they’d win with Layne in the 1950s.
Lions overview:
The Lions in modern times are known only for futility. After all, among all the teams that have been in the NFL every year since the creation of the Super Bowl, they’re one of just three franchises that have failed to reach the big game (the others are the once-proud Browns and the always embarrassing Cardinals, No. 32 with a bullet on your franchise rankings list).
The fact that the Lions have won a truly Cardinals-esque one (1) playoff game since the 1957 championship game speaks to the modern futility of the organization, annually one of the league laughingstocks.
But a bevy of great past players, not to mention a claim to “team-of-the-decade” status in the 1950s (three championships), keeps the Lions out of the sad-sack basement of defeat and humiliation inhabited by the basement-dwelling shut-ins of the NFL like Arizona, New Orleans ... and, well, you.
23. New York Jets
First Jets season: 1960
Names: New York Titans (1960-62); New York Jets (1963-present)
Jets franchise record: 322-394-8 (.450) – 26th
Jets franchise playoff record: 8-11 (.421)
Jets championships: 1968
Face of the Jets franchise: Broadway Joe Namath
Greatest Jets players: Joe Klecko, Mark Gastineau, Mo Lewis, Don Maynard, Curtis Martin, Joe Namath, Gerry Philbin
Greatest Jets coach: Weeb Ewbank (1963-73), 71-77-6 (.481) – coached the Jets for 11 years, the longest tenure in the volatile history of the franchise, while leading the team to its greatest moment of triumph.
Claim to fame: Beat the mighty Colts in Super Bowl III in a triumph for the upstart AFL.
It never got any better for Jets fans than it did on: Jan. 12, 1969
In a game still widely regarded as the greatest upset in pro football history, the AFL’s Jets shocked the Colts, one of the most dominant teams in NFL history, 16-7, in Super Bowl III. Looking at it purely from the point of view of the Cold, Hard Football Facts, Super Bowl III was not as shocking an upset as Super Bowl XLII (Giants over Patriots). But in terms of perception and culture, it remains one of the defining games in football history, as the AFL proved it could beat the very best the NFL could throw its way.
Jets overview:
Save for one fleeting afternoon of glory in Miami 40 seasons ago, it’s just never quite clicked for the Jets. They’ve fiedled some very good players, but few that were ever great. They’ve had some very good coaches, but few that were ever great. They’ve had some very good seasons, but fewer that were ever great.
On the player front, even their most iconic players lean woefully to the overrated side: Face-of-the-franchise Joe Namath is in the Hall of Fame purely for the win over the Colts. His overall career numbers otherwise mediocre at best, even for his era.
On the coach front, even Weeb Ewbank, the Hall of Fame moulder-of-QBs who won the arguably two biggest games in league history, was sub-.500 with the Jets.
And from season to season the Jets are hardly ever awful, save for that 1-15 abortion of a 1996 season under Rich Kotite. But nor are they hardly ever great. The champion 1968 Jets, at 11-3 (.786), still boast the best record in franchise history, and only one Jets team, Tuna’s 12-4 club of 1998, won more games.
The Jets are below .500 in the regular season, below .500 in the playoffs, below .500 on the talent and coaching front, below .500 on the list of highlight moments, and below .500 on our franchise rankings list.
22. CAROLINA PANTHERS
First Panthers season: 1995
Panthers franchise record: 97-111 (.466) – 25th
Panthers franchise playoff record: 6-3 (.667)
Panthers championships: none
Face of the Panthers franchise: Sam Mills
Greatest Panthers players: Kerry Collins, Jake Delhomme, Kris Jenkins, Mills, Julius Peppers, Steve Smith
Greatest Panthers coach: John Fox (2002-present), 51-45-0 (.531) – led Panthers to five of franchise’s six postseason victories and two of its three conference title-game appearances.
Claim to fame: Appeared in the NFC title game in just its second year in the league.
It never got any better for Panthers fans than it did on: Jan. 18, 2004
Making just the second postseason appearance in franchise history, the upstart Panthers walked into Philly and staggered the Eagles, the class of the NFC, with a 14-3 upset victory. Rookie cornerback Ricky Manning Jr. ensured himself a chapter in the very short book of Carolina franchise lore by picking off three Donovan McNabb passes that day. The Panthers went on to play one of the most exciting Super Bowls in history two weeks later, but fell 32-29 to the dynastic Patriots.
Panthers overview:
The Panthers seem to have enjoyed more than their share of success. Hell, they appeared in three conference title games in their first 11 years of existence, including two of the past five. They even enjoy, believe it or not, the best postseason winning percentage in the NFL (.667). But with just nine total postseason games, it’s hard to compare the .667 postseason winning percentage of the Panthers to the .625 of the Packers in 40 postseason games, or the .618 of the Patriots in 34 postseason games.
And, sadly, the few moments of glory for the Panthers have yet to provide a championship. These few moments merely serve as a pigskin perfume that masks the stench of what has otherwise been a fairly moribund franchise: the Panthers have enjoyed just three winning seasons, and three postseason appearances, in their 13 years in the NFL.
But it could be worse, Carolina fans. Your team’s six playoff victories in 13 years compare quite favorably to the two playoff victories in 88 years of the Cardinals.
21. JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS
First Jaguars season: 1995
Jaguars franchise record: 113-95-0 (.543) – 8th
Jaguars franchise playoff record: 5-6 (.455)
Jaguars championships: none
Face of the Jaguars franchise: Jimmy Smith
Greatest Jaguars players: Tony Boselli, Mark Brunell, Smith, Fed Taylor, Marcus Stroud, John Henderson
Greatest Jaguars coach: Tom Coughlin (1995-2002), 68-60 (.531) – turned an expansion franchise into a consistent AFC contender within two years.
Claim to fame: Made an expansion-team record four playoff appearances in its first five years in the league.
It never got any better for Jaguars fans than it did on: Jan. 15, 2000
After a dominating season in which they posted a league best (and franchise record) 14-2 mark, the Jaguars hosted cross-state rival and established AFC power Miami in the divisional playoffs. In the final game of Dan Marino’s career, the upstart Jaguars utterly embarrassed the legend, 62-7 – one of the greatest blowouts in NFL history. Then Jacksonville promptly got embarrassed, 33-14, at home against the Titans in the AFC championship game.
Jaguars overview:
Forever linked with the Panthers by virtue of the fact that both joined the league in 1995 and both appeared in conference title games in 1996 (where both lost), it’s no surprise to find the Jaguars just one spot from the Panthers in our all-time franchise rankings.
Jacksonville has yet to have a true signature moment. But, compared with Carolina, they’ve consistently fielded better teams with a much better winning percentage and twice as many playoff appearances (six) to stand as proof.
The Jaguars, in fact, have become one of the most consistently competitive teams in the league, with seven winning campaigns in 13 NFL seasons and enviable consistency: three leading quarterbacks and two head coaches over 13 years is fairly rare, and also quite necessary in a league where institutional stability seems to preface onfield success. The fact that such a young franchise boasts the league’s 8th-best winning percentage is a tribute to this consistency.
However, the Jaguars will not jump into their upper echelon of franchises until they become a consistent threat to win a championship. As of yet, even their best teams have not been up to the task and they’ve yet to boast a signature season in which they live up to the potential that’s been bubbling through the surface of Jacksonville, like a tempting crude oil of success, since 1996.
However, no team stands to jump higher on the franchise rankings list than Jacksonville. With a championship or two in the next few years, it will become easier to hold up this organization as a paragon of consistency and success.
20. SAN DIEGO CHARGERS
First Chargers season: 1960
Names: Los Angeles Chargers (1960); San Diego Chargers (1961-present)
Chargers franchise record: 354-359-11 (.497) – 20th
Chargers franchise playoff record: 9-14 (.391)
Chargers championships: 1963 (AFL)
Face of the Chargers franchise: Sid Gillman
Greatest Chargers players: Lance Alworth, Dan Fouts, Charlie Joiner, Ernie Ladd, Ron Mix, Junior Seau, LaDainian Tomlinson, Kellen Winslow
Greatest Chargers coach: Sid Gillman (1960-69; 1971), 86-53-6 (.614) – a seminal figure in pro football history, largely responsible for the creation of the West Coast offense and for the bevy of offensive talent that always seems to play for the Chargers; later Chargers offensive whiz Don Coryell was a student of the Gillman school of offense.
Chargers claim to fame: The dominant team in the early years of the AFL, largely creating the league’s reputation for wide-open, more exciting football.
It never got any better for Chargers fans than it did on: Jan. 2, 1982
Sure, the Chargers boast a 1963 AFC championship. But the AFL was still a side show in 1963. Instead, one of the iconic images in NFL history belongs to the Chargers: Kellen Winslow being carried off the field by his teammates after nearly five quarters of football and a thrilling 41-38 win over the Dolphins in the 1981 divisional playoffs, on an unseasonably hot and humid January evening in Miami. San Diego seemed like a team of destiny … and then they walked into the coldest game in NFL history, the Freezer Bowl AFC championship game in Cincinnati, where they were whipped by the Bengals.
Chargers overview:
No team has boasted such an enviable collection of offensive talent through its history. From John Hadl and Lance Alworth in the AFL days, through the Fouts-Muncie-Joiner-Jefferson-Winslow Chargers of the Air Coryell Era, to the amazing LaDainian Tomlinson and Antonio Gates of today’s team, it seems there has always been an abundance of offensive talent wearing blue and gold.
And it all started out so well for San Diego, too. They were the dominant power in the early days of the AFL, appearing in five of its first six championship games, though winning just one (51-10 over the Boston Patriots in the 1963 championship game).
But for all the sizzle, the Chargers have produced surprisingly little steak. They’re under .500 as a franchise, and boast a respectable but disappointing nine postseason victories. And, from John Hadl through Dan Fouts through playoff pine-rider LaDainian Tomlinson, this organization always seems to come up just short when it matters most.
19. TENNESSEE TITANS
First Titans season: 1960
Names: Houston Oilers (1960-96): Tennessee Oilers (1997-98); Tennessee Titans (1999-present)
Titans franchise record: 350-368-6 (.488) – 21st
Titans franchise playoff record: 14-18 (.438)
Titans championships: 1960 (AFL), 1961 (AFL)
Face of the Titans franchise: Earl Campbell
Greatest Titans players: Elvin Bethea, George Blanda, Robert Brazile, Ken Burrough, Campbell, Billy Cannon, Eddie George, Ernest Givins, Ken Houston, Bruce Matthews, Mike Munchak, Warren Moon
Greatest Titans coach: Jeff Fisher (1994-present), 115-99 (.537) – The longest tenured coach in team history (and currently in the NFL), with the most regular season and postseason wins (five) for the organization, while leading the team to its first league championship game (1999 Super Bowl) since 1962 AFL title tilt.
Titans claim to fame: Since 1960, has consistently played in the most unattractive uniforms outside of Seattle.
It never got any better for Titans fans than it did on: Jan. 8, 2000
The true Springsteenian Glory Days for the Oilers/Titans franchise came back in the early 1960s, when they won the first two AFL titles. But only like three people actually cared about the AFL back in 1961, and it was so long ago that filthy hippies still hadn’t infected our nation with their dirty communes, their pot and their psychedelic drugs, ruining everything for those of us who prefer opiates, amphetamines and good old-fashioned, all-American alcohol.
But we digress.
Since then, there have been a handful of highlights for the organization, most provided by Earl Campbell and Warren Moon. But one highlight stands out above the others: the Music City Miracle in the 1999 wildcard playoffs, as the Titans shocked the sad-sack Doug Flutie-less Bills, 22-16, after using some controversial razzle-dazzle to return a kick for a touchdown on the last play of the game. Coming just three years after the organization had moved to Nashville from Houston, it helped endear the team to fans in its new hometown.
Titans overview:
The Oilers/Titans have never truly been dominant. And 47 years have elapsed since the organization's last championship, back in the early days of the upstart AFL. But the franchise has been consistently competitive, with high-quality, playoff-caliber teams in the early 1960s, late 1970s, late 1980s/early 1990s, and pretty regularly over the past decade.
With a championship or two over the next few years, this organization, like Jacksonville at No. 21, could move fairly quickly up the franchise rankings. But until then, they inhabit a place here at No. 19, amid the pack of teams that boast only institutional mediocrity.
18. PHILADELPHIA EAGLES
Eagles first season: 1933
Names: Philadelphia Eagles (1933-42; 1944-present); Phil-Pitt Steagles (1943)
Eagles franchise record: 479-524-25 (.478) – 22nd
Eagles franchise playoff record: 17-17 (.500)
Eagles championships: 1948, 1949, 1960
Face of the Eagles franchise: Chuck Bednarik
Greatest Eagles players: Bednarik, Boomer Brown, Harold Carmicheal, Randall Cunningham, Ron Jaworski, Tommy McDonald, Pete Pihos, Tommy Thompson, Steve Van Buren, Reggie White.
Greatest Eagles coach: Greasy Neale (1941-50), 63-43-5 (.594) – led otherwise hard-luck Eagles to three straight championship games and back-to-back titles in the late 1940s.
Eagles claim to fame: Fans booed Santa Claus.
It never got any better for Eagles fans than it did on: Dec. 26, 1960
If you wonder why Eagles fans are so cranky, why they boo none other than Santa himself, consider that the last time the Kris Kringle of Pigskin delivered to them anything other than PA coal was 48 years ago. On the day after Christmas 1960, at Philly’s glorious old Franklin Field, Bednarik wrestled future Hall of Famer Jim Taylor to the ground, then sat on him as time expired, to hand Philly its last football championship and hand Lombardi’s Packers their one and only postseason defeat.
Eagles overview:
The Eagles are a proud old-school NFL franchise, but with little to show for it since the Eisenhower Administration. They’re certainly not a sad-sack old-school franchise, like the Cardinals (have we mentioned at any point how much the Cardinals have always sucked?) or Lions. But nor are they a marquee old-school franchise like the Packers, Bears or Giants.
Instead, since 1960, they’ve occasionally dabbled with greatness, seemingly able to pair the right combination of coach-QB-defense to deliver a title: the Vermeil-Jaworski Eagles, the Ryan-Cunningham Eagles, the Reid-McNabb Eagles. But it never seems come together, rendering Eagles fans what they are today: frustrated, miserable a-holes (hey, our people!) who would run over their own mothers if they though it would bring them a title.
Old-time Eagles fans can always look back on the great glory days of the post-World War II Eagles, and to the great victory over the Packers in 1960. But other than that, it’s been 17,300-plus days and counting since the Eagles won a championship. Often a contender, rarely a champ.
17. BALTIMORE RAVENS
Ravens first season: 1996 (* In other instances, we consider for this article a franchise's entire history, even as it has moved from town to town. But the Cleveland Browns/Baltimore Ravens present a unique situation, as another Cleveland Browns franchise, of course, has entered the league since the original left. So, given these circumstances, we treat the Ravens as its own unique franchise that has played only in Baltimore.)
Ravens franchise record: 96-95-1 (.503) – 18th
Ravens franchise playoff record: 5-3 (.625)
Ravens championships: 2000
Face of the Ravens franchise: Ray Lewis
Greatest Ravens players: Peter Boulware, Jamal Lewis, Ray Lewis, Chris McAlister, Jonathon Ogden, Matt Stover.
Greatest Ravens coach: Brian Billick (1999-2007), 80-64 (.556) – just the second coach in franchise history, leading organization to its only championship.
Ravens claim to fame: 2000 Ravens sported greatest defense of the Live Ball Era.
It never got any better for Ravens fans than it did on: Jan. 28, 2001
Sparked by MLB Ray Lewis and the most suffocating defense in modern history, the Ravens pasted the Giants, 34-7, in Super Bowl XXXV, earning a championship just five years after the franchise moved from Cleveland and 17 years after Baltimore lost its original NFL franchise, the Colts.
Ravens overview:
Right about here with the Ravens, at the top of the bottom half of our all-time franchise rankings, you start to get into those teams where the disappointments have not necessarily outweighed the highlights. In fact, after years of kicking fans in the nuts in Cleveland, where the organization played as the Browns, the franchise has generally been better in Baltimore. The Ravens' postseason .625 winning percentage, for example, is tied with the Packers (behind only the young Panthers) for No. 2 all time. But with just eight playoff games (nine for the Panthers), they hardly compare to the 25-15 postseason mark of the Pack.
Baltimore has gone to the playoffs four times in 12 years, a fairly solid rate, and even has a championship to show for it. There are 15 other teams that would probably kill for that rate of success. The organization even has a strong institutional identity, as the home of modern rock-solid defense in a league that has almost abandoned that side of the ball, sacrificed like a gridiron island of Corregidor.
Of course, that institutional identity also includes a complete and utter inability to play offense, ever. So here the organization sits, smack dab in the middle of mediocrity, hoping one day to join the top half of NFL organizations. All it would probably take is a franchise quarterback … and maybe a coach people have heard of. Good luck, John Harbaugh.
16. KANSAS CITY CHIEFS
First Chiefs season: 1960
Names: Dallas Texans (1960-62); Kansas City Chiefs (1963-present)
Chiefs franchise record: 379-333-12 (.532) –11th
Chiefs ranchise playoff record: 8-13 (.381)
Chiefs championships: 1962 (AFL), 1969
Face of the Chiefs franchise: Lamar Hunt
Greatest Chiefs players: Bobby Bell, Buck Buchanan, Len Dawson, Tony Gonzalez, Willie Lanier, Will Shields, Derrick Thomas, Otis Taylor
Greatest Chiefs coach: Hank Stram (1960-74), 124-76-10 (.614) – led organization through its first 15 seasons and to its greatest triumphs, including 1962 AFL and 1969 Super Bowl championships.
Chiefs claim to fame: From 1967 to 1974, fielded three Hall of Fame defenders in its front seven (Bell, Buchanan, Lanier).
It never got any better for Chiefs fans than it did on: Jan. 11, 1970
Super Bowl IV is really one of the underappreciated games in pro football history, and it was a game dominated by the Hall-of-Famer-littered Chiefs. Sure, the Jets broke the ice and poured a little celebratory Scotch over it when they shocked the NFL’s mighty Colts in Super Bowl III. But the AFL victory was widely seen as a fluke in the months that followed.
The Chiefs proved the AFL victory was no fluke by thoroughly dominating the Vikings in Super Bowl IV, 23-7, a game that wasn’t even as close as the score indicates. It was a remarkable victory, too, considering the 1969 Vikings remain to this day one of the single most dominant teams in NFL history and were 12½-point favorites over the Chiefs. Yet the AFL representative from Kansas City toyed with the mighty NFL power like a kitten toys with a ball of yarn or a cougar toys with a 19-year-old college boy. Equality had been reached, just as the two leagues prepared to fully merge for the 1970 season.
Chiefs overview:
On the surface, the Chiefs might appear as an elite franchise. Their all-time record is well over .500. They’ve produced far more than their share of Hall of Famers for a relatively young franchise. They boast a Glory Era in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They have a championship on their resume. They have intensely loyal fans. And the AFC championship trophy is even named for their founder, Lamar Hunt.
But the Chiefs also have a dark side: a dismal postseason record that includes just eight (8!) career playoff wins and zero since 1993. Even worse, four of those playoff wins came against AFL competition in the pre-merger era (1960-69). In other words, since that franchise high-water mark – the victory over the Vikings in Super Bowl IV in January 1970 – the Chiefs have won just three postseason contests. Even Cardinals and Saints fans would be embarrassed by that performance (well, maybe not Cardinals fans).
The Chiefs are often good and routinely field solid – even great – teams. But 10 one-and-done performances in 15 playoff seasons mar and otherwise enjoyable franchise to have followed since its inception. Still, their great teams and bevy of great talent past earn Kansas City a spot here in the top half of our all-time franchise rankings.
15. MINNESOTA VIKINGS
First Vikings season: 1961
Vikings franchise record: 385-316-9 (.549) – 6th
Vikings franchise playoff record: 18-24 (.429)
Vikings championships: none
Face of the Vikings franchise: Bud Grant
Greatest Vikings players: Cris Carter, Randall Cunningham, Carl Eller, Chuck Foreman, Paul Krause, Jim Marshall, Randy Moss, Alan Page, Robert Smith, Frank Tarkenton, Ron Yary, Gary Zimmerman
Greatest Vikings coach: Bud Grant (1967-83; 1985), 158-96-5 (.620) – nearly a quarter century later, the man who put the late, great Met on the map remains one of the winningest coaches in league history, and one of just five coaches to lead his team to four Super Bowls.
Vikings claim to fame: Fielded three of the most dominant teams in modern history – regular-season history – and the No. 2 scoring offense in league history (556 points scored in 1998) ... yet still have zero titles to show for it.
It never got any better for Vikings fans than it did on: Jan. 4, 1970
The world in the eyes of Vikings fans seemed so bright and hopeful on Jan. 4, 1970, the day Minnesota pummeled the 10-3-1 Browns, 27-7, in the last NFL championship game before the merger.
The Vikings had rolled through the 1969 season with a 12-2 record, while whipping opponents by an average score of 27.1 to 9.5. Basically, the Vikings bitched-slapped the NFL that year much like the original sack specialists from Scandanavia laid waste to western Europe in the 9th century.
The victory over the Browns proved no different. Minnesota cruised to a 27-0 lead in the third quarter before putting riding out the fourth quarter. No surprise with the ease of the victory: the Vikings had crushed the Browns, the NFL's Century Division champion, 51-3, earlier that year.
Did we mention this was a pretty good team?
The Vikings were less than a decade old and clearly the dominant power in the old, established NFL. They were carrying on a tradition of winning football in Minnesota created by its state university, which was once a great college football powerhouse and had produced some of the best talent the game had ever seen. (The University of Minnesota, for example, is the only school with two members on the greatest team ever assembled, the Cold, Hard Football Facts All-Time 11.)
And after the highwater mark of Jan. 4, 1970, the Vikings, and their fans, were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, like a little North Woods gopher, reveling in their dominance over this pro football thing that was all so new to them. All Minnesota had to do was beat the AFL’s Chiefs in Super Bowl IV.
Oops.
Vikings overview:
The Vikings have consistently been one of the best, most competitive and most talent-laden teams in the NFL, as evidenced by their .549 all-time franchise record (sixth best among the 32 NFL teams).
But they’ve never quite made the big time, either, as evidenced by their zero championships, four Super Bowl losses, and four other losses in NFC championship games.
And then the Vikings gave up their greatest ally, the brutal Minnesota winters, and it’s been all downhill since there: zero Super Bowl appearances and three NFC title-game losses since moving into the Metrodome back in 1982.
All of which makes the Vikings one of the most infuriating teams to have followed. They’ve given their fans more to cheer about than most other teams – at least in the regular season, yet they’re the only team in our Top 18 that can't boast a single championship. But they earn a spot in the top half of our rankings because they’ve fielded so many great teams.
Now if they had only beat the Chiefs that day …
14. DENVER BRONCOS
First Broncos season: 1960
Broncos franchise record: 378-336-10 (.529) – 12th
Broncos franchise playoff record: 17-15 (.531)
Broncos championships: 1997, 1998
Face of the Broncos franchise: John Elway
Greatest Broncos players: Lyle Alzado, Steve Atwater, Terrell Davis, Elway, Randy Gradishar, Tom Jackson, Tombstone Jackson, Floyd Little, Karl Mecklenburg, Haven Moses, Shannon Sharpe, Dennis Smith, Rod Smith, Gary Zimmerman
Greatest Broncos coach: Mike Shanahan (1995-present), 130-78 (.625) – led Broncos through its championship years of 1997 and 1998 and to most consistent period of competitive football.
Broncos claim to fame: Lost first four Super Bowl appearances before winning next two.
It never got any better for Broncos fans than it did on: Jan. 25, 1998
Well, what more could you say? After four Super Bowl losses, including the most devastating defeat in Super Bowl history (55-10 to the 49ers in Super Bowl XXIV), and a crushing playoff loss to Jacksonville after dominating the 1996 season, the Broncos finally pulled it all together, with an upset victory over the Brett Favre, Reggie White and the potentially dynastic Packers in Super Bowl XXXII. The game gave NFL legend Elway his first ring after 15 years in the league, and was highlighted by the quarterback’s helicopter dive for a first down that remains the most indelible image in franchise history.
Broncos overview:
The Broncos are one of the marquee franchises in football these days – great owner, new stadium, winning coach, great tradition, shiny new stadium and devoted fan base. It’s a hard combination to beat.
But like so many other organizations, it wasn’t always that way. Like several teams still to come, the Patriots and Steelers most notably, the Denver tradition was that of a laughing stock franchise before the glory days arrived. For the Broncos, those days started to peak through the soil in the mid-1980s and fully bloomed in the 1990s.
In fact, perhaps like no other team, the Broncos organization has incrementally improved over the years, from one-time laughing stock to perennial contender.
The Broncos did not field a winning team until 1973, their 14th season of pro football, and they were generally the worst team in the league during the AFL years (1960-69). The fortunes of the organization began to change during the Red Miller-Craig Morton years of the late 1970s, when the Broncos produces their first great teams – three straight to the playoffs – and reached their first Super Bowl in 1977, summarily being crushed by the powerhouse Cowboys in Super Bowl XII.
But the wheels of success were in motion, and the franchise took another leap forward in 1983 when it landed quarterback John Elway, the prize talent of the great QB class of ’83, after he threatened to play baseball with the Yankees instead of football with the Colts, the team with the No. 1 overall pick. The Broncos became consistent contenders with Elway, but never a champion – they lost three Super Bowls, generally with undermanned teams being steamrolled by NFC opponents during the height of the power of pro football’s senior circuit.
Denver took the next leap forward with the arrival in 1995 of head coach Mike Shanahan and his historically and consistently productive ground attack. By 1998, the Broncos were two-time defending champs and the most feared team in football. They’ve yet to recapture the glory of a title in the decade since Elway’s departure. But, with a few exceptions these days, you can generally count on the Broncos to be a prime-time AFC contender. In fact, they hosted the AFC title game as recently as January 2006 and the sad-sack Broncos of the 1960s and 1970s are a distant memory for even old-time football fans.
13. ST. LOUIS RAMS
First Rams season: 1937
Names: Cleveland Rams (1937-45); Los Angeles Rams (1946-94); St. Louis Rams (1995-present)
Rams franchise record: 501-454-20 (.524) – 13th
Rams franchise playoff record: 19-24 (.442)
Rams championships: 1945, 1951, 1999
Face (and breasts) of the franchise: Jane Russell (wife of former QB Bob Waterfield … hey, any excuse to look at those things).
Greatest Rams players: Eric Dickerson, Marshall Faulk, Tom Fears, Crazy Legs Hirsch, Deacon Jones, Tom Mack, Ollie Matson, Merlin Olsen, Jackie Slater, Norm Van Brocklin, Bob Waterfield, Jack Youngblood
Greatest Rams playa: Waterfield
Greatest Rams coach: George Allen (1966-70), 49-17-4 (.729) – Allen did not win a championship with the Rams (or later with the Redskins). But his teams were consistently great during his five-years at the helm and he still boasts the best record on a team blessed with a bevy of great (but short-lived) coaches.
Rams claim to fame: Only team to win championships while playing in three different cities.
It never got any better for Rams fans than it did on: Jan. 30, 2000
With all due respect to the great star-studded Rams teams of old in Cleveland and L.A., few, if any, football teams in history enjoyed such a remarkable rise from oblivion more so than the Super Bowl XXXIV champion Rams of St. Louis.
Their 23-16 victory over the Titans was, in and of itself, perhaps the most exciting Super Bowl in history, with the Rams stopping the Titans inches from a game-tying TD as time expired. You beg for Super Bowls like that, no matter who is involved.
But the thriller also punctuated a remarkable rise from oblivion for a once-great NFL power, a teary-eyed old coach and a former supermarket stock boy turned NFL MVP. In 1998, the Rams were just 4-12, Vermeil was an aging coach with a Super Bowl loss back in 1980 the highlight of his career, and Warner was known only by fans of the Arena League's Iowa Barnstormers. On Jan. 30, 2000, all were Super Bowl champions.
Rams overview:
The Rams organization should be a Top 5 team in our franchise rankings. They’ve been literally littered with Hall of Fame stars since their earliest days, they’ve fielded some of the greatest offensive teams in history (the 1950 Rams still hold the record 38.8 PPG), they’ve fielded some of the greatest defensive teams in history (especially in the 1970s), and they’ve fielded some of the single most dominant teams in league history (4 of the top 21). No team can claim so many teams that have won so often so many different ways.
It’s a feat made more remarkable by the general lack of stability – normally a prerequisite for success – within the organization. The team has played in three different cities and has absolutely no consistency within its coaching ranks. In fact, even the great coaches who have walked through the doors – Clark Shaughnessy, Joe Stydahar, Sid Gillman, George Allen, Chuck Knox, Dick Vermeil, a pretty impressive list – have never lasted more than five years. (John Robinson, who led the team from 1983 to 1991, is the only coach in franchise history to last more than five years at the helm, though Knox did return for a wildly unsuccessful three-year stint in 1992 years after his original five-year run in L.A.).
However, more often than not, the Rams failed to truly capitalize on their potential and regular-season greatness. Though they boast three NFL championships, they’ve lost 11 times in NFL championships, Super Bowls, or conference title games, often to inferior teams. The 2001 Rams, who lost to the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVI, were just the most recent in a sad franchise history. In addition:
The 1967 Rams went 11-1-2 and were the best team in football. They couldn’t win a single playoff game, getting bounced by the 9-4-1 Packers (at home!) a week before the Ice Bowl.
The 1973 Rams were dominant, too, with a league-best 12-2 record, +210 scoring differential, and a suffocating defense. They couldn’t win a single playoff game, either, getting bounced by the Cowboys in the divisional round.
Even during the 1950s, when the Rams fielded the greatest offenses in history, thanks largely to the Hall of Fame QB-ing tandem of Norm Van Brocklin and Bob Waterfield, the Rams squeaked out just a single championship.
All in all, the Rams have been a very, very exciting franchise to follow through the years, and routinely competitive (and sometimes dominant) year after year. But it’s a franchise that leaves you wondering what might have been ... which leaves us placing them just outside the Top 12.
12. NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS
First Patriots season: 1960
Names: Boston Patriots (1960-70); New England Patriots (1971-present)
Patriots franchise record: 366-349-9 (.512) - 16th
Patriots franchise playoff record: 21-13 (.618)
Patriots championships: 2001, 2003, 2004
Face of the Patriots franchise: Bill Belichick and Tom Brady
Greatest Patriots players: Houston Antwine, Brady, Gino Cappelletti, Ben Coates, John Hannah, Mike Haynes, Stanley Morgan, Jim Nance, Richard Seymour, Andre Tippett, Adam Vinatieri, Mike Vrabel
Greatest Patriots coach: Bill Belichick (2000-present), 91-37 (.711) – architect of the current Patriots juggernaut, only coach to win three Super Bowls in four years and considered by most the best coach of his generation and by some perhaps the best coach ever.
Patriots claim to fame: Owners of the longest win streak in NFL history (21 games, including playoffs), the two longest “official” (not including playoffs) winning streaks in NFL history (19 games and 18 games), and the longest postseason winning streak in NFL history (10 games).
It never got any better for Patriots fans than it did on: Feb. 3, 2002
Really a no brainer: the inept Patriots organization rose from obscurity in 2001 and then ended the season with a walk-off field goal in a 20-17 victory over the “Greatest Show on Turf” Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI. It’s considered by most one of the great upsets in Super Bowl history and the shocker set in the motion the wheels of the first NFL dynasty of the 21st century.
Patriots overview:
If this list had been published, say, at the end of the 2000 season, there’s a good chance the Patriots would occupy a spot somewhere around the Cincinnati Bengals (No. 28).
They were an organization that had showed flashes of potential excellence (two Super Bowl appearances, and losses, like the Bengals) and were largely competitive for a decade from the mid-1970s to late 1980s. But otherwise, the Patriots were also largely noted for failed opportunities, bad luck and just plain old organizational ineptitude (like the Bengals).
Then Mo Lewis decked Drew Bledsoe early in 2001, Tom Brady stepped on the field, and everything for the organization changed on a dime.
Since then, the Patriots have gone through one of the single greatest periods of dominance the league has ever seen, with three Super Bowl victories in four years, the first 16-0 season in league history, ownership of every win streak imaginable, and, including playoffs, a mind-boggling record 77 victories (against 17 defeats, .819) in a five-year period from 2003 to 2007. And after just seven postseason victories in their first 41 seasons, the Patriots now boast a .618 playoff winning percentage (21-13) that’s second only to the TitleTown Packers among organizations that have appeared in 10 or more playoff games. The 21 postseason victories is more than five of the 11 teams ahead of them on our list of all-time greatest franchises.
If not for a series of crushing postseason collapses the last two seasons, we might be talking about a team that had won five Super Bowls in seven years and had quickly risen from obscurity to one of the 10 best franchises in history.
Instead, when coupled with a relatively ingloriously first four decades, the Patriots are still a pretender to the throne of all-time NFL elitism.
11. INDIANAPOLIS COLTS
First Colts season: 1946 (AAFC), 1953 (NFL)
Names: Baltimore Colts (1950; 1953-83); Indianapolis Colts (1984-present)
Colts franchise record: 415-384-7 (.519) – 15th
Colts franchise playoff record: 17-17 (.500)
Colts championships: 1958, 1959, 1970, 2006
Face of the Colts franchise: Johnny Unitas
Greatest Colts players: Raymond Berry, Mike Curtis, Art Donovan, Marvin Harrison, John Mackey, Peyton Manning, Gino Marchetti, Lenny Moore, Jim Parker, Unitas
Greatest Colts coach: Tony Dungy (2002-present), 73-23 (.760) – Weeb Ewbank won two titles to Dungy’s one with the Colts, and Don Shula's Colts were perennial contenders, but Dungy has fielded the most consistently excellent Colts teams, with an average of more than 12 wins per season.
It never got any better for Colts fans than it did on: Dec. 28, 1958
Current Colts fans certainly remember better the stupendous 2006 playoff run that ended with the organization’s most recent championship. But perhaps nothing could ever match the thrill Colts fans (then the Baltimore Colts) experienced with their 23-17 road victory over the Giants in the 1958 NFL championship game.
CHFF readers, those socially awkward shut-ins who shun human companionship in favor of football knowledge, certainly know the story well: it was the first overtime game in NFL history, one of the most-watched television events, sporting or otherwise, in American history at the time, it featured no fewer than 15 Hall of Famers on the field or the sidelines, spurred the popularity of the NFL and is now known simply as “The Greatest Game Ever Played” (it’s also the subject of the brand-new book, “The Best Game Ever” by Mark Bowden, the guy who wrote “Black Hawk Down”). Oh, and it was a pretty exciting game, too, and the first championship for the young Colts organization.
Colts overview:
The Colts began as a member of the old All America Football Conference from 1946 to 1949 and were one of three AAFC teams (along with the Browns and 49ers) to join the NFL in 1950 when the upstart league folded. They were a disaster (1-11), and themselves folded after one year in the NFL. A team of the same name was reborn and joined the league permanently in 1953 (it is generally considered a new franchise for statistical and historical purposes).
The Colts were largely successful from the late 1950s, when they won back-to-back NFL championships, through the early 1970s. They did not suffer a single losing season from 1957 to 1971, and fielded a star-studded cast of talent, especially on offense. In fact, there was a period from 1963 to 1967 when the Colts took the field with five of 11 offensive starters destined for the Pro Football Hall of Fame (Berry, Mackey, Moore, Unitas, Parker).
But it was the right team at the wrong time, as the Colts played second fiddle to their even more talented Western Conference foe from Green Bay, which would rule the decade.
With a few exceptions, the Colts grew largely uncompetitive, even downright awful, following their 1971 Super Bowl victory through the late 1990s. They even fielded a winless
I'd tend to want to put the Steelers a little higher based on their success in my lifetime, but I guess that doesn't take into account their lack of success in the 40 years before that.
Was there any doubt who'd be the greatest?
http://www.coldhardfootballfacts.com/Articles/11_2260_A_CHFF_epic:_all-time_franchise_rankings.html
A CHFF epic: all-time franchise rankings
Try as the NFL might to provide the proverbial level playing field, no two franchises are created equal. Certainly, no two franchises perform equally.
In fact, for some organizations, it's a triumph simply to have a winning record and reach the playoffs. For other organizations, the season's a failure if they don't add another Lombardi to the trophy case.
Naturally, inquiring little pigskin minds want to know: what is the best franchise in football? Which is the worst?
We don't mean which are the best and worst today. We mean, the best and worst for all time.
Even for the Cold, Hard Football Facts, there's no truly empirical answer. Sure, overall winning percentage, winning seasons and championship seasons all factor into the equation. But they're not the only criteria. What about the great players who have donned the uniform of your favorite team? How do you quantify their contributions? How do you value the impact a Papa Bear Halas or a Dan Marino had on a team's greatness?
It's simply not possible to do so empirically.
So here's what we did: we tackled the challenge of ranking the franchises from the point of view of the fans, using our Misery-to-Joy Theory of Fan Relativity. Essentially, we measured the amount of misery a franchise has forced upon its fans against the amount of celebratory games, moments, titles and great players and coaches a franchise has gifted upon its fans.
The fans who have endured the most misery will find their teams at the bottom of the list. The fans who have enjoyed the most celebratory moments will find their teams at the top of the list.
This Misery-to-Joy system also allows us to compare franchises of various ages. Some teams have been around since 1920. Other teams are barely a decade old. But, measuring each team by the relative misery-to-joy it has provided its fans, the age is almost irrelevant. A 10-year-old team that won two titles (purely as an example, as no such team exists) would rate incredibly high on the list. An 88-year-old team that won two titles would probably have a lot of 'splaining to do for those other 86 seasons.
So here goes.
32. ARIZONA CARDINALS
First Cardinals season: 1920
History: Chicago (1920-43; 45-59); Card-Pitt (1944); St. Louis (1960-87); Phoenix (1988-93); Arizona (1994-present)
Cardinals franchise record: 464-667-39 (.413) – 28th
Cardinals franchise playoff record: 2-5 (.286)
Cardinals championships: 1925 (pre-title game era), 1947
Face of the Cardinals franchise: Dan Dierdorf
Greatest Cardinals players: Dierdorf, Jim Hart, Night Train Lane, Ernie Nevers, Jackie Smith, Charley Trippi, Larry Wilson
Greatest Cardinals coach: Jimmy Conzelman (1940-42, 1946-48); 34-31-3 (.522) – Led Cardinals through their glory years of 1947 and 1948.
Cardinals claim to infamy: Two playoff wins in 88 seasons.
It never got any better for Cardinals fans than it did on: Dec. 28, 1947
The Cardinals – then in Chicago and still under Bidwill ownership – won their one and only championship game in 88 seasons of NFL football. Elmer Angsman ripped off a pair of 70-yard TD runs, including the game-winning score in the fourth quarter, as the Cardinals beat the Eagles, 28-21, for their sad, lonely, singular NFL title. The Cardinals could have notched back-to-back titles in 1948. But the dominant 11-1 Cardinals fell in a blizzard-coated rematch with the Eagles, 7-0.
Cardinals overview:
The Cardinals have a long and storied history – it’s a sad, sorrowful and pathetic story, but definitely a long one. Like an itinerant Depression Era urchin, the Cardinals have meandered along the old Route 66, dragging their sorry, underfed ass of a franchise from Chicago to St. Louis to the desert of Arizona. It would be truly poetic if the Cardinals some day ended up in L.A., at the end of the old Route 66. Like a Tom Joad of the gridiron, they’ve starved for success every step of the way.
The Cardinals can trace their roots back to 1898, making it the oldest football franchise in the country. They were one of the original NFL franchises in 1920. Along the way, they’ve lost more games (667) and fielded more losing teams (56) than any other organization in football, losing nearly 59 percent of all the games they’ve ever played. The organization bottomed out in the 1950s, posting a decade-long record of 33-84-3 (.288). It hasn’t really got a whole lot better since.
The systemic troubles for the Cardinals are so old and run so deep that not even great coaches can win there: Joe Stydahar, Curly Lambeau, Don Coryell, Bud Wilkinson and Gene Stallings all headed the Cardinals franchise. All had great success elsewhere, whether in college or the pros. All lost with the Cardinals.
The postseason numbers say it all: in 88 NFL seasons, the Cardinals have won just two playoff games. They beat the Eagles in the 1947 NFL championship game and celebrated the glory of 1998 wildcard victory over Dallas. At this rate, the Cardinals – the Los Angeles Cardinals – should celebrate another playoff win around 2040.
31. NEW ORLEANS SAINTS
First Saints season: 1967
Saints franchise record: 254-367-5 (.410) – 29th
Saints franchise playoff record: 2-6 (.250)
Saints championships: none
Face of the Saints franchise: Archie Manning
Greatest Saints players: Joe Horn, Ricky Jackson, Manning, Eric Martin, Sam Mills,
Greatest Saints coach: Jim Mora (1986-96), 93-74 (.557) – Led New Orleans to four of its six playoff appearances and five of its eight winning seasons.
Saints claim to infamy: One conference title game appearance in 41 seasons.
It never got any better for Saints fans than it did on: Jan. 13, 2007
A year and a half after the city of New Orleans was nearly destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, the Saints, at home in the reconstructed Superdome, won just the second playoff game in franchise history with a 27-24 victory over the Eagles and earned the franchise’s first-ever appearance in a conference title game.
Saints overview:
How bad has it been for the Saints? They’ve lost more games since joining the NFL in 1967 (367) than the Browns have lost (360) since joining the NFL in 1950 … and it’s been a long time since the Browns were any good.
The Saints have fielded just eight winning teams in 40 seasons, played 20 years in the NFL before posting a first winning record, and have yet to produce a single Hall of Fame performer (three HOFers ended their careers with the Saints: Doug Atkins, Earl Campbell and Jim Taylor).
And, in one of the great unbelievable Cold, Hard Football Facts ever uncovered, the Saints have an all-time losing record against 23 of the other 31 teams in the NFL. They have a winning record against just one of the 31 other teams in the NFL, Tampa Bay.
The outlook is definitely getting better for Saints fans: they’ve had just two losing seasons in the past six years – an enviable rate by the franchise’s standards – and one of those was the disastrous, post-Katrina 2005 campaign in which it would have been unreasonable to expect any team to win anything. The Saints also appeared in the conference title game just two seasons ago, and seem to have the talent to at least compete in the weak NFC South for a few years to come.
But it will take years of success to erase the dreadful memories of seasons past and for the organization’s highlights to surpass the football-folly lowlights that have defined the No. 31-ranked Aints.
30. HOUSTON TEXANS
First Texans season: 2002
Texans franchise record: 32-64 (.333) – 32nd
Texans franchise playoff record: 0-0
Texans championships: ha, ha, ha! You're kidding, right?
Face of the Texans franchise: David Carr (for better or worse, he was the team’s most recognizable player and symbolic of its frustrations)
Greatest Texans player: DeMeco Ryans, 2006 NFL Rookie of the Year (you got someone better?)
Greatest Texans coach: Gary Kubiak (2006-present), 14-18 (.438) – The jury’s still out, but Kubiak has the inside track over original coach Dom Capers, who led the franchise through its highly unsuccessful first four years.
Texans claim to infamy: No winning seasons.
It never got any better for Texans fans than it did on: Dec. 24, 2006
After nine straight losses, the Texans defeat AFC powerhouse Indy for the first time in franchise history. Humiliated by the loss, the Colts go on to win Super Bowl XLI. Running back Ron Dayne led the victory with a career-high 153 yards, while Kris Brown kicked a game-winning 48-yard field goal as the clock ran out.
Texans overview:
The bar for expansion franchises was set high by Carolina and Jacksonville, who joined the NFL in 1995 and each played in conference title games in 1996. The Texans are following a more traditional expansion-franchise model, struggling to grow competitive.
They had losing records in each of their first five seasons of existence, before climbing to a respectable 8-8 last season in the tough AFC South. They still have, technically speaking, the worst winning percentage of any NFL franchise. But, given Houston’s youth, it’s a little unfair to compare their few short years of ineptitude to the team 31st on the list of all-time franchise records, Tampa Bay.
Among the teams in the bottom quarter of the all-time franchise rankings, Houston is more likely than any other team to rocket up the list toward respectability. A few good seasons over the next five years or so, and the Texans can quickly erase the painful memories over their first six years in the league.
29. ATLANTA FALCONS
First Falcons season: 1966
Falcons franchise record: 256-378-6 (.405) – 30th
Falcons franchise playoff record: 6-8 (.429)
Falcons championships: none
Face of the Falcons franchise: Michael Vick
Greatest Falcons players: Steve Bartkowski, Terence Mathis, Tommy Nobis, Gerald Riggs, Deion Sanders
Greatest Falcons coach: Leeman Bennett (1977-82), 46-41 (.529) – Led franchise to its first three (of eight total) postseason appearances.
Falcons claim to fame: Bennett’s 1977 Falcons fielded the stingiest defense in modern NFL history (9.2 PPG).
It never got any better for Falcons fans than it did on: Jan. 17, 1999
The Falcons earned their first and only Super Bowl appearance by knocking off the 15-1 Vikings at Minnesota in the 1998 NFC title game. Atlanta trailed by 10 points in the fourth quarter to the then highest-scoring team in NFL history (556 points), but forced overtime, thanks in large part to a missed field goal my Minnesota’s Gary Anderson, who was a perfect 35-for-35 that entire season.
Falcons overview:
The Falcons inhabit a place somewhere behind the University of Georgia and Valdosta High School on the list of most popular football teams in the Peach State.
Of course, those two programs built tradition upon mountains of victories, Georgia as the perennial SEC power; Valdosta is the winningest high school football team in U.S. history. The Falcons, however, have fielded 28 losing teams in 42 seasons of NFL football. The most popular player in franchise history, meanwhile, was a dysfunctional quarterback who could barely pass the football at a pro-caliber level, was embroiled in one controversy after another, and finally got busted for, of all things, running a violent dog-fighting ring. Good job, Michael Vick.
The 2007 campaign, with all its problems – the Vick saga, coach Bobby Petrino quitting in the middle of the season – was indicative of a franchise that’s never been well grounded.
The sad part is that you could argue that Atlanta is an organization on the upswing. Three of its eight playoff appearances, and four of the six postseason victories in franchise history, have come over the last 10 years. And with a new coach and a new franchise quarterback, the organization has definitely attempted to make a break with its past. But like the Saints, it will take years of success to erase the history of ineptitude that has marked the organizations first four decades.
28. CINCINNATI BENGALS
First Bengals season: 1968
Bengals franchise record: 268-343-1 (.439) – 27th
Bengals franchise playoff record: 5-8
Bengals championships: seriously, do you have to ask?
Face of the Bengals franchise: Paul Brown
Greatest Bengals players: Ken Anderson, Chris Collinsworth, Corey Dillon, Boomer Esiason, Anthony Munoz
Greatest Bengals coach: Paul Brown (1968-75), 55-56-1 (.496) – The legendary coach founded his second pro football franchise with the Bengals in 1968 and remains its most successful leader. Despite the team’s expansion status and the smaller playoff format of the era, Brown led the Bengals to three of their eight postseason appearances and to their best single-season record of 11-3 (.786) in 1975.
Bengals claim to fame: Annually leads league in disgruntled stars.
It never got any better for Bengals fans than it did on: Jan. 10, 1982
In the coldest game in NFL history (-37 degrees with wind chill), the Bengals beat up the warm-weather Chargers, 27-7, in the AFC championship game. The Bengals fell in the Super Bowl two weeks later to Joe Montana’s first 49ers championship team.
Bengals overview:
The Bengals began with such promise, founded by pro football legend Brown in a football-mad state as an effort to spite owner Art Modell who fired him from Cleveland. The organization has been blessed with its fair share of talent, including three Pro Bowl quarterbacks over the past 35 years at the toughest position on the field to fill (quarterbacks Ken Anderson, Boomer Esiason and Carson Palmer). Most organizations should be so lucky. Somewhere along the way, though, it’s just never clicked for this franchise.
There have been just 12 winning campaigns in 40 NFL seasons, and four of those came in the franchise’s first eights years of existence under Brown. The Bengals have fielded just a single winning team since 1990: The 2005 Bengals went 11-5 and looked like they might be a contender – then Palmer went down with a nasty injury early in a home playoff game against Pittsburgh, setting the stage for their hated divisional rivals to march to their fifth Super Bowl title.
Even the great Cincinnati teams have been snakebitten. The Bengals reached two Super Bowls, but both times fell just a wee dram short of victory against the dynastic 49ers. The Bengals could have bested San Francisco in Super Bowl XVI, but were stuffed four straight times at the goal line, allowing the 49ers to hang on to a 26-21 victory. The two teams met again seven years later in Super Bowl XXIII. The Bengals held a 16-13 lead in the final 3 minutes of the game, but allowed Joe Montana and company to march 92 yards for the game-winning score.
27. TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS
First Buccaneers season: 1976
Buccaneers franchise record: 196-303-1 (.393) – 31st
Buccaneers franchise playoff record: 6-9 (.429)
Buccaneers championships: 2002
Face of the Buccaneers franchise: Lee Roy Selmon
Greatest Buccaneers players: Mike Alstott, Ronde Barber, Warrick Dunn, Simeon Rice, Warren Sapp, Selmon, James Wilder
Greatest Buccaneers coach: Tony Dungy (1996-2001), 54-42 (.563) – After years of futility, included 14 straight losing seasons, Dungy lifted the inept Buccaneers to respectability, including three straight playoff appearances for the first and only time in team history.
Buccaneers claim to fame: Record 26-game losing streak (1976-77).
It never got any better for Buccaneers fans than it did on: Jan. 26, 2003
The Buccaneers won their first and only championship with a 48-21 win over the Raiders in Super Bowl XXXIV. They were led by a tour de force defensive performance as Jon Gruden’s team stifled the Raiders offense he had coached just one year earlier. The Bucs picked off Oakland quarterback Rich Gannon, the MVP of the 2002 season, five times, while returning three of those INTs for TDs.
Buccaneers overview:
The victory in Super Bowl XXXVII is the only thing that keeps the Buccaneers from being mired at the very bottom of the list. Other than that win – a true fluke when compared with the rest of the franchise’s history – Tampa has clearly been one of the worst franchises in all of pro sports.
The organization’s .393 winning percentage is the worst of any team in football, other than the .333 of the Texans, who joined the NFL just six seasons ago. The tone was set for the Bucs in their debut season of 1976, as they went 0-14 to become the only winless team in modern NFL history. They also lost their first 12 games of 1977, for a truly fantastical record 26-game losing streak. No other team, expansion or otherwise, has ever lost more than 19 consecutive games.
The organization has produced just one Hall of Famer, Lee Roy Selmon, and even players who prospered elsewhere – HOFer Steve Young and Vinny Testaverde, for example – performed miserably in Tampa.
The organization boasts 10 winning campaigns in 32 NFL seasons, and a full half of its all-time postseason victories – three – came in that Super Bowl-winning season of 2002. But, hey, at least they have that one Super Bowl championship. Which is more than the Cardinals, Saints, Texans, Falcons, Bengals, Bills, Lions, Jaguars, Panthers, Chargers, Titans, Eagles, Vikings, Seahawks or Browns can say.
26. BUFFALO BILLS
First Bills season: 1960
Bills franchise record: 341-375-8 (.477) – 23rd
Bills franchise playoff record: 14-15 (.483)
Bills championships: 1964 (AFL), 1965 (AFL)
Face of the Bills franchise: O.J. Simpson
Greatest Bills players: Joe DeLamielleure, Doug Flutie, Jim Kelly, Andre Reed, Billy Shaw, Bruce Smith, Simpson, Thurman Thomas
Greatest Bills coach: Marv Levy (1986-97), 112-70 (.615) – The force behind Buffalo’s near-dynastic status of the 1990s and the only man to bring a team to four straight Super Bowls.
Bills claim to fame: Lost four straight Super Bowls; greatest player (allegedly) killed his wife.
It never got any better for Bills fans than it did on: Jan. 20, 1991
The Bills never looked better than they did on this day, with a 51-3 thrashing of the Raiders in the AFC championship game, just a week after they hung 44 on hated divisional rival Miami in the divisional playoffs. The Bills were fresh off a franchise-record 13-win season and headed into the Super Bowl with the No. 1 scoring offense in football and playing at the peak of its offensive power … then they couldn’t get Ottis Anderson off the field and Scott Norwood missed a field goal.
Bills overview:
No group of fans have been kicked in the gonads by their team and by sporting society at large more often than fans of the Bills.
It pretty much says it all when your greatest player is best remembered for committing the crime of the century, your greatest quarterback couldn’t nail anybody better than a B-list wrestling star and your greatest accomplishment is losing four straight title games – one of the them of the aforementioned painful kick-in-the-nuts variety, the other three of the bloody, humiliating, woodshed-beating variety.
But at least the Bills can look back upon their mid-60s dominance of the old AFL, when they won two championships, and their early 1990s dominance of the AFC. Fans in six other cities wish they ever had it so good.
25. SEATTLE SEAHAWKS
First Seahawks season: 1976
Seahawks franchise record: 246-254-0 (.492) – 20th
Seahawks franchise playoff record: 7-10 (.412)
Seahawks championships: none
Face of the Seahawks franchise: Steve Largent
Greatest Seahawks players: Shaun Alexander, Kenny Easley, Cortez Kennedy, Dave Kreig, Matt Hasselbeck, Largent
Greatest Seahawks coach: Mike Holmgren (1999-present), 82-62 (.569) – architect of the glory years, relatively speaking, in franchise history, including the current streak of five straight playoff appearances for an organization that reached the playoffs just five times in the previous 27 seasons.
Seahawks claim to fame: Largent retired after 1989 season with then NFL records in catches (819), receiving yards (13,089) and receiving TDs (100)
It never got any better for Seahawks fans than it did on: Jan. 22, 2006
The Seahawks demolished Carolina, 34-14, before a raucous home crowd to earn its first and only trip to the Super Bowl. They lost two weeks later to Pittsburgh, 21-10, in one of the least entertaining Super Bowls in history.
Seahawks overview:
The Seahawks have been fairly easy to miss. They’ve worn two lousy uniforms, they play in the NFL equivalent of Siberia (in fact, the distance from Seattle to Siberia is about the same as the distance from Seattle to Miami), and they’ve been about as perfectly mediocre as a franchise can be: they’ve won between 6 and 10 in 25 of the 32 seasons in their history and, over those 32 years, they stand just four games from a perfectly mediocre .500 record.
The Seahawks are actually in the midst of their glory years, with a potential Hall of Fame coach, a franchise quarterback, a star-studded young defense and five straight playoffs seasons, easily the longest stretch of success in franchise history.
With only a couple of exceptions, including their debut 2-12 season, the Seahawks have never been a truly awful franchise. Yet they’ve also done little to distinguish themselves beyond a single token Super Bowl appearance at a time when the NFC was clearly inferior to the AFC. Simply note the outcomes of that game, in which the No. 1 NFC seed Seahawks were outmanned and outmuscled by the No. 6 AFC seed Steelers, 21-10.
The Seahawks are just kind of “there” until they can pull together a championship team. And, given the current make-up of the franchise, the present may be the best chance they’ll have for years to come.
24. DETROIT LIONS
First Lions season: 1930
Names: Portsmouth Spartans (1930-33); Detroit Lions (1934-present)
Lions franchise record: 488-553-32 (.470) – 24th
Lions franchise playoff record: 7-10 (.412)
Lions championships: 1935, 1952, 1953, 1957
Face of the Lions franchise: Bobby Layne (great Lions teams), Barry Sanders (lousy Lions teams)
Greatest Lions players: Lem Barney, Alex Karras, Herman Moore, Night Train Lane, Yale Lary, Layne, Sanders, Joe Schmidt, Doak Walker, Alex Wojciechowicz
Greatest Lions coach: Buddy Parker (1951-56), 47-23-2 (.674) – winning records in five of six seasons and architect of Detroit’s dynastic 1950s teams.
Lions claim to fame: Team of the 1950s has earned just one playoff victory since 1957.
It never got any better for Lions fans than it did on: Dec. 27, 1953
In the greatest fourth-quarter drive in championship history before Eli Manning's miracle this past February, Bobby Layne marched the Lions 80 yards, connecting with Jim Doran, a defensive end pressed into offensive duty because of injuries, for a 33-yard score that tied up the mighty Browns at 16-16. Doak Walker’s extra point gave the Lions their second consecutive championship, one of three they’d win with Layne in the 1950s.
Lions overview:
The Lions in modern times are known only for futility. After all, among all the teams that have been in the NFL every year since the creation of the Super Bowl, they’re one of just three franchises that have failed to reach the big game (the others are the once-proud Browns and the always embarrassing Cardinals, No. 32 with a bullet on your franchise rankings list).
The fact that the Lions have won a truly Cardinals-esque one (1) playoff game since the 1957 championship game speaks to the modern futility of the organization, annually one of the league laughingstocks.
But a bevy of great past players, not to mention a claim to “team-of-the-decade” status in the 1950s (three championships), keeps the Lions out of the sad-sack basement of defeat and humiliation inhabited by the basement-dwelling shut-ins of the NFL like Arizona, New Orleans ... and, well, you.
23. New York Jets
First Jets season: 1960
Names: New York Titans (1960-62); New York Jets (1963-present)
Jets franchise record: 322-394-8 (.450) – 26th
Jets franchise playoff record: 8-11 (.421)
Jets championships: 1968
Face of the Jets franchise: Broadway Joe Namath
Greatest Jets players: Joe Klecko, Mark Gastineau, Mo Lewis, Don Maynard, Curtis Martin, Joe Namath, Gerry Philbin
Greatest Jets coach: Weeb Ewbank (1963-73), 71-77-6 (.481) – coached the Jets for 11 years, the longest tenure in the volatile history of the franchise, while leading the team to its greatest moment of triumph.
Claim to fame: Beat the mighty Colts in Super Bowl III in a triumph for the upstart AFL.
It never got any better for Jets fans than it did on: Jan. 12, 1969
In a game still widely regarded as the greatest upset in pro football history, the AFL’s Jets shocked the Colts, one of the most dominant teams in NFL history, 16-7, in Super Bowl III. Looking at it purely from the point of view of the Cold, Hard Football Facts, Super Bowl III was not as shocking an upset as Super Bowl XLII (Giants over Patriots). But in terms of perception and culture, it remains one of the defining games in football history, as the AFL proved it could beat the very best the NFL could throw its way.
Jets overview:
Save for one fleeting afternoon of glory in Miami 40 seasons ago, it’s just never quite clicked for the Jets. They’ve fiedled some very good players, but few that were ever great. They’ve had some very good coaches, but few that were ever great. They’ve had some very good seasons, but fewer that were ever great.
On the player front, even their most iconic players lean woefully to the overrated side: Face-of-the-franchise Joe Namath is in the Hall of Fame purely for the win over the Colts. His overall career numbers otherwise mediocre at best, even for his era.
On the coach front, even Weeb Ewbank, the Hall of Fame moulder-of-QBs who won the arguably two biggest games in league history, was sub-.500 with the Jets.
And from season to season the Jets are hardly ever awful, save for that 1-15 abortion of a 1996 season under Rich Kotite. But nor are they hardly ever great. The champion 1968 Jets, at 11-3 (.786), still boast the best record in franchise history, and only one Jets team, Tuna’s 12-4 club of 1998, won more games.
The Jets are below .500 in the regular season, below .500 in the playoffs, below .500 on the talent and coaching front, below .500 on the list of highlight moments, and below .500 on our franchise rankings list.
22. CAROLINA PANTHERS
First Panthers season: 1995
Panthers franchise record: 97-111 (.466) – 25th
Panthers franchise playoff record: 6-3 (.667)
Panthers championships: none
Face of the Panthers franchise: Sam Mills
Greatest Panthers players: Kerry Collins, Jake Delhomme, Kris Jenkins, Mills, Julius Peppers, Steve Smith
Greatest Panthers coach: John Fox (2002-present), 51-45-0 (.531) – led Panthers to five of franchise’s six postseason victories and two of its three conference title-game appearances.
Claim to fame: Appeared in the NFC title game in just its second year in the league.
It never got any better for Panthers fans than it did on: Jan. 18, 2004
Making just the second postseason appearance in franchise history, the upstart Panthers walked into Philly and staggered the Eagles, the class of the NFC, with a 14-3 upset victory. Rookie cornerback Ricky Manning Jr. ensured himself a chapter in the very short book of Carolina franchise lore by picking off three Donovan McNabb passes that day. The Panthers went on to play one of the most exciting Super Bowls in history two weeks later, but fell 32-29 to the dynastic Patriots.
Panthers overview:
The Panthers seem to have enjoyed more than their share of success. Hell, they appeared in three conference title games in their first 11 years of existence, including two of the past five. They even enjoy, believe it or not, the best postseason winning percentage in the NFL (.667). But with just nine total postseason games, it’s hard to compare the .667 postseason winning percentage of the Panthers to the .625 of the Packers in 40 postseason games, or the .618 of the Patriots in 34 postseason games.
And, sadly, the few moments of glory for the Panthers have yet to provide a championship. These few moments merely serve as a pigskin perfume that masks the stench of what has otherwise been a fairly moribund franchise: the Panthers have enjoyed just three winning seasons, and three postseason appearances, in their 13 years in the NFL.
But it could be worse, Carolina fans. Your team’s six playoff victories in 13 years compare quite favorably to the two playoff victories in 88 years of the Cardinals.
21. JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS
First Jaguars season: 1995
Jaguars franchise record: 113-95-0 (.543) – 8th
Jaguars franchise playoff record: 5-6 (.455)
Jaguars championships: none
Face of the Jaguars franchise: Jimmy Smith
Greatest Jaguars players: Tony Boselli, Mark Brunell, Smith, Fed Taylor, Marcus Stroud, John Henderson
Greatest Jaguars coach: Tom Coughlin (1995-2002), 68-60 (.531) – turned an expansion franchise into a consistent AFC contender within two years.
Claim to fame: Made an expansion-team record four playoff appearances in its first five years in the league.
It never got any better for Jaguars fans than it did on: Jan. 15, 2000
After a dominating season in which they posted a league best (and franchise record) 14-2 mark, the Jaguars hosted cross-state rival and established AFC power Miami in the divisional playoffs. In the final game of Dan Marino’s career, the upstart Jaguars utterly embarrassed the legend, 62-7 – one of the greatest blowouts in NFL history. Then Jacksonville promptly got embarrassed, 33-14, at home against the Titans in the AFC championship game.
Jaguars overview:
Forever linked with the Panthers by virtue of the fact that both joined the league in 1995 and both appeared in conference title games in 1996 (where both lost), it’s no surprise to find the Jaguars just one spot from the Panthers in our all-time franchise rankings.
Jacksonville has yet to have a true signature moment. But, compared with Carolina, they’ve consistently fielded better teams with a much better winning percentage and twice as many playoff appearances (six) to stand as proof.
The Jaguars, in fact, have become one of the most consistently competitive teams in the league, with seven winning campaigns in 13 NFL seasons and enviable consistency: three leading quarterbacks and two head coaches over 13 years is fairly rare, and also quite necessary in a league where institutional stability seems to preface onfield success. The fact that such a young franchise boasts the league’s 8th-best winning percentage is a tribute to this consistency.
However, the Jaguars will not jump into their upper echelon of franchises until they become a consistent threat to win a championship. As of yet, even their best teams have not been up to the task and they’ve yet to boast a signature season in which they live up to the potential that’s been bubbling through the surface of Jacksonville, like a tempting crude oil of success, since 1996.
However, no team stands to jump higher on the franchise rankings list than Jacksonville. With a championship or two in the next few years, it will become easier to hold up this organization as a paragon of consistency and success.
20. SAN DIEGO CHARGERS
First Chargers season: 1960
Names: Los Angeles Chargers (1960); San Diego Chargers (1961-present)
Chargers franchise record: 354-359-11 (.497) – 20th
Chargers franchise playoff record: 9-14 (.391)
Chargers championships: 1963 (AFL)
Face of the Chargers franchise: Sid Gillman
Greatest Chargers players: Lance Alworth, Dan Fouts, Charlie Joiner, Ernie Ladd, Ron Mix, Junior Seau, LaDainian Tomlinson, Kellen Winslow
Greatest Chargers coach: Sid Gillman (1960-69; 1971), 86-53-6 (.614) – a seminal figure in pro football history, largely responsible for the creation of the West Coast offense and for the bevy of offensive talent that always seems to play for the Chargers; later Chargers offensive whiz Don Coryell was a student of the Gillman school of offense.
Chargers claim to fame: The dominant team in the early years of the AFL, largely creating the league’s reputation for wide-open, more exciting football.
It never got any better for Chargers fans than it did on: Jan. 2, 1982
Sure, the Chargers boast a 1963 AFC championship. But the AFL was still a side show in 1963. Instead, one of the iconic images in NFL history belongs to the Chargers: Kellen Winslow being carried off the field by his teammates after nearly five quarters of football and a thrilling 41-38 win over the Dolphins in the 1981 divisional playoffs, on an unseasonably hot and humid January evening in Miami. San Diego seemed like a team of destiny … and then they walked into the coldest game in NFL history, the Freezer Bowl AFC championship game in Cincinnati, where they were whipped by the Bengals.
Chargers overview:
No team has boasted such an enviable collection of offensive talent through its history. From John Hadl and Lance Alworth in the AFL days, through the Fouts-Muncie-Joiner-Jefferson-Winslow Chargers of the Air Coryell Era, to the amazing LaDainian Tomlinson and Antonio Gates of today’s team, it seems there has always been an abundance of offensive talent wearing blue and gold.
And it all started out so well for San Diego, too. They were the dominant power in the early days of the AFL, appearing in five of its first six championship games, though winning just one (51-10 over the Boston Patriots in the 1963 championship game).
But for all the sizzle, the Chargers have produced surprisingly little steak. They’re under .500 as a franchise, and boast a respectable but disappointing nine postseason victories. And, from John Hadl through Dan Fouts through playoff pine-rider LaDainian Tomlinson, this organization always seems to come up just short when it matters most.
19. TENNESSEE TITANS
First Titans season: 1960
Names: Houston Oilers (1960-96): Tennessee Oilers (1997-98); Tennessee Titans (1999-present)
Titans franchise record: 350-368-6 (.488) – 21st
Titans franchise playoff record: 14-18 (.438)
Titans championships: 1960 (AFL), 1961 (AFL)
Face of the Titans franchise: Earl Campbell
Greatest Titans players: Elvin Bethea, George Blanda, Robert Brazile, Ken Burrough, Campbell, Billy Cannon, Eddie George, Ernest Givins, Ken Houston, Bruce Matthews, Mike Munchak, Warren Moon
Greatest Titans coach: Jeff Fisher (1994-present), 115-99 (.537) – The longest tenured coach in team history (and currently in the NFL), with the most regular season and postseason wins (five) for the organization, while leading the team to its first league championship game (1999 Super Bowl) since 1962 AFL title tilt.
Titans claim to fame: Since 1960, has consistently played in the most unattractive uniforms outside of Seattle.
It never got any better for Titans fans than it did on: Jan. 8, 2000
The true Springsteenian Glory Days for the Oilers/Titans franchise came back in the early 1960s, when they won the first two AFL titles. But only like three people actually cared about the AFL back in 1961, and it was so long ago that filthy hippies still hadn’t infected our nation with their dirty communes, their pot and their psychedelic drugs, ruining everything for those of us who prefer opiates, amphetamines and good old-fashioned, all-American alcohol.
But we digress.
Since then, there have been a handful of highlights for the organization, most provided by Earl Campbell and Warren Moon. But one highlight stands out above the others: the Music City Miracle in the 1999 wildcard playoffs, as the Titans shocked the sad-sack Doug Flutie-less Bills, 22-16, after using some controversial razzle-dazzle to return a kick for a touchdown on the last play of the game. Coming just three years after the organization had moved to Nashville from Houston, it helped endear the team to fans in its new hometown.
Titans overview:
The Oilers/Titans have never truly been dominant. And 47 years have elapsed since the organization's last championship, back in the early days of the upstart AFL. But the franchise has been consistently competitive, with high-quality, playoff-caliber teams in the early 1960s, late 1970s, late 1980s/early 1990s, and pretty regularly over the past decade.
With a championship or two over the next few years, this organization, like Jacksonville at No. 21, could move fairly quickly up the franchise rankings. But until then, they inhabit a place here at No. 19, amid the pack of teams that boast only institutional mediocrity.
18. PHILADELPHIA EAGLES
Eagles first season: 1933
Names: Philadelphia Eagles (1933-42; 1944-present); Phil-Pitt Steagles (1943)
Eagles franchise record: 479-524-25 (.478) – 22nd
Eagles franchise playoff record: 17-17 (.500)
Eagles championships: 1948, 1949, 1960
Face of the Eagles franchise: Chuck Bednarik
Greatest Eagles players: Bednarik, Boomer Brown, Harold Carmicheal, Randall Cunningham, Ron Jaworski, Tommy McDonald, Pete Pihos, Tommy Thompson, Steve Van Buren, Reggie White.
Greatest Eagles coach: Greasy Neale (1941-50), 63-43-5 (.594) – led otherwise hard-luck Eagles to three straight championship games and back-to-back titles in the late 1940s.
Eagles claim to fame: Fans booed Santa Claus.
It never got any better for Eagles fans than it did on: Dec. 26, 1960
If you wonder why Eagles fans are so cranky, why they boo none other than Santa himself, consider that the last time the Kris Kringle of Pigskin delivered to them anything other than PA coal was 48 years ago. On the day after Christmas 1960, at Philly’s glorious old Franklin Field, Bednarik wrestled future Hall of Famer Jim Taylor to the ground, then sat on him as time expired, to hand Philly its last football championship and hand Lombardi’s Packers their one and only postseason defeat.
Eagles overview:
The Eagles are a proud old-school NFL franchise, but with little to show for it since the Eisenhower Administration. They’re certainly not a sad-sack old-school franchise, like the Cardinals (have we mentioned at any point how much the Cardinals have always sucked?) or Lions. But nor are they a marquee old-school franchise like the Packers, Bears or Giants.
Instead, since 1960, they’ve occasionally dabbled with greatness, seemingly able to pair the right combination of coach-QB-defense to deliver a title: the Vermeil-Jaworski Eagles, the Ryan-Cunningham Eagles, the Reid-McNabb Eagles. But it never seems come together, rendering Eagles fans what they are today: frustrated, miserable a-holes (hey, our people!) who would run over their own mothers if they though it would bring them a title.
Old-time Eagles fans can always look back on the great glory days of the post-World War II Eagles, and to the great victory over the Packers in 1960. But other than that, it’s been 17,300-plus days and counting since the Eagles won a championship. Often a contender, rarely a champ.
17. BALTIMORE RAVENS
Ravens first season: 1996 (* In other instances, we consider for this article a franchise's entire history, even as it has moved from town to town. But the Cleveland Browns/Baltimore Ravens present a unique situation, as another Cleveland Browns franchise, of course, has entered the league since the original left. So, given these circumstances, we treat the Ravens as its own unique franchise that has played only in Baltimore.)
Ravens franchise record: 96-95-1 (.503) – 18th
Ravens franchise playoff record: 5-3 (.625)
Ravens championships: 2000
Face of the Ravens franchise: Ray Lewis
Greatest Ravens players: Peter Boulware, Jamal Lewis, Ray Lewis, Chris McAlister, Jonathon Ogden, Matt Stover.
Greatest Ravens coach: Brian Billick (1999-2007), 80-64 (.556) – just the second coach in franchise history, leading organization to its only championship.
Ravens claim to fame: 2000 Ravens sported greatest defense of the Live Ball Era.
It never got any better for Ravens fans than it did on: Jan. 28, 2001
Sparked by MLB Ray Lewis and the most suffocating defense in modern history, the Ravens pasted the Giants, 34-7, in Super Bowl XXXV, earning a championship just five years after the franchise moved from Cleveland and 17 years after Baltimore lost its original NFL franchise, the Colts.
Ravens overview:
Right about here with the Ravens, at the top of the bottom half of our all-time franchise rankings, you start to get into those teams where the disappointments have not necessarily outweighed the highlights. In fact, after years of kicking fans in the nuts in Cleveland, where the organization played as the Browns, the franchise has generally been better in Baltimore. The Ravens' postseason .625 winning percentage, for example, is tied with the Packers (behind only the young Panthers) for No. 2 all time. But with just eight playoff games (nine for the Panthers), they hardly compare to the 25-15 postseason mark of the Pack.
Baltimore has gone to the playoffs four times in 12 years, a fairly solid rate, and even has a championship to show for it. There are 15 other teams that would probably kill for that rate of success. The organization even has a strong institutional identity, as the home of modern rock-solid defense in a league that has almost abandoned that side of the ball, sacrificed like a gridiron island of Corregidor.
Of course, that institutional identity also includes a complete and utter inability to play offense, ever. So here the organization sits, smack dab in the middle of mediocrity, hoping one day to join the top half of NFL organizations. All it would probably take is a franchise quarterback … and maybe a coach people have heard of. Good luck, John Harbaugh.
16. KANSAS CITY CHIEFS
First Chiefs season: 1960
Names: Dallas Texans (1960-62); Kansas City Chiefs (1963-present)
Chiefs franchise record: 379-333-12 (.532) –11th
Chiefs ranchise playoff record: 8-13 (.381)
Chiefs championships: 1962 (AFL), 1969
Face of the Chiefs franchise: Lamar Hunt
Greatest Chiefs players: Bobby Bell, Buck Buchanan, Len Dawson, Tony Gonzalez, Willie Lanier, Will Shields, Derrick Thomas, Otis Taylor
Greatest Chiefs coach: Hank Stram (1960-74), 124-76-10 (.614) – led organization through its first 15 seasons and to its greatest triumphs, including 1962 AFL and 1969 Super Bowl championships.
Chiefs claim to fame: From 1967 to 1974, fielded three Hall of Fame defenders in its front seven (Bell, Buchanan, Lanier).
It never got any better for Chiefs fans than it did on: Jan. 11, 1970
Super Bowl IV is really one of the underappreciated games in pro football history, and it was a game dominated by the Hall-of-Famer-littered Chiefs. Sure, the Jets broke the ice and poured a little celebratory Scotch over it when they shocked the NFL’s mighty Colts in Super Bowl III. But the AFL victory was widely seen as a fluke in the months that followed.
The Chiefs proved the AFL victory was no fluke by thoroughly dominating the Vikings in Super Bowl IV, 23-7, a game that wasn’t even as close as the score indicates. It was a remarkable victory, too, considering the 1969 Vikings remain to this day one of the single most dominant teams in NFL history and were 12½-point favorites over the Chiefs. Yet the AFL representative from Kansas City toyed with the mighty NFL power like a kitten toys with a ball of yarn or a cougar toys with a 19-year-old college boy. Equality had been reached, just as the two leagues prepared to fully merge for the 1970 season.
Chiefs overview:
On the surface, the Chiefs might appear as an elite franchise. Their all-time record is well over .500. They’ve produced far more than their share of Hall of Famers for a relatively young franchise. They boast a Glory Era in the late 1960s and early 1970s. They have a championship on their resume. They have intensely loyal fans. And the AFC championship trophy is even named for their founder, Lamar Hunt.
But the Chiefs also have a dark side: a dismal postseason record that includes just eight (8!) career playoff wins and zero since 1993. Even worse, four of those playoff wins came against AFL competition in the pre-merger era (1960-69). In other words, since that franchise high-water mark – the victory over the Vikings in Super Bowl IV in January 1970 – the Chiefs have won just three postseason contests. Even Cardinals and Saints fans would be embarrassed by that performance (well, maybe not Cardinals fans).
The Chiefs are often good and routinely field solid – even great – teams. But 10 one-and-done performances in 15 playoff seasons mar and otherwise enjoyable franchise to have followed since its inception. Still, their great teams and bevy of great talent past earn Kansas City a spot here in the top half of our all-time franchise rankings.
15. MINNESOTA VIKINGS
First Vikings season: 1961
Vikings franchise record: 385-316-9 (.549) – 6th
Vikings franchise playoff record: 18-24 (.429)
Vikings championships: none
Face of the Vikings franchise: Bud Grant
Greatest Vikings players: Cris Carter, Randall Cunningham, Carl Eller, Chuck Foreman, Paul Krause, Jim Marshall, Randy Moss, Alan Page, Robert Smith, Frank Tarkenton, Ron Yary, Gary Zimmerman
Greatest Vikings coach: Bud Grant (1967-83; 1985), 158-96-5 (.620) – nearly a quarter century later, the man who put the late, great Met on the map remains one of the winningest coaches in league history, and one of just five coaches to lead his team to four Super Bowls.
Vikings claim to fame: Fielded three of the most dominant teams in modern history – regular-season history – and the No. 2 scoring offense in league history (556 points scored in 1998) ... yet still have zero titles to show for it.
It never got any better for Vikings fans than it did on: Jan. 4, 1970
The world in the eyes of Vikings fans seemed so bright and hopeful on Jan. 4, 1970, the day Minnesota pummeled the 10-3-1 Browns, 27-7, in the last NFL championship game before the merger.
The Vikings had rolled through the 1969 season with a 12-2 record, while whipping opponents by an average score of 27.1 to 9.5. Basically, the Vikings bitched-slapped the NFL that year much like the original sack specialists from Scandanavia laid waste to western Europe in the 9th century.
The victory over the Browns proved no different. Minnesota cruised to a 27-0 lead in the third quarter before putting riding out the fourth quarter. No surprise with the ease of the victory: the Vikings had crushed the Browns, the NFL's Century Division champion, 51-3, earlier that year.
Did we mention this was a pretty good team?
The Vikings were less than a decade old and clearly the dominant power in the old, established NFL. They were carrying on a tradition of winning football in Minnesota created by its state university, which was once a great college football powerhouse and had produced some of the best talent the game had ever seen. (The University of Minnesota, for example, is the only school with two members on the greatest team ever assembled, the Cold, Hard Football Facts All-Time 11.)
And after the highwater mark of Jan. 4, 1970, the Vikings, and their fans, were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, like a little North Woods gopher, reveling in their dominance over this pro football thing that was all so new to them. All Minnesota had to do was beat the AFL’s Chiefs in Super Bowl IV.
Oops.
Vikings overview:
The Vikings have consistently been one of the best, most competitive and most talent-laden teams in the NFL, as evidenced by their .549 all-time franchise record (sixth best among the 32 NFL teams).
But they’ve never quite made the big time, either, as evidenced by their zero championships, four Super Bowl losses, and four other losses in NFC championship games.
And then the Vikings gave up their greatest ally, the brutal Minnesota winters, and it’s been all downhill since there: zero Super Bowl appearances and three NFC title-game losses since moving into the Metrodome back in 1982.
All of which makes the Vikings one of the most infuriating teams to have followed. They’ve given their fans more to cheer about than most other teams – at least in the regular season, yet they’re the only team in our Top 18 that can't boast a single championship. But they earn a spot in the top half of our rankings because they’ve fielded so many great teams.
Now if they had only beat the Chiefs that day …
14. DENVER BRONCOS
First Broncos season: 1960
Broncos franchise record: 378-336-10 (.529) – 12th
Broncos franchise playoff record: 17-15 (.531)
Broncos championships: 1997, 1998
Face of the Broncos franchise: John Elway
Greatest Broncos players: Lyle Alzado, Steve Atwater, Terrell Davis, Elway, Randy Gradishar, Tom Jackson, Tombstone Jackson, Floyd Little, Karl Mecklenburg, Haven Moses, Shannon Sharpe, Dennis Smith, Rod Smith, Gary Zimmerman
Greatest Broncos coach: Mike Shanahan (1995-present), 130-78 (.625) – led Broncos through its championship years of 1997 and 1998 and to most consistent period of competitive football.
Broncos claim to fame: Lost first four Super Bowl appearances before winning next two.
It never got any better for Broncos fans than it did on: Jan. 25, 1998
Well, what more could you say? After four Super Bowl losses, including the most devastating defeat in Super Bowl history (55-10 to the 49ers in Super Bowl XXIV), and a crushing playoff loss to Jacksonville after dominating the 1996 season, the Broncos finally pulled it all together, with an upset victory over the Brett Favre, Reggie White and the potentially dynastic Packers in Super Bowl XXXII. The game gave NFL legend Elway his first ring after 15 years in the league, and was highlighted by the quarterback’s helicopter dive for a first down that remains the most indelible image in franchise history.
Broncos overview:
The Broncos are one of the marquee franchises in football these days – great owner, new stadium, winning coach, great tradition, shiny new stadium and devoted fan base. It’s a hard combination to beat.
But like so many other organizations, it wasn’t always that way. Like several teams still to come, the Patriots and Steelers most notably, the Denver tradition was that of a laughing stock franchise before the glory days arrived. For the Broncos, those days started to peak through the soil in the mid-1980s and fully bloomed in the 1990s.
In fact, perhaps like no other team, the Broncos organization has incrementally improved over the years, from one-time laughing stock to perennial contender.
The Broncos did not field a winning team until 1973, their 14th season of pro football, and they were generally the worst team in the league during the AFL years (1960-69). The fortunes of the organization began to change during the Red Miller-Craig Morton years of the late 1970s, when the Broncos produces their first great teams – three straight to the playoffs – and reached their first Super Bowl in 1977, summarily being crushed by the powerhouse Cowboys in Super Bowl XII.
But the wheels of success were in motion, and the franchise took another leap forward in 1983 when it landed quarterback John Elway, the prize talent of the great QB class of ’83, after he threatened to play baseball with the Yankees instead of football with the Colts, the team with the No. 1 overall pick. The Broncos became consistent contenders with Elway, but never a champion – they lost three Super Bowls, generally with undermanned teams being steamrolled by NFC opponents during the height of the power of pro football’s senior circuit.
Denver took the next leap forward with the arrival in 1995 of head coach Mike Shanahan and his historically and consistently productive ground attack. By 1998, the Broncos were two-time defending champs and the most feared team in football. They’ve yet to recapture the glory of a title in the decade since Elway’s departure. But, with a few exceptions these days, you can generally count on the Broncos to be a prime-time AFC contender. In fact, they hosted the AFC title game as recently as January 2006 and the sad-sack Broncos of the 1960s and 1970s are a distant memory for even old-time football fans.
13. ST. LOUIS RAMS
First Rams season: 1937
Names: Cleveland Rams (1937-45); Los Angeles Rams (1946-94); St. Louis Rams (1995-present)
Rams franchise record: 501-454-20 (.524) – 13th
Rams franchise playoff record: 19-24 (.442)
Rams championships: 1945, 1951, 1999
Face (and breasts) of the franchise: Jane Russell (wife of former QB Bob Waterfield … hey, any excuse to look at those things).
Greatest Rams players: Eric Dickerson, Marshall Faulk, Tom Fears, Crazy Legs Hirsch, Deacon Jones, Tom Mack, Ollie Matson, Merlin Olsen, Jackie Slater, Norm Van Brocklin, Bob Waterfield, Jack Youngblood
Greatest Rams playa: Waterfield
Greatest Rams coach: George Allen (1966-70), 49-17-4 (.729) – Allen did not win a championship with the Rams (or later with the Redskins). But his teams were consistently great during his five-years at the helm and he still boasts the best record on a team blessed with a bevy of great (but short-lived) coaches.
Rams claim to fame: Only team to win championships while playing in three different cities.
It never got any better for Rams fans than it did on: Jan. 30, 2000
With all due respect to the great star-studded Rams teams of old in Cleveland and L.A., few, if any, football teams in history enjoyed such a remarkable rise from oblivion more so than the Super Bowl XXXIV champion Rams of St. Louis.
Their 23-16 victory over the Titans was, in and of itself, perhaps the most exciting Super Bowl in history, with the Rams stopping the Titans inches from a game-tying TD as time expired. You beg for Super Bowls like that, no matter who is involved.
But the thriller also punctuated a remarkable rise from oblivion for a once-great NFL power, a teary-eyed old coach and a former supermarket stock boy turned NFL MVP. In 1998, the Rams were just 4-12, Vermeil was an aging coach with a Super Bowl loss back in 1980 the highlight of his career, and Warner was known only by fans of the Arena League's Iowa Barnstormers. On Jan. 30, 2000, all were Super Bowl champions.
Rams overview:
The Rams organization should be a Top 5 team in our franchise rankings. They’ve been literally littered with Hall of Fame stars since their earliest days, they’ve fielded some of the greatest offensive teams in history (the 1950 Rams still hold the record 38.8 PPG), they’ve fielded some of the greatest defensive teams in history (especially in the 1970s), and they’ve fielded some of the single most dominant teams in league history (4 of the top 21). No team can claim so many teams that have won so often so many different ways.
It’s a feat made more remarkable by the general lack of stability – normally a prerequisite for success – within the organization. The team has played in three different cities and has absolutely no consistency within its coaching ranks. In fact, even the great coaches who have walked through the doors – Clark Shaughnessy, Joe Stydahar, Sid Gillman, George Allen, Chuck Knox, Dick Vermeil, a pretty impressive list – have never lasted more than five years. (John Robinson, who led the team from 1983 to 1991, is the only coach in franchise history to last more than five years at the helm, though Knox did return for a wildly unsuccessful three-year stint in 1992 years after his original five-year run in L.A.).
However, more often than not, the Rams failed to truly capitalize on their potential and regular-season greatness. Though they boast three NFL championships, they’ve lost 11 times in NFL championships, Super Bowls, or conference title games, often to inferior teams. The 2001 Rams, who lost to the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVI, were just the most recent in a sad franchise history. In addition:
The 1967 Rams went 11-1-2 and were the best team in football. They couldn’t win a single playoff game, getting bounced by the 9-4-1 Packers (at home!) a week before the Ice Bowl.
The 1973 Rams were dominant, too, with a league-best 12-2 record, +210 scoring differential, and a suffocating defense. They couldn’t win a single playoff game, either, getting bounced by the Cowboys in the divisional round.
Even during the 1950s, when the Rams fielded the greatest offenses in history, thanks largely to the Hall of Fame QB-ing tandem of Norm Van Brocklin and Bob Waterfield, the Rams squeaked out just a single championship.
All in all, the Rams have been a very, very exciting franchise to follow through the years, and routinely competitive (and sometimes dominant) year after year. But it’s a franchise that leaves you wondering what might have been ... which leaves us placing them just outside the Top 12.
12. NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS
First Patriots season: 1960
Names: Boston Patriots (1960-70); New England Patriots (1971-present)
Patriots franchise record: 366-349-9 (.512) - 16th
Patriots franchise playoff record: 21-13 (.618)
Patriots championships: 2001, 2003, 2004
Face of the Patriots franchise: Bill Belichick and Tom Brady
Greatest Patriots players: Houston Antwine, Brady, Gino Cappelletti, Ben Coates, John Hannah, Mike Haynes, Stanley Morgan, Jim Nance, Richard Seymour, Andre Tippett, Adam Vinatieri, Mike Vrabel
Greatest Patriots coach: Bill Belichick (2000-present), 91-37 (.711) – architect of the current Patriots juggernaut, only coach to win three Super Bowls in four years and considered by most the best coach of his generation and by some perhaps the best coach ever.
Patriots claim to fame: Owners of the longest win streak in NFL history (21 games, including playoffs), the two longest “official” (not including playoffs) winning streaks in NFL history (19 games and 18 games), and the longest postseason winning streak in NFL history (10 games).
It never got any better for Patriots fans than it did on: Feb. 3, 2002
Really a no brainer: the inept Patriots organization rose from obscurity in 2001 and then ended the season with a walk-off field goal in a 20-17 victory over the “Greatest Show on Turf” Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI. It’s considered by most one of the great upsets in Super Bowl history and the shocker set in the motion the wheels of the first NFL dynasty of the 21st century.
Patriots overview:
If this list had been published, say, at the end of the 2000 season, there’s a good chance the Patriots would occupy a spot somewhere around the Cincinnati Bengals (No. 28).
They were an organization that had showed flashes of potential excellence (two Super Bowl appearances, and losses, like the Bengals) and were largely competitive for a decade from the mid-1970s to late 1980s. But otherwise, the Patriots were also largely noted for failed opportunities, bad luck and just plain old organizational ineptitude (like the Bengals).
Then Mo Lewis decked Drew Bledsoe early in 2001, Tom Brady stepped on the field, and everything for the organization changed on a dime.
Since then, the Patriots have gone through one of the single greatest periods of dominance the league has ever seen, with three Super Bowl victories in four years, the first 16-0 season in league history, ownership of every win streak imaginable, and, including playoffs, a mind-boggling record 77 victories (against 17 defeats, .819) in a five-year period from 2003 to 2007. And after just seven postseason victories in their first 41 seasons, the Patriots now boast a .618 playoff winning percentage (21-13) that’s second only to the TitleTown Packers among organizations that have appeared in 10 or more playoff games. The 21 postseason victories is more than five of the 11 teams ahead of them on our list of all-time greatest franchises.
If not for a series of crushing postseason collapses the last two seasons, we might be talking about a team that had won five Super Bowls in seven years and had quickly risen from obscurity to one of the 10 best franchises in history.
Instead, when coupled with a relatively ingloriously first four decades, the Patriots are still a pretender to the throne of all-time NFL elitism.
11. INDIANAPOLIS COLTS
First Colts season: 1946 (AAFC), 1953 (NFL)
Names: Baltimore Colts (1950; 1953-83); Indianapolis Colts (1984-present)
Colts franchise record: 415-384-7 (.519) – 15th
Colts franchise playoff record: 17-17 (.500)
Colts championships: 1958, 1959, 1970, 2006
Face of the Colts franchise: Johnny Unitas
Greatest Colts players: Raymond Berry, Mike Curtis, Art Donovan, Marvin Harrison, John Mackey, Peyton Manning, Gino Marchetti, Lenny Moore, Jim Parker, Unitas
Greatest Colts coach: Tony Dungy (2002-present), 73-23 (.760) – Weeb Ewbank won two titles to Dungy’s one with the Colts, and Don Shula's Colts were perennial contenders, but Dungy has fielded the most consistently excellent Colts teams, with an average of more than 12 wins per season.
It never got any better for Colts fans than it did on: Dec. 28, 1958
Current Colts fans certainly remember better the stupendous 2006 playoff run that ended with the organization’s most recent championship. But perhaps nothing could ever match the thrill Colts fans (then the Baltimore Colts) experienced with their 23-17 road victory over the Giants in the 1958 NFL championship game.
CHFF readers, those socially awkward shut-ins who shun human companionship in favor of football knowledge, certainly know the story well: it was the first overtime game in NFL history, one of the most-watched television events, sporting or otherwise, in American history at the time, it featured no fewer than 15 Hall of Famers on the field or the sidelines, spurred the popularity of the NFL and is now known simply as “The Greatest Game Ever Played” (it’s also the subject of the brand-new book, “The Best Game Ever” by Mark Bowden, the guy who wrote “Black Hawk Down”). Oh, and it was a pretty exciting game, too, and the first championship for the young Colts organization.
Colts overview:
The Colts began as a member of the old All America Football Conference from 1946 to 1949 and were one of three AAFC teams (along with the Browns and 49ers) to join the NFL in 1950 when the upstart league folded. They were a disaster (1-11), and themselves folded after one year in the NFL. A team of the same name was reborn and joined the league permanently in 1953 (it is generally considered a new franchise for statistical and historical purposes).
The Colts were largely successful from the late 1950s, when they won back-to-back NFL championships, through the early 1970s. They did not suffer a single losing season from 1957 to 1971, and fielded a star-studded cast of talent, especially on offense. In fact, there was a period from 1963 to 1967 when the Colts took the field with five of 11 offensive starters destined for the Pro Football Hall of Fame (Berry, Mackey, Moore, Unitas, Parker).
But it was the right team at the wrong time, as the Colts played second fiddle to their even more talented Western Conference foe from Green Bay, which would rule the decade.
With a few exceptions, the Colts grew largely uncompetitive, even downright awful, following their 1971 Super Bowl victory through the late 1990s. They even fielded a winless