The last of my daily Super Bowl week features is another “list” post, honoring the 5 teams that I feel are the greatest among the 56 clubs who have won the big game since it’s inception following the 1966 season. In some cases they may not have even been the top team in that particular regular season, but came up huge when it counted the most.
1. 1972 Miami Dolphins – they didn’t have a prolific offense, their smothering defense was nicknamed the “No-Name Defense”, and they won Super Bowl VII by only a 14-7 score, but it’s hard to argue against the only team to complete a season undefeated. They went 17-0 and would regularly beat opponents in lower scoring games by grinding them into oblivion with a powerful rushing attack. They also followed this accomplishment up by winning it all again the next season.
2. 1985 Chicago Bears – a wild group of misfit toys led by the biggest misfit of all, coach Mike Ditka, this team swept through the NFL in ’85 with one of the greatest one-season accomplishments of all time. They had characters like QB Jim McMahon and William “The Refrigerator” Perry, an all-time great in Walter Payton, and recorded a “Super Bowl Shuffle” video before they even qualified for the game. After going 15-1 in the regular season and sweeping through the NFC playoffs with a pair of shutout wins, they dismantled the New England Patriots 46-10 in a Super Bowl XX laugher.
3. 1968 New York Jets – they pulled off the upset of the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III, winning 16-7 and giving the AFL its’ first victory. It was considered an epic win made even more amazing because Jets’ quarterback Joe Namath guaranteed his team would win, despite being up to 18 point underdogs. This particular Jets’ team may have not even been the best the AFL had to offer, as they upset the more highly rated Oakland Raiders to get to the big game, but they turned out to be just what the young league needed on Super Bowl Sunday that year.
4. 1984 San Francisco 49ers – coach Bill Walsh’s forces finished 15-1 in the regular season and swept through the NFC playoffs but were up against a major challenge in Super Bowl XIX in facing the prolific offense of the Dan Marino-led Miami Dolphins. Led by the always efficient play of quarterback Joe Montana, the Niners trampled Miami’s “Killer Bees” defense, while their own defense kept Marino under pressure all day enroute to a 38-16 win.
5. 2007 New York Giants – talk about huge upsets. The Giants only qualified for the playoffs as an NFC Wild Card team with a 10-6 record, finishing second in their division, while the New England Patriots were chasing history. They finished a perfect 16-0 in the regular season and with 2 playoff wins were looking to wrap up the NFL’s second unblemished year with a win in Super Bowl XLII against a clearly inferior opponent. The Giants, with the help of the amazing “helmet catch” pictured above, pulled off the huge upset, 17-14. They did it again a few years later when they reached the big game with an even worse record (9-7) and knocked off Tom Brady’s club for the second time.