There was debate here a while back as to whether or not Miami has been one of the best franchises since the merger. I and several others who claimed Miami was in the top 5 overall were called homers by those that believed that Miami was not in the top 5 (mostly Jets fans). Anyway ESPN recently tackled the same question. They used the following criteria:
• Super Bowl championships and appearances
• Postseason history (playoff wins and crushing defeats)
• Regular-season consistency (overall winning percentage, number of seasons with 12 or more wins and number of seasons with four or fewer wins)
• Individual star power (number of selections to the Associated Press All-Pro first team)
• Overall franchise stability (number of coaching changes and draft busts)
• Media buzz and fan interest ("Monday Night Football" appearances)
Here are their results:
Overall ranking
Team Pts.
1. Dal 1,498
2. Pit 1,495
3. SF 1,294
4. Mia 1,276
5. Den 1,138
6. Oak 1,028
7. Min 1,024
8. Was 998
9. Stl 947
10. NE 905
11. NYG 859
12. Chi 793
13. Phi 776
14. GB 745
15. Bal 678
16. Ind 669
17. Ten 669
18. Buf 667
19. Sea 641
20. Jac 634
21. KC 596
22. Car 588
23. SD 563
24. Cin 494
25. TB 474
26. Atl 362
27. Det 350
28. NYJ 338
29. Cle 338
30. Hou 308
31. NO 287
32. Ari 285
ESPN Page 2 - Page 2: Modern NFL franchise hierarchy, 1-10
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this is a good cumulative view of the NFL records and whatnot:
List of National Football League records (team - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
this is a complete (of all time since the merger) list of wins/losses, which Miami was in the lead of up until this next week.... (we actually lead the Steelers all-time by ONE game):
NFL standings since AFL-NFL merger - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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I think you are ranking San Fran a litle high at #3....yes they have won 4 SB's, but they were absolutley horrible before they won them, and they have been pretty bad afterwards.
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I remember the so-called computerized thing they did and said the Steelers were the best team in the 70's. IMO, that was a joke, we were, hands down.PMZQ likes this.
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yeah i agree.
you know the whole thing really is subjective. if you read the first link i posted, there are a TON of categories and each seems to have different teams near the top. I don't see one consistent team at the top of everything. so unless you're specifying which category you are using to rate the teams in history, it truely is subjective.
but honestly, i love that. if it was so definitive, there would be no room for discussion and this wouldn't be as fun. I'd put Miami ahead of SF on that intial list raf posted just by virtue of the fact that overall, our organization has had more success than SF. SF for sure dominated in the late 80s/early 90s, but really that has been their only heydey. -
But that is typical of the NFL to never give the Dolphins franchise their due. Only 1 defensive player in the Hall of Fame from the 1972 team.....that is a crock of bull, but typical of the HoF & the NFLdolphindebby likes this.
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I'm guessing that very few people actually clicked on the link. They (not me) were pretty specific about the criteria they used. I found the criteria to be reasonable. Their results were close between #1 and #2 and also between #3 and #4. Even a small alteration to the scoring system would shuffle those top teams. The point that was disputed earlier and what this article supported was that there was a clear top echelon of NFL franchises. A few teams were borderline in the top group and their inclusion could be questioned, but by any reasonable measurement dating from the merger of the NFL/AFL the Dolphins are in that elite group.