New England Patriots: Best NFL team of all-time?

There's some debate going on about the 2007-2008 New England Patriots. If they defeat the Giants on Sunday, winning the Super Bowl and finishing 19-0, should they be considered the best team of all time?

There are various arguments, pro and con. Generally the pro argument goes: they will be 19-0 which is unprecedented, they dominated their foes for most of the season, an undefeated hasn't been done in almost 40 years, the Brady/Moss offense is unstoppable. The con arguments? They've almost been beaten several times in the 2nd half of the year, they haven't been dominant in the playoffs, they don't have an "all-star" team beyond Brady/Moss/etc., the cheating scandal, et al.

Rather than get into subjective arguments, I turn to an objective power rating to decide the issue. Using a combination of Points and Win/Loss power ratings, each team from each NFL season can be rated and ranked. So if we want to know if New England is the best team ever, we have to ask: who is the best NFL team of all time up to this year?

The logical candidate is the 1972 Miami Dolphins, who went 17-0 and won the 1973 Super Bowl.

1972 Miami Dolphins              17-0-0   29.56 [1]  10.86 [1]  18.70 [1]

Their Win/Loss rating is an astonishing 18.7, but their Points rating is a pedestrian 10.86; still this adds up to a hefty 29.56 overall rating. Though they didn't dominate teams that year, they still rate as the best of 1972 by either comparison method. In general, though, their soft schedule makes most NFL fans consider them unworthy of the "best-ever" crown. For that, we look further.

ESPN.com has two lists, voted on by sportswriters and one with votes by readers, that list the top 10 NFL teams of all time. The '72 Dolphins are second on both lists. #1 on both lists? The 1985 Chicago Bears.

1985 Chicago Bears               18-1-0   30.38 [1]  17.49 [1]  12.89 [1] 

"Da Bears" were a more dominant team, crushing New England 46-10 in the Super Bowl, and their one loss was not enough to keep them from scoring higher than Miami overall. So the Bears are #1? Not so fast. 20 teams are mentioned by the sportswriters and readers. #6 on the reader list and #3 on the writers list is the 1962 Green Bay Packer squad.

1962 Green Bay Packers           14-1-0   30.45 [1]  19.01 [1]  11.43 [1]

The '62 Packers score a touch higher than the '85 Bears, via their dominance in score margin. Though winning four fewer games, they rate almost as high in pure win/loss terms. This is, of course, a pre-Super Bowl era team; there were fewer teams and only a league championship to win. But the Pack won eight games by 17 or more points, lost only one game, and had a powerful defense.

Here's a list of all 20 teams from the articles, and their ranking via my combined power rating:

Year Team                        record   Rating     Points     Win/Loss
1962 Green Bay Packers           14-1-0   30.45 [1]  19.01 [1]  11.43 [1]
1985 Chicago Bears               18-1-0   30.38 [1]  17.49 [1]  12.89 [1]
1972 Miami Dolphins              17-0-0   29.56 [1]  10.86 [1]  18.70 [1]
1991 Washington Redskins         17-2-0   26.76 [1]  16.77 [1]   9.99 [1]
1976 Oakland Raiders             16-1-0   24.56 [1]  10.53 [2]  14.02 [1]
1989 San Francisco 49ers         17-2-0   22.86 [1]  14.53 [1]   8.33 [1]
1986 New York Giants             17-2-0   22.52 [1]  12.45 [1]  10.06 [1]
1996 Green Bay Packers           16-3-0   21.28 [1]  15.62 [1]   5.66 [1]
1973 Miami Dolphins              15-2-0   20.61 [1]  14.27 [1]   6.34 [1]
1998 Denver Broncos              17-2-0   19.97 [1]  11.36 [2]   8.61 [1]
1992 Dallas Cowboys              16-3-0   19.30 [1]  13.28 [1]   6.01 [1]
1978 Pittsburgh Steelers         17-2-0   18.37 [1]  10.36 [2]   8.01 [1]
1994 San Francisco 49ers         16-3-0   18.06 [1]  13.27 [1]   4.78 [1]
1979 Pittsburgh Steelers         15-4-0   17.39 [1]  12.58 [1]   4.81 [1]
1990 Buffalo Bills               15-4-0   16.90 [2]  10.91 [1]   5.99 [2]
1955 Cleveland Browns            10-2-1   16.66 [1]  13.26 [1]   3.40 [1]
1971 Dallas Cowboys              14-3-0   15.55 [1]  11.40 [1]   4.15 [1]
1999 St. Louis Rams              16-3-0   15.23 [1]  11.63 [1]   3.60 [4]
1993 Dallas Cowboys              15-4-0   13.88 [1]  10.62 [1]   3.25 [2]
1974 Pittsburgh Steelers         13-3-1   12.23 [2]   7.93 [2]   4.30 [2]

Notice that almost all of the teams are from the 70s to today. Obviously, teams from these decades are stronger than those of the 20s to 50s, but if we open up the ratings to get a sense of who was most dominant in their year (which is all you can ask of a team), another candidate for "best-ever" emerges: the 1941 Chicago Bears.

1941 Chicago Bears               12-1-0   33.75 [1]  21.19 [1]  12.55 [1]

This classic team went 12-1, won the league championship 37-9 and only lost once by a score of 16-14. In terms of point margins, they're tops on the list, and they lost only to the 2nd best team in the league.

But no matter who rates as the best so far, if the New England Patriots win on Sunday and finish 19-0, they will rank higher—much higher. Their 19 wins would be a record, and their point spread dominance over the rest of the league is clear. This is how they currently rate in the same system:

2007 New England Patriots        18-0-0   44.86 [1]  19.67 [1]  25.18 [1]

As you can see, their point margin rating is higher even than the 1962 Packers so far, and at 18-0 their Win/Loss rating is off the charts. Though their playoff opponents weren't the best, they have already defeated any other team that could have faced them (Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Green Bay). So even if beating the Giants isn't considered a tough feat, they've more than proven themselves already.

So the verdict is clear: if the Patriots win Sunday, they are the best NFL team of all time.

In fact, even if they lose they might still score higher than anyone else! Which may lead me to modify the system slightly to weight the Super Bowl more; this should probably be done anyway, as it is the championship game and the winner is considered the best team of the year regardless of record. If the Pats lose, I'll re-rank the teams in this manner and see where the Pats rank as an 18-1 team; if they lose, they'll have to via for title of best championship game losers.

Comments

Go Pats!

[pootugger]

they lost bitchz

[Anon]

How is it that the 18-1 1984 49ers are left off of this list? Their ONE loss was by FIELD GOAL, which was only attempted because of a questionable pass interference call against the 49ers. They DOMINATED the 14-2 Dolphins in the Super Bowl 38-16. This is the same Dolphins team that saw Dan Marino throw for 48 TDs.

You need to seriously modify this system. The 2007 Patriots are just like the 1998 Vikings. Spectacular offense, average defense.

[SportsRatings]

>>How is it that the 18-1 1984 49ers are left off of this list?

The 20 teams on the list are the ones cited by ESPN sportswriters and readers from the linked articles. For some reason, the '84 49ers didn't make either list. Probably because other 49er teams were on their mind? I don't know.

I agree the '84 team should have been considered, and if it were included here it would have been 6th--just ahead of the 1989 San Francisco squad.

JAGUARS AT COLTS– Before every Colts game, an announcer will say,“ Gentlemen, start the scoreboard.”