KChiefs1
02-05-2019, 07:23 AM
https://theathletic.com/793402/2019/02/04/the-athletics-nfl-super-bowl-era-franchise-rankings/
Another NFL season has come and gone, and the time has come to see what this all means from a historical perspective.
Through the decades, 53 Super Bowls have been played. For football nerds everywhere (I aspire to be chief amongst them), that leads to the obvious bar-room question:
Which franchise has accomplished the most in the Super Bowl era?
Then, some obvious follow-up questions:
How would you attempt to quantify that? Who would be the worst? How do we adjust for expansion teams? How do you keep opinions out of this? Why would you do this for 19 years?
The last one is the easiest question. 19 years ago, I attempted to put together a scoring system that would credit teams for making the playoffs, advancing to the “Final Four,” making a Super Bowl, and then, of course, winning that Super Bowl.
The system had to be more complex than simply counting Lombardi Trophies, because some teams have a knack for rising up every few years and winning the Super Bowl despite missing the playoffs altogether for several years in between (hello, Giants). At the same time, it is a very big deal to win one of those trophies — let alone several — so any point system we devise should give a great deal of credit for any team winning it all.
The database is updated every February right after the Super Bowl ends because, of course, things change. Not too much, mind you. One year is not enough to move the icebergs very far, but they do, in fact, move. I have tinkered with the system over the years, but this is the one that works. Our objective scoring system (remember, this is all math) includes these point values:
Winning the Super Bowl: 11 points (S)
Losing the Super Bowl: 5 points (SL)
Losing AFC/NFC championship game: 3 points (C)
Making the playoffs: 1 point
To be clear, you only get one threshold per year — you don’t collect on multiple levels. We add up the points from each of your years in existence (adjusting for expansion) and that leads to the overall standings. Ties? There are no ties. We break them with Super Bowls, then Super Bowl losses, then championship games, as necessary.
Also, new for this year’s edition, we will also provide rankings for “points per year” at the bottom of the article, grading on a curve for those teams that have not existed for 53 seasons for one reason or another.
Now that the Patriots have expanded their trophy case yet again, grabbing their sixth Lombardi Trophy, let us unveil the 19th edition of the Sturm Super Bowl-era NFL Franchise Rankings.
Tier One — The Heavyweights
1. Pittsburgh Steelers
Last year: No. 1
Total: 114 points
The Steelers passed Dallas to vault into first place a few years ago themselves, but now they find their lead completely erased to a single point over the hard-charging Patriots. Yes, they are in first place, but only barely. The Steelers are the most successful team that has accomplished something of note in every decade and have therefore been a worthy leader for some time. They hold the slimmest lead possible over the Patriots by virtue of having been to five more playoffs and one more championship game. Now we will see if New England has another run in them to go first all-time. Until then, the football world continues to chase this fine franchise from Pittsburgh who missed the playoffs this year, but has been in the mix annually for almost as long as the Super Bowl era has existed.
Total playoff years: 72C, 73, 74S, 75S, 76C, 77, 78S, 79S, 82, 83, 84C, 89, 92, 93, 94C, 95SL, 96, 97C, 01C, 02, 04C, 05S, 07, 08S, 10SL, 11, 14, 15, 16C, 17
Playoff years: 30 | Final Fours: 8 | Super Bowl losses: 2 | Super Bowl wins: 6
Average: 2.15 points per season
Tier Two — The Light Heavyweights
5. Oakland Raiders
Last year: No. 5
Total: 78 points
The Raiders certainly were “next year’s champion” for most of the first decade of the Super Bowl era and then became a real power with wins in Super Bowls 11, 15, and 18. Since then, times have been significantly more difficult with an all-powerful owner possibly losing the secret formula for winning. His son has now spent a fair amount of his fortune to hire the most expensive head coach in the history of the league — Jon Gruden — to bring them back to glory as they prepare to relocate the franchise. It seems clear Gruden’s plan was to tear the team all the way down before trying to grow it back up in Las Vegas. Despite a lengthy drought since their last sustained success, just one playoff berth (and a single point) since 2002, the Raiders remain in the top five.
Total playoff years: 67SL, 68C, 69C, 70C, 72, 73C, 74C, 75C, 76S, 77C, 80S, 82, 83S, 84, 85, 90C, 91, 93, 00C, 01, 02SL, 16
Playoff years: 22 | Final Fours: 9 | Super Bowl losses: 2 | Super Bowl wins: 3
Average: 1.47 points per season
6. Denver Broncos
Last year: No. 6
Total: 76 points
Winning Super Bowl 50 pushed the Broncos past the Green Bay Packers into sixth place and right on the heels of their hated rivals in Oakland. It’s a pretty impressive resume for a franchise that had missed the playoffs in each of the first 11 seasons of the Super Bowl era. However, they have attended eight Super Bowls and famously lost their first four trips. Going 3-1 since then has pushed them up the board in the last two decades, and while the near future is awfully uncertain, they definitely have made their mark and still sit in sixth place, within easy reach of their rivals in Oakland.
Total playoff years: 77SL, 78, 79, 83, 84, 86SL, 87SL, 89SL, 91C, 93, 96, 97S, 98S, 00, 03, 04, 05C, 11, 12, 13SL, 14, 15S
Playoff years: 22 | Final Fours: 2 | Super Bowl losses: 5 | Super Bowl wins: 3
Average: 1.43 points per season
Tier Three — The Middleweights
8. New York Giants
Last year: No. 8
Total: 60 points
The dropoff into Tier Three from Green Bay to New York is substantial. The Giants have definitely won some massive games, and four Super Bowl wins in only 16 playoff years is a ridiculous yield given their mediocre year-to-year results. In fact, the Eli Manning era is difficult to reconcile. Two Super Bowls are a fantastic item on his resume, but how does a franchise-level QB who is capable of winning multiple Lombardis not make the playoffs more often? Missing the entire tournament in eight of his last ten seasons is a real curiosity. Still, four Super Bowl wins since SB21 measures quite well for the G-Men and they still fit easily into the top 10
Total playoff years: 81, 84, 85, 86S, 89, 90S, 93, 97, 00SL, 02, 05, 06, 07S, 08, 11S, 16
Playoff years: 16 | Final Fours: 0 | Super Bowl losses: 1 | Super Bowl wins: 4
Average: 1.13 points per season
Giants hold the tiebreaker over the Colts based on Super Bowl Wins, 4-2.
Tier Four — The Welterweights
15. Kansas City Chiefs
Last year: No. 16
Total: 38 points
The Chiefs lost in Super Bowl I, then were able to redeem their story with their famous run to Super Bowl IV. Unfortunately, they’ve since played in plenty of playoff games but nothing that will historically live in the memories of their fans – until now. That AFC Championship game loss to New England this year with young NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes should spark a revival of sorts and shine as their new beacon of hope. The Chiefs thought they were going to the Super Bowl, but three points added pushes them past Seattle into the top of the Welterweight division, 15th place. Optimism is restored.
Total playoff years: 66SL, 68, 69S, 71, 86, 90, 91, 92, 93C, 94, 95, 97, 03, 06, 10, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18C
Playoff years: 20 | Final Fours: 2 | Super Bowl losses: 1 | Super Bowl wins:1
Average: 0.72 points per season
Tier Five — The Lightweights
22. New Orleans Saints
Last year: No. 25
Total: 26 points
(Established 1967)
For years, they lived a very similar existence to the Atlanta Falcons, but when they broke through to win it all at SB44, their legacy forever changed and they seemed to enter another level. Unfortunately for them, they had done so little before Sean Payton and Drew Brees that, despite their Lombardi Trophy, they were still way down here with the Lightweights. 2018 certainly seemed to deserve a better fate and a Super Bowl win would have vaulted them even higher into the Top 20, but the Saints lost in the Championship game at home (sore subject). They did leapfrog divisional mates Atlanta and Tampa Bay, as well as the Cleveland Browns, reaching 22nd place.
Total playoff years: 87, 90, 91, 92, 00, 06C, 09S, 10, 11, 13, 17, 18C
Playoff years: 12 | Final Fours: 2 | Super Bowl losses: 0 | Super Bowl wins: 1
Average: 0.5 points per season in 52 seasons of existence
Saints win tiebreaker over Falcons based on Super Bowl wins, 1-0.
Tier Six — The Featherweights
29. Arizona/St. Louis Cardinals
Last year: No. 29
Total: 14 points
There is no way to sugar-coat this bottom group. The bottom tier features two expansion franchises and two original teams who have never accomplished much of anything. The “best” of this group is Arizona. They had every right to win SB43 against the Steelers before the big Santonio Holmes catch and have put together some decent teams recently that were unable to win enough in the postseason. But all of these accomplishments follow decades of futility and therefore, the Cardinals are in the very bottom group as the “best of the worst”.
Total playoff years: 74, 75, 82, 98, 08SL, 09, 14, 15C
Playoff years: 8 | Final Fours: 1 | Super Bowl losses: 1 | Super Bowl wins: 0
Average: 0.26 points per season
Another NFL season has come and gone, and the time has come to see what this all means from a historical perspective.
Through the decades, 53 Super Bowls have been played. For football nerds everywhere (I aspire to be chief amongst them), that leads to the obvious bar-room question:
Which franchise has accomplished the most in the Super Bowl era?
Then, some obvious follow-up questions:
How would you attempt to quantify that? Who would be the worst? How do we adjust for expansion teams? How do you keep opinions out of this? Why would you do this for 19 years?
The last one is the easiest question. 19 years ago, I attempted to put together a scoring system that would credit teams for making the playoffs, advancing to the “Final Four,” making a Super Bowl, and then, of course, winning that Super Bowl.
The system had to be more complex than simply counting Lombardi Trophies, because some teams have a knack for rising up every few years and winning the Super Bowl despite missing the playoffs altogether for several years in between (hello, Giants). At the same time, it is a very big deal to win one of those trophies — let alone several — so any point system we devise should give a great deal of credit for any team winning it all.
The database is updated every February right after the Super Bowl ends because, of course, things change. Not too much, mind you. One year is not enough to move the icebergs very far, but they do, in fact, move. I have tinkered with the system over the years, but this is the one that works. Our objective scoring system (remember, this is all math) includes these point values:
Winning the Super Bowl: 11 points (S)
Losing the Super Bowl: 5 points (SL)
Losing AFC/NFC championship game: 3 points (C)
Making the playoffs: 1 point
To be clear, you only get one threshold per year — you don’t collect on multiple levels. We add up the points from each of your years in existence (adjusting for expansion) and that leads to the overall standings. Ties? There are no ties. We break them with Super Bowls, then Super Bowl losses, then championship games, as necessary.
Also, new for this year’s edition, we will also provide rankings for “points per year” at the bottom of the article, grading on a curve for those teams that have not existed for 53 seasons for one reason or another.
Now that the Patriots have expanded their trophy case yet again, grabbing their sixth Lombardi Trophy, let us unveil the 19th edition of the Sturm Super Bowl-era NFL Franchise Rankings.
Tier One — The Heavyweights
1. Pittsburgh Steelers
Last year: No. 1
Total: 114 points
The Steelers passed Dallas to vault into first place a few years ago themselves, but now they find their lead completely erased to a single point over the hard-charging Patriots. Yes, they are in first place, but only barely. The Steelers are the most successful team that has accomplished something of note in every decade and have therefore been a worthy leader for some time. They hold the slimmest lead possible over the Patriots by virtue of having been to five more playoffs and one more championship game. Now we will see if New England has another run in them to go first all-time. Until then, the football world continues to chase this fine franchise from Pittsburgh who missed the playoffs this year, but has been in the mix annually for almost as long as the Super Bowl era has existed.
Total playoff years: 72C, 73, 74S, 75S, 76C, 77, 78S, 79S, 82, 83, 84C, 89, 92, 93, 94C, 95SL, 96, 97C, 01C, 02, 04C, 05S, 07, 08S, 10SL, 11, 14, 15, 16C, 17
Playoff years: 30 | Final Fours: 8 | Super Bowl losses: 2 | Super Bowl wins: 6
Average: 2.15 points per season
Tier Two — The Light Heavyweights
5. Oakland Raiders
Last year: No. 5
Total: 78 points
The Raiders certainly were “next year’s champion” for most of the first decade of the Super Bowl era and then became a real power with wins in Super Bowls 11, 15, and 18. Since then, times have been significantly more difficult with an all-powerful owner possibly losing the secret formula for winning. His son has now spent a fair amount of his fortune to hire the most expensive head coach in the history of the league — Jon Gruden — to bring them back to glory as they prepare to relocate the franchise. It seems clear Gruden’s plan was to tear the team all the way down before trying to grow it back up in Las Vegas. Despite a lengthy drought since their last sustained success, just one playoff berth (and a single point) since 2002, the Raiders remain in the top five.
Total playoff years: 67SL, 68C, 69C, 70C, 72, 73C, 74C, 75C, 76S, 77C, 80S, 82, 83S, 84, 85, 90C, 91, 93, 00C, 01, 02SL, 16
Playoff years: 22 | Final Fours: 9 | Super Bowl losses: 2 | Super Bowl wins: 3
Average: 1.47 points per season
6. Denver Broncos
Last year: No. 6
Total: 76 points
Winning Super Bowl 50 pushed the Broncos past the Green Bay Packers into sixth place and right on the heels of their hated rivals in Oakland. It’s a pretty impressive resume for a franchise that had missed the playoffs in each of the first 11 seasons of the Super Bowl era. However, they have attended eight Super Bowls and famously lost their first four trips. Going 3-1 since then has pushed them up the board in the last two decades, and while the near future is awfully uncertain, they definitely have made their mark and still sit in sixth place, within easy reach of their rivals in Oakland.
Total playoff years: 77SL, 78, 79, 83, 84, 86SL, 87SL, 89SL, 91C, 93, 96, 97S, 98S, 00, 03, 04, 05C, 11, 12, 13SL, 14, 15S
Playoff years: 22 | Final Fours: 2 | Super Bowl losses: 5 | Super Bowl wins: 3
Average: 1.43 points per season
Tier Three — The Middleweights
8. New York Giants
Last year: No. 8
Total: 60 points
The dropoff into Tier Three from Green Bay to New York is substantial. The Giants have definitely won some massive games, and four Super Bowl wins in only 16 playoff years is a ridiculous yield given their mediocre year-to-year results. In fact, the Eli Manning era is difficult to reconcile. Two Super Bowls are a fantastic item on his resume, but how does a franchise-level QB who is capable of winning multiple Lombardis not make the playoffs more often? Missing the entire tournament in eight of his last ten seasons is a real curiosity. Still, four Super Bowl wins since SB21 measures quite well for the G-Men and they still fit easily into the top 10
Total playoff years: 81, 84, 85, 86S, 89, 90S, 93, 97, 00SL, 02, 05, 06, 07S, 08, 11S, 16
Playoff years: 16 | Final Fours: 0 | Super Bowl losses: 1 | Super Bowl wins: 4
Average: 1.13 points per season
Giants hold the tiebreaker over the Colts based on Super Bowl Wins, 4-2.
Tier Four — The Welterweights
15. Kansas City Chiefs
Last year: No. 16
Total: 38 points
The Chiefs lost in Super Bowl I, then were able to redeem their story with their famous run to Super Bowl IV. Unfortunately, they’ve since played in plenty of playoff games but nothing that will historically live in the memories of their fans – until now. That AFC Championship game loss to New England this year with young NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes should spark a revival of sorts and shine as their new beacon of hope. The Chiefs thought they were going to the Super Bowl, but three points added pushes them past Seattle into the top of the Welterweight division, 15th place. Optimism is restored.
Total playoff years: 66SL, 68, 69S, 71, 86, 90, 91, 92, 93C, 94, 95, 97, 03, 06, 10, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18C
Playoff years: 20 | Final Fours: 2 | Super Bowl losses: 1 | Super Bowl wins:1
Average: 0.72 points per season
Tier Five — The Lightweights
22. New Orleans Saints
Last year: No. 25
Total: 26 points
(Established 1967)
For years, they lived a very similar existence to the Atlanta Falcons, but when they broke through to win it all at SB44, their legacy forever changed and they seemed to enter another level. Unfortunately for them, they had done so little before Sean Payton and Drew Brees that, despite their Lombardi Trophy, they were still way down here with the Lightweights. 2018 certainly seemed to deserve a better fate and a Super Bowl win would have vaulted them even higher into the Top 20, but the Saints lost in the Championship game at home (sore subject). They did leapfrog divisional mates Atlanta and Tampa Bay, as well as the Cleveland Browns, reaching 22nd place.
Total playoff years: 87, 90, 91, 92, 00, 06C, 09S, 10, 11, 13, 17, 18C
Playoff years: 12 | Final Fours: 2 | Super Bowl losses: 0 | Super Bowl wins: 1
Average: 0.5 points per season in 52 seasons of existence
Saints win tiebreaker over Falcons based on Super Bowl wins, 1-0.
Tier Six — The Featherweights
29. Arizona/St. Louis Cardinals
Last year: No. 29
Total: 14 points
There is no way to sugar-coat this bottom group. The bottom tier features two expansion franchises and two original teams who have never accomplished much of anything. The “best” of this group is Arizona. They had every right to win SB43 against the Steelers before the big Santonio Holmes catch and have put together some decent teams recently that were unable to win enough in the postseason. But all of these accomplishments follow decades of futility and therefore, the Cardinals are in the very bottom group as the “best of the worst”.
Total playoff years: 74, 75, 82, 98, 08SL, 09, 14, 15C
Playoff years: 8 | Final Fours: 1 | Super Bowl losses: 1 | Super Bowl wins: 0
Average: 0.26 points per season