Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Is it da ’85 Bears famous pair of shutouts and then finishing things off, 46-10 (81-10 total)? Or the 1989 Forty Niners’ 126-26 romp vs, arguably better overall, offenses? ’83 Raiders (106-33; 38-9 vs that superior Redskins’ O)? ’91 Redskins (102-41; 102-27 if subtracting those garbage TDs 4th Q of their SB-triumph, vs K-Gun mind you)? ’86 G-men (105-23; 66-3 going into SBXX)?? One not mentioned? What’s your preferred top of the heap?

Is there a set time period here? Because I'm thinking 73-0 is hard to beat.

You also have to look at quality of competition. The 78 Steelers started the post season by defeating Denver and Houston by a combined total of 77-15. Super Bowl against the Cowboys, obviously, was much closer at 35-31, but you also have to consider Dallas was also the defending Super Bowl champions, and its 78 team is considered one of the best (if not the very best) to lose a Super Bowl.

That being said, for pure dominance you also have to consider the 73 Dolphins, whom in consecutive games walked over Cincinnati, Oakland and Minnesota by a combined score of 85-33.

conace21 wrote:Is there a set time period here? Because I'm thinking 73-0 is hard to beat.

I should have left out "performance" which I now just have. I meant entire post-season by a team; had to have won-it-all, of course, and each victory lopsided. Would have to be #1 if talking “performance”, but being that back then a post-season was just...one game, then I guess '73-0' can be mentioned in this case as well, lol.

Some Guy From Mars wrote:You also have to look at quality of competition. The 78 Steelers started the post season by defeating Denver and Houston by a combined total of 77-15. Super Bowl against the Cowboys, obviously, was much closer at 35-31, but you also have to consider Dallas was also the defending Super Bowl champions, and its 78 team is considered one of the best (if not the very best) to lose a Super Bowl.

That being said, for pure dominance you also have to consider the 73 Dolphins, whom in consecutive games walked over Cincinnati, Oakland and Minnesota by a combined score of 85-33.

'88 Forty Niners not too different than '78 Steelers in that they dominated their two conference playoff games before being given a good game in their Super Bowl. Yes, Cincy was no Dallas but still a great squad whom (through Wyche) was quite familiar, matched-up well, with the better SF team. And as for the teams SF dominated on the way...62-12 combined vs the top-two defenses in the league that year (Floyd Peters' Vikings and...da Bears, and in the bitter Soldier Field-cold mind you) quite a bragging right as well!

'73 Dolphins (85-33; vs three HOF coaches!) a very fine example. '71 & '77 Cowboys (58-18 and 87-23 respectively), '98 Broncos (95-32) and '02 Bucs (106-37) nice ones to add.


As for "top of the heap"...I'd have to opine the '86 GIANTS! 66-3 over Walsh/Gibbs then take a break 1st half of SBXX (down just 10-9) only to dominate yet again; stomping past Broncos, outscoring them 30-10 in the 2nd half.


No, not champions, but a few FWIW interesting factoids - '72 Redskins outscored both GB & Dallas by a combined 42-6 (allowing one FG apiece) going into their affair with 16-0 Miami. The '84 Dolphins dominated their respective conference playoffs with offense, and led SF 10-7 after the 1st Q, before faltering. And as I mentioned recently on another thread, the '83 Redskins outscored their opponents, 72-7, going into the 4th Q of the NFCC only to then go...12-59 the remaining five!

Some Guy From Mars wrote:You also have to look at quality of competition. The 78 Steelers started the post season by defeating Denver and Houston by a combined total of 77-15.

I think the Steelers win over Denver in 78 is 'underrated'. Denver was the defending conference champ and had defeated the Steelers in the postseason the previous year. Bradshaw and the Steelers hung 33 points on the Orange Crush defense and had over 400 yards. From 1977-1979, Denver's defense was arguably the best in the NFL. They allowed 30+ points only 4 times in those three seasons (including once to Pittsburgh in the 78 playoff, and again to Pittsburgh in the 79 regular season), and they allowed 400+ yards only 3 times in those three seasons (including 425 to Pittsburgh in 78 playoff and 509 to Pittsburgh in 79 regular season).

Some Guy From Mars wrote:That being said, for pure dominance you also have to consider the 73 Dolphins, whom in consecutive games walked over Cincinnati, Oakland and Minnesota by a combined score of 85-33.

The Dolphins 1973 divisional playoff against the Bengals was a strange game (kind of like the 72 Dolphins-Browns playoff). For as much as Miami dominated the final stats, the Bengals were trailing only 21-16 in the 3rd quarter. To quote Don Kellett..."we didn't win easily, but we won convincingly."

Bryan wrote:

Some Guy From Mars wrote:You also have to look at quality of competition. The 78 Steelers started the post season by defeating Denver and Houston by a combined total of 77-15.

I think the Steelers win over Denver in 78 is 'underrated'. Denver was the defending conference champ and had defeated the Steelers in the postseason the previous year. Bradshaw and the Steelers hung 33 points on the Orange Crush defense and had over 400 yards. From 1977-1979, Denver's defense was arguably the best in the NFL. They allowed 30+ points only 4 times in those three seasons (including once to Pittsburgh in the 78 playoff, and again to Pittsburgh in the 79 regular season), and they allowed 400+ yards only 3 times in those three seasons (including 425 to Pittsburgh in 78 playoff and 509 to Pittsburgh in 79 regular season).

Some Guy From Mars wrote:That being said, for pure dominance you also have to consider the 73 Dolphins, whom in consecutive games walked over Cincinnati, Oakland and Minnesota by a combined score of 85-33.

The Dolphins 1973 divisional playoff against the Bengals was a strange game (kind of like the 72 Dolphins-Browns playoff). For as much as Miami dominated the final stats, the Bengals were trailing only 21-16 in the 3rd quarter. To quote Don Kellett..."we didn't win easily, but we won convincingly."

Steelers over Broncos, of course, is overlooked. Those two victories over them in both '78 & '79 by a combined 75-17 is a testament to just how great their O was close of decade. That '79 win was in the beginning of a four-game stretch that, I feel, was the peak of the entire Steeler Dynasty-period. 126-20 combined vs Den, Dal, Wash, and a quite respectable Levy-coached Chiefs team at Arrowhead.

But back to post-seasons - '88 Forty Niners isn't too far from '78 Steelers as I already stated, but I do feel the latter is noticably-enough stronger. '78 Den/Hou VS '88 Min/Chi? I'd say they're both even-enough, maybe the former just gets the nod, but yes Cincy was no Dallas and even more-so...before Staubach made the final score what it was end of 4th Q, Steelers were thus far outscoring their post-season opponents 112-32! So as for judging 'best-post-seasons', '78 Steelers as a whole are underrated. I caught myself doing it quite a bit, not mentioning them OP.

2000 Ravens have to be in the discussion. Decimated the Giants in the Super Bowl. And were in firm control of their playoff wins vs. Oakland and Denver. Tennessee gave them some trouble but they bore down and won the game by double digits with defense and special teams in the 4th

I realize the 2005 Patriots won't qualify because of their narrow Super Bowl victory against Philadelphia. However, on consecutive weekends, they held the highest scoring team in the league (Indianapolis - 522) to three points and hung 41 on the 15-1 Steelers who led the league in scoring defense (251).

A team to at least be mentioned (I’m surprised I forgot to OP) are the ’84 Forty Niners (82-16).

A ‘hidden’ one would be the ’93 Cowboys. Won each of their playoffs convincingly. In their respective 27-17 and 38-21 wins over GB and SF, each was a case of a final garbage TD making the game look closer than it actually was. And that 2ND HALF of the Super Bowl...

The '86 Giants was Super Bowl XXI, not XX.