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Ranking the 5 Greatest NFL Super Teams: The Hot List Puts a Surprise Forgotten Champion at No. 1
The most dominant super team in NFL history, according to PFSN’s Ian Cummings, isn’t the one you’d name first. It’s not the 16-0 Patriots, and it’s not the ’85 Bears. On the latest Hot List, Cummings ranked the 1991 Washington team as the greatest super team the league has ever produced, ahead of four of the most famous rosters ever assembled.
Ranking the 5 Greatest Super Teams in NFL History
His countdown opened in Denver. The 1998 Broncos went 14-2, started the year 13-0, and won Super Bowl XXXIII by 15 over Atlanta, with Terrell Davis taking regular-season MVP and John Elway earning Super Bowl MVP. “This was in the twilight of John Elway’s storied career, and they managed to get a couple more peak years out of him before he rode off into the sunset,” Cummings said. Denver averaged 31.3 points per game that season, a monster figure before the passing era arrived.
At No. 4 came the only 16-0 regular season in the modern game. The 2007 Patriots posted a 19.7-point average margin and scored 36.8 per game, the third-best mark in league history behind the 2013 Broncos and the 1950 Rams. They lost Super Bowl XLII to the Giants, but the missing ring didn’t factor into Cummings’ math. He called them “one of the most fearsome super teams ever to grace the game.”
The 1985 Bears landed third on pure defense. Chicago allowed 12.4 points per game, shut out its first two playoff opponents, and buried New England 46-10 in Super Bowl XX. Jim McMahon was a caretaker at quarterback while Walter Payton carried the offense with over 1,500 rushing yards, yet the front seven is what endures. “That defense was the stuff of legends, and even to this day, it’s the standard for pure offensive suffocation that teams still strive for,” Cummings said.
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His No. 2 was the 1989 49ers, and the postseason numbers make the argument for him. San Francisco won its three playoff games by an average of 33.3 points, capped by a 55-10 demolition of Denver that remains the most lopsided Super Bowl ever played. Joe Montana threw 11 touchdowns and zero interceptions across that run with a 146.4 passer rating. “Domination against even the best of the competition is one of the strongest indicators of greatness, and this team has it more than most,” Cummings said.
Why the 1991 Washington Team Tops Cummings’ List
That brings us to the pick that separates Cummings from the standard all-time lists. The 1991 Washington team finished 14-2, outscored opponents by 16.3 points per game in the regular season, then widened that margin to 20.3 in the playoffs before beating Jim Kelly and the Bills 37-24 in Super Bowl XXVI.
The formula was balance. Mark Rypien threw for 28 touchdowns behind the Hogs, the offensive line anchored by All-Pro tackle Jim Lachey. The Posse of Art Monk, Gary Clark and Ricky Sanders stretched defenses vertically. The defense surrendered just 14 points per game with All-Pro corner Darrell Green and linebacker Wilber Marshall leading it, and Brian Mitchell tilted field position as an All-Pro returner.
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That three-phase completeness is the entire case. “Any way you slice it, this team was a true three-phase dominator under Joe Gibbs, the likes of which we will scarcely ever see again,” Cummings said.
Rings and reputation drive most of these debates, which is why the ’07 Patriots and ’85 Bears usually own the top of them. Cummings built his list around margin and phase-by-phase control instead, and that lens rewards a champion the highlight reels tend to skip. Whether the next great roster gets measured the same way is the more interesting question.
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