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Aaron Schatz, ESPN Writer
In less than two weeks, either the Kansas City Chiefs or the San Francisco 49ers will win Super Bowl LVIII. There have been 57 Super Bowls since the NFL champion first took on the AFL champion after the 1966 season, which means we have 57 teams in this exclusive club. One more is coming soon.
Some of these teams were dominant from start to finish. Other teams slipped into the playoffs after a mediocre regular season and then went on a shocking postseason run to a title. We’ve done our best to rank all 57 Super Bowl champions here from worst to best, looking at both the regular season and the playoffs to find the most powerful teams in NFL history.
To rank these teams, I used my proprietary DVOA ratings (explained further here) which look at efficiency on a play-by-play basis adjusted for situation and opponent. For teams prior to the start of DVOA in 1981, I estimated DVOA ratings based on Pro Football Reference’s Simple Rating System plus the average margin of victory during the postseason. There’s also an adjustment for the first four Super Bowl champions to reflect that the NFL was stronger than the AFL before the merger.
Let’s start with a team from the 1970s.
Jump to a notable team:
2022 Chiefs | 2020 Buccaneers | 2013 Seahawks
2001 Patriots | 1997 Broncos | 1992 Cowboys
1985 Bears | 1984 49ers | 1972 Dolphins | 1967 Packers
