OT: NFL bluebloods

[Adios]

Giants have 8. Just needed to correct that. But 25% of the league has "blue blood" status. Much more balance* in the NFL than European soccer.

I can't believe the mistakes I make sometimes. With 3 championships in a league almost 100 years old, too great a percentage would be able to claim "blue blood" status. No one was calling the Patriots a "blue blood" before we beat Seattle. All we had was a run three titles in four years.

 

[Redding Husky]

I can't believe the mistakes I make sometimes. With 3 championships in a league almost 100 years old, too great a percentage would be able to claim "blue blood" status. No one was calling the Patriots a "blue blood" before we beat Seattle. All we had was a run three titles in four years.

I'd like to think the Patriots are considered a blue blood, but there is no unanimous agreement on the requirements so it's a definite gray area. In the Pats' favor:

1) the most Super Bowl appearances
2) tied for the second most Super Bowl wins
3) the most wins of the old "AFL" teams
4) the franchise with the second highest value per Forbes (only behind the Cowboys)
5) a record six straight conference championship game appearances
6) the team and player (Brady) that hold the most Super Bowl records
7) the most colorful/bizarre history of any NFL franchise (a fan knocking down an opposing team's pass in the end zone, the snow plow game, the tuck rule, deflategate ... never a dull moment)

I'm sure I'm missing some things. The Pats are not just another Bengals, Titans, or Cardinals.

 

[Scoe]

Giants got 8 championships overall, in a way the Giants are somewhat similar to Uconn, their first 2 Super Bowl teams were juggernauts and lost 2 Super Bowl teams were done mission impossible style. The Giants are villains, if not for the Giants the Pats would have 7 Super Bowls plus and undefeated season, and Montana would have 3 superbowls in a row.

Also way back in the 1934 NFL title game the Giants beat an undefeated Bears team, game aka the "sneakers game". 1934 NFL Championship Game - Wikipedia

 

[Adios]

Here's some fun for the history buffs here.

National Football League lore - Wikipedia

I added the first one for 1920 and am still surprised it stuck there. Buffalo has 2 unofficial pro football championships, in the first 2 years of the NFL.

 

[TheDrifter75]

Gotta agree with Denver being in the blueblood category now for those reasons. Won 3, historically lost a bunch of SBs by blowouts, but they were still there. Solid franchise.

Funny that Miami had the only perfect season in the Super Bowl era and isn't even in the discussion. Had a great run in the early 70s & into the 80s with Marino, but no SB titles since 1973. Have had too many lean years since his retirement.

Raiders would no question be there if you asked about bluebloods about 15 years ago. Too many awful years of late(except last year) though.

Niners belong there - 5 SB wins, but are currently a franchise with a horrible front office.

From 1970 (Shula's 1st year) thru 2003 (Wannstedts last full year) the Dolphins only had 2 losing seasons. Having a solid ownership group is huge. That franchise hasn't been the same since the Robie family ran things. Definitely lacking on the championship end of things as well.

 

[freescooter]

Denver? Oh please. I'd put them far behind the Raiders. But the real blue bloods:
Packers
Cowboys
Bears
Giants
Miami
Steelers

New Era
Patriots
Raiders
Forty-niners

 

[Jerry1714]

Hard to consider any franchise that has only won a championship with 1 coach and/or 1 QB a blueblood.

Makes any case for Washington and NE tough. The Bears have been to 2 SB's, winning 1, they cannot be included.

 

[BugsyCT]

Denver far behind the Raiders? They have as many SB wins (3) and more AFC titles.

 

[amory]

No Broncos but

Miami
Raiders

Trololololol

 

[Husky25]

Hard to consider any franchise that has only won a championship with 1 coach and/or 1 QB a blueblood.

Makes any case for Washington and NE tough. The Bears have been to 2 SB's, winning 1, they cannot be included.

Washington is the only franchise where one coach used three different starting QBs to win Super Bowls.

 

[UConnNick]

The Redskins have played in 5 Super Bowls and won 3 and have 2 titles prior to the SB era. They were one of the best franchises of the 80's. They belong.

Plus some very colorful characters....."Slingin" Sammy Baugh, Sonny Jurgensen, Billy Kilmer, George Allen, "Riggo", Dexter Manley, "The Fun Bunch", "The Hogs", and the NFL's best marching band and fight song.

 

[storrsroars]

Miami? Laughable. They weren't even an original AFL team, not to mention NFL. And they've mostly been crap.

Think of "blue bloods" the way we do for college hoops. No doubt New England is UConn, the noveau riche of the group.

Pre-merger (1969) there were really only two blue bloods: Green Bay (11 championships) and Chicago (8). They are Indiana and Kentucky. The next closest teams only had 4 each, and they were mostly clustered in one decade. Post-merger, about a half dozen teams make the cut.

So here's my comparison between the NFL and NCAA hoops:

Green Bay: Kentucky
Chicago: Indiana
Dallas: North Carolina
Giants: Kansas
Pittsburgh: Duke
49ers: UCLA
New England: UConn
Denver: Louisville

On the outside looking in:
Miami: Ohio State
Redskins: Michigan State

 

[Scoe]

The Browns were once a dynasty in the Otto Graham days.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Hard to consider any franchise that has only won a championship with 1 coach and/or 1 QB a blueblood.

Makes any case for Washington and NE tough. The Bears have been to 2 SB's, winning 1, they cannot be included.

Yeah, but the Bears won 8 championships prior to the Super Bowl era.

They've sucked for most of the past 30 years but in terms of blue bloods they're Vanderbilts and Rockefellers.

 

[Fishy]

Just my opinion, in no particular order ..

Steelers
Cowboys
Forty-Niners
Patriots (nouveau riche - most Super Bowls)
Packers
Giants
Broncos
Redskins
Raiders
Bears ("barely" .. lack of success in the modern era really hurts them)

That's 10 out of 32, which is a lot.

Any thoughts?

Steelers, Cowboys, Packers, Patriots, Giants.

Redskins, Raiders and 49'ers are like four orbits under that group.

The Bears and Dolphins exist in some cold corner for teams that used to be elite, but have failed their way out of the club.

I don't know what to do with the Broncos and the rest of the league is not even close.

 

[temery]

Modern era blue bloods (since Super Bowl 1):

Steelers
Patriots
Cowboys
49ers

Historic blue bloods:

Packers
Giants
Bears

Dolphins on the historic list. I'm still surprised and disappointed Marino wasn't able to win at least one Super Bowl.

 

[Redding Husky]

Dolphins on the historic list. I'm still surprised and disappointed Marino wasn't able to win at least one Super Bowl.

I was at the only Marino Super Bowl in Palo Alto. The 49'ers were just a better team. Marino didn't have enough around him or on defense.

I paid $125 for the ticket, mid-level, in the end zone.

 

[BugsyCT]

I was at the only Marino Super Bowl in Palo Alto. The 49'ers were just a better team. Marino didn't have enough around him or on defense.

I paid $125 for the ticket, mid-level, in the end zone.

I visited that stadium while touring Stanford's campus years ago. Huge stadium in a very quaint area. Surprised they chose to hold a massive event like a SB there rather than Candlestick.

 

[freescooter]

Miami was the team to beat virtually from its inception. First great teams came in the Czonka-Kiick-Morris teams that is still the only undefeated team in NFL history. NE won more games but lost the Super Bowl. Then they were great again with Marino although they didn't win one they were there in 2. They were In the AFC title game in the 1990's and 2000s. For 30 years the path to the AFC title went through Miami.

The Bears were an original team and Halas basically invented the NFL. They won 9 NFL championships including 1 super bowl and made it to another. They won NFL Titles in the 20s, 30s, 40s 60's and 80's. Anyone who doesn't think the Bears are among the bluest of blue bloods probably has not followed the NFL before 2010.

 

[Adios]

Dolphins on the historic list. I'm still surprised and disappointed Marino wasn't able to win at least one Super Bowl.

Historic list is teams that were around before the Super Bowl.

How the heck are the Dolphins elite? Don Shula was good, sure. But 2 titles. The Broncos and Raiders have more. All 3 are originally AFL teams, so they'd be Super Bowl era teams. But not "blue bloods", compared to the Cowboys, 49ers, Steelers and Patriots. The Patriots do have a Super Bowl appearance in the 80s and an AFL championship game appearance in the 60s.

The New England Patriots were named with Connecticut and the Giants playing at Yale Stadium in the mid 70s in mind.

 

[sammydabiz]

. The Raiders are bush league.

Hey amory,

Go yourself

Win lose or tie
Raiders till I die

 

[Adios]

Here's a gauge on fan interest in teams.

NFL Teams on Facebook.

New England is now second in bandwagon fans behind Dallas. Who imagined this would happen? Jags are last. Redskins and Browns are in the bottom third. Saints' popularity is surprising.

Internationally, the Patriots' success is good for the league.

 

[uconnbill]

Giants got 8 championships overall, in a way the Giants are somewhat similar to Uconn, their first 2 Super Bowl teams were juggernauts and lost 2 Super Bowl teams were done mission impossible style. The Giants are villains, if not for the Giants the Pats would have 7 Super Bowls plus and undefeated season, and Montana would have 3 superbowls in a row.

Villians in your opinion but they were New England team pre 70s and even had a strong foot hold into the 90s. By the way most of America was rooting for the Giants in both super bowls

 

[Adios]

Villians in your opinion but they were New England team pre 70s and even had a strong foot hold into the 90s. By the way most of America was rooting for the Giants in both super bowls

That was because of "HYPP" (Harvard/Yale/Princeton/Penn). If the Giants started in New Jersey in 1925, they would have folded. As proven with the Whalers, Huskies, and Patriots, Connecticut is a bandwagon state.

 

[Scoe]

Villians in your opinion but they were New England team pre 70s and even had a strong foot hold into the 90s. By the way most of America was rooting for the Giants in both super bowls

Well you know what I meant, they are villains to the media.