Patriots are not the best ever

Before the Patriots rolled along, Miami coach Don Shula always complained whenever another team was mentioned as the league's best ever. But running the table and going unbeaten is often the result of a fortunate break (the schedule) or a determined team relying on focus.

To me, domination is only complete when the playoffs are finished and the best team wins. Every team's best season is when it hoists the Lombardi Trophy. For the legendary Packers team, it was when they actually hoisted Vince Lombardi onto their shoulders.

1. 1984 San Francisco 49ers: Bill Walsh had two great teams in this decade, but this one finished the regular-season 15-1, outscoring opponents by 248 points. In the playoffs, the 49ers dominated two of the NFC's very best teams — future Super Bowl winners — in the Giants and the Chicago Bears. Granted, this team didn't have Jerry Rice yet, but it had a super defense — better talent than New England's today — with a secondary led by Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott that included Eric Wright, Dwight Hicks and Carlton Williamson. The front line had Fred Dean, Gary "Big Hands" Johnson and Dwaine Board. These 49ers throttled Dan Marino, who had thrown a then-record 48 touchdowns in the regular season, in Super Bowl XIX. They sacked him four times and intercepted him twice. On the 49ers side, Joe Montana passed for three touchdowns and a young running back named Roger Craig scored three times.

2. 1992 Dallas Cowboys: This was the first of Jimmy Johnson's back-to-back Super Bowl teams. Yes, they lost three games during the regular season, but they were super impressive in the playoffs, whipping a 14-2 Niners team in San Francisco for the NFC title, and then demolishing Jim Kelly and the Buffalo Bills 52-17 in Super Bowl XXVII. These Cowboys were powerful on both sides of the ball, and offensive tackles Mark Tuinei and Erik Williams (maybe the best lineman of his generation not in the Hall of Fame) protected Troy Aikman and opened holes for Emmitt Smith. Cornerback Kevin Smith had the talent to shut down Jerry Rice, too.

3. 2007 New England Patriots: We're assuming they whip the Giants and go 19-0. My only reservation with calling them the best ever is that they were fortunate to play six games in a woefully weak AFC East. Unlike the 49ers and Cowboys, who had quality division foes and strong conference opponents, the Patriots whipped their division foes by a margin of 153 points, with a league-record 589 points. Heck, the best quarterback they faced in the AFC East might have been Bills rookie Trent Edwards. The Patriots' greatest accomplishment was beating six playoff teams during the regular season while unleashing a passing offense featuring Randy Moss, Wes Welker, Jabar Gaffney, Ben Watson, Donte' Stallworth and Kevin Faulk. If you think the Chargers beat up on Brady last Sunday, both the 49ers and Cowboys had better defenses. The Patriots haven't seen a back seven as talented as San Francisco's in 1984.

4. 1985 Chicago Bears: When you think of characters, you think of this team. It was full of great talkers and one of the greatest football players ever in Walter Payton, who didn't score in the Super Bowl because Mike Ditka had this thing for Refrigerator Perry. This was a very unique team in that Ditka was the head coach, but a lot of the defensive players followed Buddy Ryan because of what his innovative 46 defense allowed them to do. Yes, they went 15-1 and demolished the out-numbered New England Patriots in the championship game, but they really didn't face a lot of great quarterbacks that season and the ones they did, they simply destroyed. Yes, they beat Montana and Phil Simms (although windy conditions in Soldier Field has something to do with that), but they faced someone named Dieter Brock in the NFC title game.

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