M.D. Wright
2.4.10
***EDITOR'S NOTE: Super Bowl Media Week Blitz; random stories, Super Bowl annals and historical teams for the ages.
This just a little blurb about some of the teams that I can recall in my lifetime that won Super Bowls and were not going to be deterred no matter what.
Remember, this is 1980-present. Please don't write me about 70s Steelers teams, or the Lombardi Packers, or even the '72 Dolphins. Read the title first.
1984 SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS.
In 1984, these guys were scary good. It had all come together for them. They had QB Joe Montana (aka Joe Cool), WR Jerry Rice, RB Roger Craig, WR John Taylor CB/FS Ronnie Lott, amongst others (including their offensive line, which, while good, was one of the dirtiest ever) that enabled them to go 15-1 that season and trounce the Dan Marino-led Miami Dolphins in Super Bowl XIX. Marino was coming off his record-setting 5,084 passing yard season (a record that still stands). The 49ers were having no parts of it.
1985 CHICAGO BEARS.
Those '85 Bears, man... they were scary on defense. They already had steady QB Jim McMahon (steady, referring to his play, rather than his mental state ha), All-Pro, Hall-of-Famer, best RB ever Walter Payton, Willie Gault, Richard Dent, Mike Singletary, and a host of other great players. The Dolphins only beat them because of murky conditions during a late-season Monday Night Football game. The Bears demolished everyone in their path in the playoffs and completely manhandled the New England Patriots on their way to their win in Super Bowl XX.
1986 NEW YORK FOOTBALL GIANTS
The Giants were a complete football team in 1986. I loved watching them play and the playoff wins were as epic, bone-chilling, spine-tingling and goosebump-inspiring as the Super Bowl XXI win itself; particularly the win over the Redskins, a team that many thought was the only true rival to the Giants that year.
Lawrence Taylor was the NFL's MVP, with 20.5 sacks. You did not stop LT (the ONLY "LT", by the way, can we knock it off calling LaDainian Tomlinson "LT", ONCE AND FOR ALL???) I loved watching LT play. It seemed like he was going to get a sack or cause great harm to a RB on every play. He was great on Tecmo Bowl and racked up honors left and right. The thing is, he wasn't alone on that squad for the ages. Harry Carson, Carl Banks, Gary Reasons, Pepper Johnson, Leonard Marshall, Jim Burt, Joe Morris and last but not least, PHIL SIMMS -- these guys were destined to win it all that year. Two minor blips on the radar led to a 14-2 regular season record, but no one posed even a half-hearted threat to the Giants in the playoffs, including the complete annihilation of the John Elway (then-starcrossed) Denver Broncos 39-20 in Super Bowl XXI.
1989 SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS.
As good as the 1984 team was, THIS ONE WAS EVEN BETTER. Probably the most dominant team all-around that I have ever seen. The 49ers were known for their vaunted "West Coast" style of offense. Something that was pretty much indefensible at the time. No one knew who to cover. Montana had Jerry Rice, John Taylor, Roger Craig, Tom Rathman, Brent Jones -- ALL IN THEIR RESPECTIVE PRIMES -- making plays all over the field. They dominated everyone they faced in the playoffs following the 1989 season (it should be noted that the same Los Angeles Rams that lucked out and defeated the Giants the previous week were included in this -- as the Giants were the only team that had a realistic shot at beating San Francisco that year; given that the two teams had a rivalry that was pretty evenly-matched in the 80s).
This team was like playing Madden '10 with the Bolts or Madden '09 with the Patriots. Offense for the AGES. They defeated the same Elway-led star-crossed Broncos in Super Bowl XXIV, 55-10. The game was over before the 2nd quarter got going good. That's how great these guys were. Their defense was amongst one of the best ever also, which is unfair. This is why they are probably the most dominant team all-around ever.
1990 NEW YORK FOOTBALL GIANTS.
The 1990 incarnation of the Giants wasn't quite like the 1986 team, but they were unbeatable in a different way. They had moxie, most of the same players from the '86 team (most notable absence was Harry Carson, who had retired in '88 -- and Phil Simms was lost earlier in the season due to injury versus the same Buffalo Bills team that they faced in Super Bowl XXV). These guys had been there before, were unphased by the playoff stakes and relied less upon their offense, but rather a stellar defense. LT still led the troops, which featured '86 holdovers Carl Banks, Pepper Johnson and Gary Reasons. Jim Burt had jumped sides to the 49ers, who the Giants faced in the 1990 NFC Championship Game.
QB Jeff Hostetler stepped in for Simms, and even HE was injured in the NFC title game, before coming back in and gritting out a last second drive -- setting up the game-winning field goal by Matt Bahr, which sent the Giants to the Super Bowl in Tampa. This was the year of the Persian Gulf War. We watched all the proceedings in 6th grade on TV. This Super Bowl was poignant as a Giants fan. The Giants finished 13-3 that season, grinded out wins in the playoffs and won Super Bowl XXV by virtue of a missed field goal by Buffalo Bills' kicker Scott Norwood. While the game finished 20-19 Giants, they were unbeatable nonetheless. This team never hiccupped all season, nor did they flinch when injuries threatened to derail their season.
1991 WASHINGTON REDSKINS.
YIKES. The Skins had previously followed a Giants Super Bowl win in 1987, and they did it again in 1991. This team was a whirling dervish. I remember it well. QB Mark Rypien, WRs Art Monk, Gary Clark and Ricky Sanders, along with '87 Browns goat, Earnest Byner. Ricky Ervins was huge for the Skins as the season wore on. The Skins finished 1st in total offense in 1991, scoring 485 points. Their defense was also very good, led by Darrell Green, Charles Mann, Wilber Marshall and Andre Collins -- yielding only 14 points per game, 2nd in the NFL. Hard to beat a team that good. Super Bowl XXVI was trivial, at best, as the Skins mauled the Buffalo Bills (sorry, Bills fans) 37-24.
1993 DALLAS COWBOYS.
The three guys pictured above pretty much say it all. They were The Triplets (I hate these silly nicknames, BTW, but that's what they were called) and made tons of plays all season. The thing is, no one really had eye-popping numbers. RB Emmitt Smith sat out the first two games of the season due to a holdout, and rushed for nearly 1,500 yards, which is remarkable. WR Michael Irvin had nearly 1,400 yards receiving on 88 catches and 7 touchdowns and QB Troy Aikman had 3,100 passing yards and 15 TDs. Nothing out of this world. No one on their defense had great numbers either. Somehow they finished 2nd in both total offense and defense. There was not much doubt about them repeating as Super Bowl XXVIII Champions after winning Super Bowl XXVII.
1994 SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS.
I still hated SF in 1994. Particularly as a side-Chargers fan. The 49ers destroyed the Bolts twice that year. The first game featured Deion Sanders getting an INT on Chargers' QB Stan Humphries and streaking up the sidelines, high-stepping for 50 yards (unreal) and doing jig that he patented (and one that all of us growing up back then and played CB emulated, myself included). That was the theme of the 49ers' season. They just RAN AWAY FROM EVERYONE. Deion Sanders led the defense, having his best season ever -- which is saying something, given his history in Atlanta and a few great seasons in Dallas after 1994. It was as if the 49ers caught lightning in a bottle that year. They had everything to come together, great talent, Hall of Fame players, some at the ends of their career, and got it done. It should be noted they haven't sniffed a Super Bowl since this season in 1994, but they were not to be beaten that year. Start to finish, Steve Young, Jerry Rice, Ricky Watters, Deion Sanders, William "Bar None" Floyd, Bryant Young, Dana Stubblefield (or as John Madden called him repeatedly -- "Dana Stubbafield"), Ken Norton (previously on Dallas), Richard Dent (previously of the Super Bowl XX Bears' squad), Merton Hanks, Tim McDonald, etc. all steamrolled their opponents.
The 1994 NFC Championship game, which from 1992-1994 featured the Dallas Cowboys playing the 49ers, had gone the Cowboys' way in 1992 and 1993 on the way to their back-to-back Super Bowl wins. However in 1994, the 49ers, featuring Deion Sanders shutting down Michael Irvin and Troy Aikman throwing INTs (yes, I remember this game like it was yesterday, and it was 15 years ago) were not to be deterred. They beat Dallas 38-28 and it wasn't that close. Every playoff win was a blowout for SF, as they beat the Bears (who were not to be heard from the rest of the decade following this loss) 44-15, Dallas 38-28 and utterly embarrassed the San Diego Chargers in Super Bowl XXIX, 49-26.
The 49ers scored 505 points that season (easily leading the NFL), even though they had a game where they only scored 8 pts, and another with only 14. MERCY.
2000 BALTIMORE RAVENS.
GOOD HEAVENS WHAT A SCARY DEFENSE. We never stood a chance after the refs called DT Keith Hamilton for a holding call that gets called once every 17 years in the NFL. One of my favorite players ever, Jessie Armstead, had picked off QB Trent Dilfer and returned it for a touchdown on the play. After that, the Ravens thoroughly demolished the Giants in Super Bowl XXXV. Such was the case with anyone else who dared to step on the field with the Ravens that year. They featured an all-time great defense, led by Ray Lewis and rolling out such studs as Sam Adams, Rod Woodson, Jamie Sharper, Rob Burnett, Chris McAlister, Peter Boulware and Michael McCrary. They only yielded 10 points per game all season. That is UNHEARD OF.
2002 TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS.
Swarming defense for the ages. They didn't utterly shut teams down like the Ravens of 2000 -- although they did only yield 12 PPG, but consider this: The Ravens played an attacking defense, predicated upon getting pressure with their front seven and allowing their secondary to be aggressive and jump routes, make plays near the line of scrimmage and gamble a bit. The Cover 2 requires discipline, staying within your gaps on the defensive line, manning your lanes and having extensive coverage range as a linebacker and the safeties are not to allow anything to get behind them, as cornerbacks are responsible for the area NOT covered by linebackers. The Bucs played the defense better than anyone ever had before and since.
The Bucs played various packages of a base Cover-2 defense (later simply called the "Tampa 2"). Head Coach Tungy Dungy instituted the scheme in 1995 and the Bucs perfected it. Jon Gruden gets credit for winning the Super Bowl with Dungy's players and scheme, but everyone knows that Gruden was given the same instructions that Dennis Erickson was given when he became head coach at "The U." (The University of Miami) in 1989, following Jimmy Johnson -- DON'T WRECK THE PORSCHE. These were Dungy's players and Dungy's philosophy at work. Ironically, Dungy left the Indianapolis Colts in 2008 and the 2009 Colts are on the verge of winning without him. Reverse Ewing Theory much ha?
The Tampa 2 played to the strengths of OLB Derrick Brooks and cover corners such as Donnie Abraham and Ronde Barber. FS Dexter Jackson had a field day all season, particularly in the Super Bowl XXXVII embarrassment of the Oakland Raiders (Gruden's former team, ironically). The Bucs sonned the Raiders 48-21 in Super Bowl XXXVII.
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2009 INDIANAPOLIS COLTS? We will find out Sunday!
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