SeahawkFever wrote: ↑Sun Jul 26, 2026 1:06 am
Ten Minute Ticker wrote: ↑Fri Jul 24, 2026 1:11 pm
With a point differential of plus-192 (in a 14-game season) and one of the best defenses of all-time, the 1970 Vikings deserve mention.
My issue with the 1987 49ers being included is their record and PD is inflated by the strike games.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: If Fran Tarkenton is on the Vikings his entire prime, then in 1970 they would’ve had a better chance than they ever did with him in reality.
The Purple People Eaters were better in 69 and 70 than 73-77, and in 1970 specifically had they played Dallas, they’d face Craig Morton, not Roger Staubach, and the AFC team was the 1970 Colts (in my book a worse opponent than the four teams they lost to)
Take away San Fran's scab games, and it's still 10-2. As for #1 in offense and defense, not sure if those stats hold-up if you take away Wks#4-thru-#6. I can't imagine it'd be much less. They were still a SB-win-caliber team to me, only losing at Pittsburgh in the very first game and allowing the Saints, who also finished 10-2, to split with them. I guess they and the '96 Broncos would have to be the top-two teams in this given thread. This, especially, considering they'd each go on to win back-to-back Super Bowls the next two seasons!
The 1970 Vikings not only didn't have Tarkenton, but not Kapp either. This definitely keeps them from 'best' one-and-done. And not just that...but no
Chuck Foreman yet either! He needs to be mentioned in this in the same way that Fran is!
Of course you got to love Joe Kapp's style - a 'football player' as much as he was a QB! Gritty, smash-mouth, LBer-mentality, played with a kicker's mask, etc. But truthfully, MVP season aside, he was a downgrade from HOFer-to-be Tarkenton. IMO the Vikings with Fran instead don't beat the Chiefs either in SBIV, but maybe with he
and Foreman, they have an even-odds chance! And they definitely ought to win-it-all in 1970 with, again, an even-odds chance to beat Dallas (then Miami) in '71 as well.
I've very recently come to the opinion (writing this, actually, for the first time) that the
1973 Vikings are now the best Viking team ever, thus very recently demoting 1969. The '73 team did win 12 games, started 9-0, and within that very start beat three winning teams: one of them an AFFCG-participant, and another a team that finished 12-2 just as they themselves did!
Yes, Minny's defense by then was beneath their turn-of-the-decade status from a few years prior, but not at all by much. STILL the Purple People Eaters! Tarkenton & Foreman, however, a significant upgrade! Just like I think had Ferragamo/Tyler been with the Rams all decade long, the Rams at least make it to (maybe, just maybe, even
win) a Super Bowl prior to '79 - on a bigger scale - I think Fran/Chuck, '69-thru-'71,
wins Minny at least one Super Bowl period.
A super defense the '69 team had! Their best-ever such unit, among the all-time best. But relatively-speaking (yes, MVP Joe Kapp), they were little else. Thinking of it, the difference between them and the '63 Bears is they still had to play in a Super Bowl and Chicago didn't.
But back to the subject at hand, it is '87 SF & '96 Den with me - take your pick for #1.
Crazy Packers Fan wrote: ↑Fri Jul 24, 2026 9:13 pm
The 2011 Packers went 15-1 and lost that one game by only five points. Then they got blown out at home by the New York Giants in the divisional round after a bye. One of the greatest offenses ever (and while the defense's numbers were bad, there was a lot of garbage time this season). They certainly have a case for this title.
2011 Packers? Yes, I felt it was a big deal when they finally lost a game after starting 13-0, and thought at the time that if anyone could pull it off with just passing, they could do it. They were, after all, defending-Champs and had defensive players on their roster from the year before like Matthews, Woodson, Raji, etc. But looking back, they were (as many here say) a 'video-game' kind of team and when the playoffs began, boy, were they exposed! And those Giant-killer G-men led by Coughlin & Eli were the sensible ones to send them home. As un-sexy as their 10-6 previous installment was, they had the balance and that championship mettle which made them the
best once those playoffs began en route to winning-it-all!
As
for 2010, the same applies to that year's 14-2 Patriots. Pretty much all-offense relatively. Losing to Jets, even with Sanchez under center, can't be seen as too wild of an upset.