Speaking of Dynasties

If the New England Patriots had won the Super Bowl that would have solidified the Bill Belichick-Tom Brady Era as the greatest dynasty of all time with its sixth Super Bowl titles tying them with the Pittsburgh Steelers and snapping the tie they are currently in with the San Francisco 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys with five Super Bowl titles.

Just noting the Green Bay Packers and the New York Giants are next with four Super Bowl titles. Another note the Packers lead the league with 13 total titles and the Chicago Bears next with nine, including one Super Bowl title just two years after George “Papa Bear" Halas died with the Mike Ditka led Super Bowl Shuffle team.

Let’s look at 18-year collaboration of Bill Belichick and Tom Brady to see if this dynamic duo as the greatest of all-time. Since they came to the Patriots in 2000 (Belichick from the Browns and Brady as a sixth round draft choice (122) from Michigan) they have won 15 division titles and been in the playoffs for 15 of the 17 years (Brady was the fourth-stringer behind Drew Bledsoe his first season).

When Brady became the starter in 2001 they won their first Super Bowl title, but missed the playoffs in 2002 falling from 11-5-0 to 9-7-0. The second time the Patriots missed the playoffs came when Brady sat out almost the entire 2008 season with a serious knee injury suffered in the first game.

To show how good Belichick is the second string quarterback Matt Cassell (take that Mike McCarthy and Ted Thompson) took over and led the team to an 11-5-0 record, but missed the playoffs because the Miami Dolphins (11-5-0) won the division on a tie-breaker with the Indianapolis Colts (14-2-0) and Baltimore Ravens (11-5-0) on a tie-breaker the wild cards.

Another reason Belichick is probably the greatest coach of all-time (although with a caveat having the greatest quarterback of all-time Tom Brady under center) is that Cassell left the next year with a big contract and totally crapped out as a starter for Kansas City Chiefs for four years and went on to become a career backup with the Minnesota Vikings (2013-14), the Buffalo Bills (2015-1 game), the Dallas Cowboys (2015-9 games) and the Tennessee Titans (2016-17).

Mike McCarthy had a similar situation in 2013 when Aaron Rodgers missed seven games with his first broken collarbone. First Seneca Wallace (a career backup) took over and immediately got hurt (sounds familiar) losing the game. Scott Tolzein took over and was terrible going 0-1-1 before Matt Flynn was signed and went 2-2-0 saving the season for Rodgers to return and beat the Bears in the final game to keep the former playoff streak alive. No such luck this season when Ted Thompson traded up for hand-picked successor Brett Hundley (5th round draft pick in 2015) was a total bust going 3-4 only beating the Bears, Bucs and Browns. But to give him some credit (not much) the rest of the team was such a total bust (thanks Ted Thompson and Mark Murphy) that even the return of an 80% Rodgers didn’t help with the loss to the Panthers, 31-24, (thanks Dom Capers).

Flynn had left the season before for a big free agent contract to the Seattle Seahawks after throwing six touchdown passes in the final game against the Lions, but was beat out by rookie Russell Wilson. He was cut during the off-season and crapped out with the Raiders and the Bills before being re-signed by the Packers. He was the backup again in 2014 and then never played again.

Back to Dynasty Bill and Tom. Since 2003 the Patriots have made the playoffs every year, except for 2008, and have won the division every year, except for 2008, advancing the Super Bowl seven times (2003, 2004, 2007, 2011, 2014, 2016, 2017), winning four (2003, 2004, 2014, 2016), losing three (2007, 2011, 2017). The Patriots are currently on an NFL record nine straight  playoff appearances while advancing to the conference title game the last seven years in a row (2011-17), winning four and losing three.

When Mediocre Mark Murphy and Tyrant Ted Thompson were in charge of the Packers for the past 12 seasons and had the best quarterback in the league Aaron Rodgers in his prime the last 10 the Packers had the second longest playoff appearance streak at eight (which Murphy and Thompson (we think since Thompson never said anything to anybody) were constantly telling us that the playoff streak was the end all and be all and was the greatest thing since sliced bread).
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“I hear from a lot of fans that they’re disappointed that I’ve accepted mediocrity and I’m just happy to be in the playoffs and that I should fire (GM) Ted (Thompson) and (coach) Mike (McCarthy) and then after I do that, retire,” Murphy said. “So you realize that it’s a spread and there’s all kinds of fans, but I would hope that the average or typical fan understands that when you work for the Packers organization and you set a record for most consecutive years in the playoffs with our history and tradition, that’s pretty good.”

However, that streak which started in 2009 with Aaron Rodgers was snapped this year and including only one Super Bowl appearance and title (2010), two other conference title games (2014, 2016), four Division Rounds (2011, 2012, 2015) and two Wild Card losses in the first year and again in the 2013. In fact, the 2011 Packers were the best team in the league (15-1-0), but lost to the New York Giants at Lambeau Field after Rodgers sat out the final game (Flynn’s record setting game) and the Packers had a bye effectively having the starting offense sitting for two weeks.

Looking at other dynasties like George Halas with da Bears (1920-1967), Curly Lambeau with the Packers (1921-1949), Steve Owen with the Giants (1930-1953), Paul Brown with the Browns (1946-1962),  Buddy Parker with the Lions (1951-56), Weeb Ewbank with the Colts (1954-1962) and with the Jets (1963-1973), Vince Lombardi with the Packers (1959-1967), Tom Landry with the Cowboys (1960-1988), Hank Stram with the Chiefs (1960-1974), Don Shula with the Colts (1963-1969) and the Dolphins (1970-1996), Sid Gillman with the Chargers (1961-1971), Bud Grant with the Vikings (1967-1985), Chuck Noll with the Steelers (1969-1991), John Madden with the Raiders (1969-1978), George Allen with the Redskins (1971-1977),  Chuck Knox with the Rams (1973-1977), Don Coryell with the Cardinals (1973-1977) and the Chargers (1978-1986), Bum Phillips with the Oilers (1975-1980), Bill Walsh with the 49ers (1979-1988), Joe Gibbs with the Redskins (1981-1992), Dan Reeves with the Broncos (1981-1992) and the Falcons (1997-2003), Mike Ditka with da Bears (1982-1992), Bill Parcells with the Giants (1983-1990), Marv Levy with the Bills (1986-1997), Marty Schottenheimer with the Chiefs (1989-1998), Jimmy Johnson with the Cowboys (1989-1993), Bill Cowher with the Steelers (1992-2006), Mike Holmgren with the Packers (1992-1998) and with the Seahawks (1999-2008), Jeff Fisher with the Oilers/Titans (1994-2010), Mike Shanahan with the Broncos (1995-2008), Andy Reid with the Eagles (1999-2012), John Fox with the Panthers (2002-2010) and the Broncos (2011-2014), Tony Dungy with the Colts (2002-2008), Tom Caughlin with the Giants (2004-2015), Mike McCarthy with the Packers (2006-present), Sean Payton with the Saints (2006-present), Mike Tomlin with the Steelers (2007-present), John Harbaugh with the Ravens (2008-present), Pete Carroll with the Seahawks (2010-present), and Jason Garrett with the Cowboys (2010-present) none of the these Hall of Fame, great or current coaches comes close to Bill Belichick, except for two notable exceptions.

The best of the best on just straight numbers are George Halas with eight titles as either coach or general manager in 47 years (minus four years during WWII), Paul Brown with seven titles in 30 years (although four of those titles with in the All American Football Conference, which was in operation from 1946 to 1949 and when it folded the Browns, the 49ers and the Baltimore Colts joined the NFL. The Colts eventually folded and aren’t related to the current Ravens), Curly Lambeau with six titles in 29 years, Vince Lombardi with five titles in nine years, Bill Belichick with five titles in 18 years, Chuck Noll with four titles in 17 years, Joe Gibbs with three titles in 12 years, and Weeb Ewbank with two titles in nine years with the Colts and one title in 11 years with the Jets for a total of three titles in 20 years. The rest had two, one or none titles.

Now looking at the greatest coach and quarterback combination over a stretch of time Vince Lombardi and Bart Starr is the greatest of all time with five titles in a seven-year span (1961-1967) closely followed by Chuck Noll and Terry Bradshaw with four titles in six-year span (1974-1979).

Bill Belichick and Tom Brady are next with five titles in a 16-year span (2001-2016). Joe Gibbs won three titles in a 10-year span (1982-1991) with three different quarterbacks (Joe Theismann in 1982, Doug Williams in 1987 and Mark Rypien in 1991).

And asterisk has to be put beside Paul Brown and Otto Graham for winning five straight titles from 1946 to 1950 even though the first four were in the AAFC and beside Marv Levy and Jim Kelly for being the only team to advance to the Super Bowl for four straight years (1990-1993), which is a great achievement despite losing all four.

Other notable achievements were three straight titles by Curly Lambeau’s Packers (1929-1931) and Vince Lombardi and Bart Starr Packers (1965-1967), Lombardi and Starr were also in three straight title games from 1960 to 1962 winning two straight (1961-1962).

Some other notable combinations were the Bears advancing to the title game four years in a row (1940-1943) winning the first two and the last one, the Bears advancing to the title game three years in a row (1932-1934) winning the first two and losing the third, the Packers under Curly Lambeau also advancing to the title game three out of four years (1936, 1938, 1939) winning the first and last, the Lions under Buddy Parker and Bobby Layne advancing to the title game three straight years (1952-1954) winning the first two.

The Patriots advanced to the Super Bowl three out of four years twice (winning three in 2001, 2003, 2004) and again from 2014 to 2017 (winning two in 2014 and 2016).

The Dolphins under Don Shula advanced to the Super Bowl in three out of four years winning the last two (1971-1973), the Cowboys under Tom Landry and Roger Stauback also advanced to the Super Bowl three out of four years (1975, 1977, 1978, winning once in 1977), the Broncos under Dan Reeves and John Elway also advanced three out of four years (1986, 1987, 1989), but lost all three as did the Vikings under Bud Grant and Fran Tarkenton (1973, 1974, 1976).

Back-to-back winners were the Browns under Paul Brown and Otto Graham (1954-1955), the Colts under Weeb Ewbank and Johnny Unitas (1958-1959), the Dolphins under Don Shula with Earl Morrall and Bob Greise (1972-1973), the Steelers under Chuck Noll twice (1974-1975 with Joe Gilliam and Terry Bradshaw) and (1978-1979 with Terry Bradshaw), the Cowboys under Jimmy Johnson and Troy Aikman (1992-1993), the Broncos under Mike Shanahan and John Elway (1997-1998) and the last team to do it was the Patriots under Belichick and Brady (2003-2004).

Other teams to advance to the Super Bowl in back-to-back seasons, but not winning both are the Cowboys twice (1970-1971 with Craig Morton and Roger Staubach and 1977-1978 with Roger Staubach), the Redskins under Joe Gibbs and Joe Theismann (1982-1983), the Packers under Mike Holmgren and Brett Favre (1996-1997) and the Seahawks under Pete Carroll and Russell Wilson (2013-2014).

Don Shula and the Dolphins also advanced to the Super Bowl in two out of three years (1982-1984) losing both with David Woodley in 1982 and Dan Marino in 1984).

Currently the Steelers under Mike Tomlin and Ben Roethlisberger advanced to the Super Bowl two out of three years (2008, 2010) and won the first and lost the second to the Packers.