Sunday the New England Patriots faced the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LII.
The Patriots missed out on the opportunity to be only the 20th team in pro football history to win back to back championships. How do should we rate 19 teams that did. Here’s a look back at them, you decide.
Here is every team that won back-to-back Championships in chronological order.
1922-23 Canton Bulldogs NFL Champion
Regular Season Record: 10-0-1, 11-0-1 (21-0-2) 1.000
Coach: Guy Chamberlin
Playoffs: 1922 No Championship Game
1923 No Championship Game
MVP: Guy Chamberlin
Quarterback: Harry Robb was also tailback
Notes: Chamberlin is in the Hall of Fame. Pro football at this time was a very local activity with only 18 teams in the league. All the teams didn’t meet each other. They didn’t play the same amount of games. The Canton Bulldogs did beat the second place Chicago Bears (9-3) 7-6 in 1922 and beat them again 6-0 in 1923. However, they should not to be taken seriously as a national league.
1929-31 Green Bay Packers NFL Champions
Regular Season Record: 12-0-1, 10-3-1, 12-2 (34-5-2) .872
Coach: Curly Lambeau
Playoffs: 1929 No Championship Game
1930 No Championship Game
1931 No Championship Game
MVP: Verne Lewellan
Quarterback: Verne Lewellen (not really a quarterback, but a tailback)
Notes: These teams made Curly Lambeau a Hall of Fame Coach. Lewellan handled the ball on just about every play. He mostly ran the ball, but on 3rd and long would throw.
The game was more like Rugby than modern football. They did beat the second place New York Giants (13-1-1) in 1929, then played them again in 1930, losing 13-6. In 1931 they never met the second place 11-3 Portsmouth Spartans. The league as we know really didn’t exist until about 1933.
1940-41 Chicago Bears NFL Champions
Regular Season Record: 8-3, 10-1-1 (18-4-1) .818
Coach: George Halas; the most important person in what has become Professional Football.
Playoffs: 1940 Defeated Washington Redskins (9-2) 73-0
1941 Defeated New York Giants (8-3) 37-9
MVP: Sid Luckman
Quarterback: Sid Luckman
Notes: Signing Sid Luckman to run it, George Halas introduced the revolutionary T Formation in 1940. Changing the responsibilities of the quarterback position, Luckman led the Bears to a 54-17-3 record between 1940 and 1946. Winning four championships in the process. The great Bronco Nagurski was still there in 1940. This team destroyed the Sammy Baugh led Washington Redskins in 1940, then routed the New York Giants in 1941. This team was really good, way ahead of the rest of the league. One of the five most influential teams of all time. How they would fare against later teams is tough, but they were a team that forever changed professional football.
1946-1950 Cleveland Browns 1946-1949 AAFC Champions and 1950 NFL Champions
Regular Season Record: AAFC 12-2, 12-1-1, 14-0, 9-1-2 (47-4-3) .922
NFL 10-2 .833
Coach: Paul Brown; In conversation as greatest coach ever.
Playoffs: 1946 Defeated New York Yankees (10-3-1) 14-9
1947 Defeated New York Yankees (11-2-1) 14-3
1948 Defeated Buffalo Bisons (7-7) 49-7
1949 Defeated Buffalo Bills 31-21
Defeated San Francisco 49ers (9-3) 21-7
1950 Defeated Los Angeles Rams (9-3) 30-28
MVP: Otto Graham
Quarterback: Otto Graham
Notes: The Browns are usually dismissed as a great team, because they dominated the sub-standard AAFC. Not sure that’s fair. After the AAFC merged with the NFL, 3 AAFC franchises were admitted to the NFL (Cleveland Browns, San Francisco 49ers, Baltimore Colts). The Los Angeles Dons merged with the Los Angeles Rams to make a fourth team to be included. The other 4 teams of the AAFC folded. The Browns immediately went 10-2 in the NFL and won the title. The team they beat in the Championship Game were the L.A. Rams, who had many players from the old AAFC Dons. Their winning percentage the first six years in NFL was .817! Otto Graham was clearly the best player in football, Paul Brown was the game’s best coach. This was the best team in football from 1946-1955. They could be the greatest team of all time. The biggest concern is the quality of football played prior to the 1960s. Football was not the number one sport in the country, baseball was. Most of the nation’s best athletes went into baseball. This left the talent pool weak. They were the greatest team ever up to the rise of the Green Bay Packers in the early 60s.
1948-49 Philadelphia Eagles NFL Champions
Regular Season Record: 9-2-1, 11-1 (20-3-1) .870
Coach: Earle Neale
Playoffs: 1948 Defeated Chicago Cardinals (11-1) 7-0
1949 Defeated Los Angeles Rams (8-2-2) 14-0
MVP: Steve Van Buren
Quarterback: Tommy Thompson
Notes: Van Buren was a great all-purpose player. This is a team hard to rate. They were not as good as the AAFC Champion Browns. When the leagues merged in 1950 they couldn’t stay up with Cleveland.
1952-53 Detroit Lions NFL Champions
Regular Season Record: 9-3 10-2 (19-5) .792
Coach: Buddy Parker
Playoffs: 1952 Defeated Los Angeles Rams (9-3) 31-21
1952 Defeated Cleveland Browns (8-4) 17-7
1953 Defeated Cleveland Browns (11-1) 17-16
MVP: Jack Christiansen
Quarterback: Bobby Layne
Notes: Jack Christiansen was an all around good player. He was the best defensive back, best punt returner, played running back on offense. Bobby Lane was a Hall of Fame Quarterback. Doak Walker was hurt in 1952, but healthy in 1953. They beat the previously mentioned Cleveland Browns in 2 of 3 Championship Games. This was a very good team. Not as good as the earlier Browns, but better than the late 1950s Baltimore Colts.