I love NFL football, and I have for as long as I can remember. I grew up spending Sundays in the fall with my dad, cheering and yelling at the television (even if I had no idea why early on), and wearing a healthy amount of black and gold. My dad did the same when he was a kid with his dad, but that was back in the 80’s and 90’s. Sometimes it seems like the two of us grew up watching two completely different National Football Leagues, and in a lot of ways we did. In a lot of other ways, however, we really didn't. Coaches, players, stadiums, uniforms, even team names have changed between my era and his, but at the root of it all, NFL football is NFL football.
This week, I want to briefly examine the concept of dynasties in the NFL, focusing on two prominent teams: one from my father’s childhood and one from my own.
Ask anyone who was even vaguely aware of the NFL in the 80’s who the San Francisco 49ers were, and they'd be able to tell you. The absolute domination in the Montana-Walsh-Rice era was unbelievable (and painful for New Orleans Saints fans like my dad and his dad, who always found their team stuck behind the Niners in the NFC West).
Between 1980 and 1995, the 49ers made the playoffs all but twice and brought home an astonishing five Super Bowl Championships. Even after the retirement of Bill Walsh and the change in quarterback from Joe Montana to Steve Young, the 49ers remained at--or at least near--the top of the league. The San Francisco 49ers were a powerful dynasty, and the league has never seen anything like it since.
Right?
Since 2000, the New England Patriots have made it to six Super Bowls and won four. They’ve made the playoffs and won the AFC East all but three times. Tom Brady, not unlike Joe Montana, will go down as one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history. In terms of success, the 49ers of the 80’s and 90’s and the Pats since the early 2000’s parallel each other.
In comparing the two dynasties, we can’t ignore the infamous Spygate controversy of 2007 and the more recent Deflategate debacle of 2015. These two instances of cheating by the New England Patriots may diminish the value of the Patriots success of the 2000’s next to that of the 49ers in their era of dominance. There is another more easily overlooked detail that, to some, may have made the Patriots road to success more difficult than the 49ers. The nature of player movement from team to team in the modern day NFL is not the same as it was thirty years ago. The introduction of the salary cap in 1994 had a hand in doing away with the “locking in” of most players into a team for extended periods of time, and nowadays it is far more common for a player to have played for multiple teams throughout their professional career. It can be argued that, in terms of team consistency, at the time the 49ers had it easier overall than the Pats have since 2000 (though we can't forget how the swapping of Joe Montana for Steve Young at starting quarterback did little to diminish the success of the 49ers). This year, however, the Pats have given us refreshing proof of just how good the foundation of the team is, no matter the nature of team consistency. This season--in which Brady started out on a four-game suspension--the New England Patriots remain a force to be reckoned with, holding a 5-1 record and a spot in first place in the AFC East.
It’s funny to note that even in the NFL, history repeats itself. The concept of a dynasty seems to be a recurring theme in the NFL (as we could even look back at the Green Bay Packers in the pre-Super Bowl and Lombardi era, but I’ll save that for another day), but only time will tell if that stands as true.
