Who is the greatest football team of all time and why ??

Early 90's Cowboys.

I agree ...Those teams that man handled the BILLS would have smacked the 85 bears IMO ..

You and I could have ran for TDS through those gapping holes that elite o line opened 

1980's 49ers. Walsh and Seifert were decades ahead of their time in how to run an offense. 3-4 wide sets, mobile QB, play action passing etc...

85 Bears were the most dominant only time winner.

Oh...Reason -

They had a fockin' fridge on their squad.

Plus sweetness.

94 Little Giants. Incredible play calling. Annexation of Puerto Rico anyone?

@lbcake

 Possibly so. But it was a total "one off" much like the Shrimps of 2001. Very rare that a team with a great defense wins anymore unless the offense is up to par. 

Exactly, today's game is different. 

If you do remember though in 85, the Dolphins and Dan Marino ripped the Bears to shreds with 3 wide outs. Those Bears were designed to stop the run and kill QB's. But everyone ran, and threw from basic formations.

I only remember games from 83 on , just discussed this with my pops though 

He staunchly thinks the 1962 Packers are the best by far and its not even close.. Does anyone here go back that far ?? 

I'll have to look up their stats now ...

I bet if anyone knows where to find the greatest team of all time by epi or another analytical power rating, their results would be different from what any of us think.

Not saying that, that would be correct...

According to an article from Football Outsiders from 2017, and they only went back 30 years from there(since 1987 to 2017), by dvoa:

The 1991 Washington Redskins...

Front what I saw with my own eyes 

( chronological order)

84 49ers 

85 Bears 

86 Giants 

89 49ers 

91 COMMIES 

92 Cowboys 

94 49ers 

96 Packers 

98 Broncos 

99. Rams 

04 Pats 

07 * Pats 

07 Giants 

13 Seahawks 

16 Patriots 

That team started 11-0 , 3 shutouts in the first 5 games , including 45-0 on opening day over the Lions who they would eventually meet in the NFC championship...

The BILLS facking moron defensive coach Chuck Dickerson kept putting down  Gibbs skins on Buffalo radio for weeks and no one noticed , finally that dip shit did it in a TV interview ( see below per wiki )...On local radio he called the Hogs old washed up hasbeens from a different era of football ..

Per wiki "Before Super Bowl XXVI, Dickerson mocked the Washington Redskins' famed offensive line, "The Hogs", in a television interview. Dickerson said Redskins tackle Joe Jacoby was "a Neanderthal -- he slobbers a lot, he probably kicks dogs in his neighborhood." He also said tackle Jim Lachey "has bad breath. Players will fall down without him even touching them."

Redskins coach Joe Gibbs got his hands on some tapes of Dickerson and played them at a team meeting on the night before the game, and by all accounts it was a factor in the Redskins' 37–24 thumping of the Bills. Head coach Marv Levy later described the interview as "the girder that brought down the building." Levy fired Dickerson three days after the game....

Dickerson went on to host a Buffalo sports radio talk shoe for 10+ years , I remember callers often drunk berating him one after another ( I was one of them lol) , placing sole blame on his pre game antics .

Posts 5, 8, 9. 

Love this article. 

https://www.sportscasting.com/jim-mcmahon-talks-bears-lone-loss-in-1985-and-how-he-angered-mike-ditka/

I forget about the 1991 Redskins. 

I want Michael Irvin's number. The big 8-8.

The reason that EPI, or any other metric of determining "the best ever" is flawed is because it is impossible to truly gauge the quality of your opponents on a week to week basis.

60% of how good or bad any team looks is dictated by the talent level, health, and motivation of their opponent.

IMO, I can not look at hard numbers to determine the quality of team A, without HEAVILY weighing the strengths of the teams they played, as well as the motivation and health of each opponent on the week that team A played them.

I realize I am taking the fun out of the 'best team ever' discussion ... so I will go with the '92 Cowboys. Of course I might be a little bias

@Hugh_Jorgan

 '92 Boys without Prime Time ??   '95 team with him might have been equally talented...I mean, that team won a Super bowl essentially with a team of player coaches.... you, me or my uncle could've coached that team to the SB that year.  Agree '92 team most dominant tho as already stated. 

92-93 offensive line probably most physically dominant in nfl history.  

Hard to use metrics for different era's 

92 Cowboys would definitely be in my top 3 ,maybe #1 

Thanks for the article, that's great.

I used to deliver beer to O'hare Airport. There's a bar in one of the terminals called Admirals club. Ditka always frequented it when traveling and liked to enjoy a cigar. When the smoking ban went into effect, Ditka continued to smoke anyway. Security told him that he couldn't smoke anymore, and he just replied "I'm fucking Mike Ditka". He didn't get thrown out or arrested. 

@undermysac

I wouldnt mind showing you my Ditka if interested 

@trainwreck66

 OK. And I'll show you my Johnson.

I'll show you my Jimmy