OT: CBS Sports is doing a tournament of Super Bowl Champions.

[DJ Spanky]

They started on Monday, putting the 49 Super Bowl Champions in a bracket and using Strat-O-Matic as the simulation software.

Here's the link to Round 1, which was Monday:

Ultimate 50, Round 1: Who's the best Super Bowl champion ever?

Round 2:

Ultimate 50, Round 2: Which Super Bowl champions make final 16?

Round 3:

Ultimate 50, Round of 16: Which eight Super Bowl winners move on?

Surprisingly, this is pretty entertaining to follow.

 

[koleszar]

Games rigged not one Giants team made it to the round of 16:thumbsdown:. I'm done with this game it's a pile of [poop].

 

[scarletrat]

IMO, the best team should be the 1993 Dallas Cowboys, who beat the Bills 52-17. '85 Bears or 49ers of late 1980s would be in the mix.

 

[mdk01]

Games rigged not one Giants team made it to the round of 16:thumbsdown:. I'm done with this game it's a pile of [poop].

When a Strat-o-matic game is decided by a 52 yd. interception return you know it's a fluke. '86 team should have advanced. The '90 team losing a tight game to the '85 Bears is believable.

 

[RUtrumpet92]

At a quick glance, their PAT algorithm needs work. Way too many blocked XP. But it is interesting as a diversion.

 

[AntiG]

1989 49ers. That team was as stacked as any team has ever been, and had the best QB, WR and S of all time in their prime.

 

[sherrane]

Games rigged not one Giants team made it to the round of 16:thumbsdown:. I'm done with this game it's a pile of [poop].

They started on Monday, putting the 49 Super Bowl Champions in a bracket and using Strat-O-Matic as the simulation software.

Here's the link to Round 1, which was Monday:

Ultimate 50, Round 1: Who's the best Super Bowl champion ever?

Round 2:

Ultimate 50, Round 2: Which Super Bowl champions make final 16?

Round 3:

Ultimate 50, Round of 16: Which eight Super Bowl winners move on?

Surprisingly, this is pretty entertaining to follow.

This is similar to the tournament done by ESPN in the late 80's using the game NFL Challenge by XOR software, which I believe was won by the 85 Bears. The 69 Chiefs were pummeled and were considered the weakest team in the tournament. Hank Stram blasted the game / ratings which is understandable because games have biases because they are written to try to accurately portray the modern game. The 69 Chiefs did not translate well enough to that era of football because their fullback was a huge part of their offense (Robert Holmes rushed for 612 yards with 266 receiving yards), Len Dawson had a QB rating under 70, and they had a dominating defense that allowed only 20 points in their 3 playoff games (allowing 10 or fewer points in 10 of their 17 games).

There is no way in hell the 86 Giants lose to the 99 Rams. In fact, there is no way any salary cap era team could possibly make it to the elite 8 based on the way they seeded (no way the 2011 Giants beat the 79 Steelers) the tournament. The tournament should have been seeded by decade / era to make the final 40 the best of the 66-78 vs best 79-90 to play the winner of best of 91--02 vs best of 03-14.

 

[dconifer]

When a Strat-o-matic game is decided by a 52 yd. interception return you know it's a fluke. '86 team should have advanced. The '90 team losing a tight game to the '85 Bears is believable.

I think the 86 Giants are on the short list of great teams. My Redskins were pretty good that year, but I'm pretty sure they lost three times to the G-men including the NFC championship game (if memory serves)...

 

[cubuffsdoug]

Besides LT, at what position were the 86 Giants better than the 99 Rams?

The Rams out scored their opponents by almost 300 points. The Giants did half that.

And while those Rams were known for their offense and the Giants D was the wrecking crew, both defenses allowed the same amount of points (236 vs 242)

You can't say the Rams would beat the Giants because the some major rules were different due to the era each team play in. By the time the Rams were "the best show on turf" defensive players had to ease up on how rough they could be with offensive playmakers. That '86 Giants defense was very physical and by taking that away from them they are an average defense. That's why I don't like this what ifs. Btw, LT had help from Harry Carson and Carl Banks. I don't know of any other LB unit better at their peak. Besides, LT cause a lot of changes in the NFL because of his ability to dominate a game. A lot of offense gurus complained to the league about him.

 

[mdk01]

Besides LT, at what position were the 86 Giants better than the 99 Rams?

While I'll admit it's debatable, I put Harry Carson ahead of London Fletcher. And no one on St. Louis matches up with Carl Banks. I'd put that Giant LB crew in the Top 5 all-time. Same holds true for Mark Bavaro.

I won't go position by position on the lines & DBs, but safe to say each team would have some winners.

 

[RUaMoose]

1989 49ers. That team was as stacked as any team has ever been, and had the best QB, WR and S of all time in their prime.

Both the 49ers team that beat the Dolphins and the Broncos were better than the '89 team that barely beat the Bengals (thank you Lewis Billups), imo

 

[AreYouNUTS]

FAIL (not the OP...).

 

[AntiG]

Both the 49ers team that beat the Dolphins and the Broncos were better than the '89 team that barely beat the Bengals (thank you Lewis Billups), imo

The '89 team, I was referring to the season, that won the 1990 SB over the Broncos.

 

[hinson32]

The Steelers of the 70's were the best teams ever assembled. HOF at QB, RB, WR (2 of them), OL, DL, LB (2 of them), DB and Head Coach.

 

[RUaMoose]

The '89 team, I was referring to the season, that won the 1990 SB over the Broncos.

Oh..then we agree

 

[Caliknight]

2000 Ravens. Maybe the best team ever assembled.

 

[RUtrumpet92]

2000 Ravens. Maybe the best team ever assembled.

Sure, they had a great defense but they were not remotely close on offense to what those Steelers teams of the 70s had.

Terry Bradshaw vs Trent Dilfer
Franco Harris vs Jamal Lewis
Lynn Swann and John Stallworth vs... Qadry Ismail and Travis Taylor??

OK - Shannon Sharpe is much better than whoever the Steelers had at TE.

Even on defense, the 1976 Steelers D (did not win the Super Bowl, I know) is the greatest of all time. They gave up 28 points in the last nine games of the regular season. Read that again: 28 points allowed IN NINE GAMES. Four Hall of Famers on the D (Mean Joe Greene, Ham, Lambert, and Blount). The Ravens D had Ray Lewis and... ? Ed Reed was not on that 2000 team.

AP Defensive POTY, 1974: Joe Greene (won Super Bowl)
1975: Mel Blount (won Super Bowl)
1976: Jack Lambert (see above)

The Bills had teammates win it in consecutive years (95, Bryce Paup; 96, Bruce Smith) and so did the Ravens a few years later (Lewis, 2003 and Reed, 2004).