Who will win the Super Bowl? ... you decide

by Reginald Rogers
Paraglide

It’s the end of an era.

If you’ve watched last weekend’s NFL wild card playoffs like I have, I think you’ll agree. The New England Patriots are not the same and their run as perennial Super Bowl contenders is over. Face it, the dynasty is done. The chickens have come home to roost. The train has run out of steam.
The playoffs began Saturday with an unlikely victor in the New York Jets, who literally destroyed the Cincinnati Bengals 24-14. But that was nothing compared to the way Ray Lewis and the Ravens discombobulated the Patriots offense en route to a 34-14 thrashing in Foxboro, Mass. Sunday.

The Patriots looked like anything but the most feared team in football. Quarterback Tom Brady only threw for 154 yards and added three interceptions. That’s so “unBrady-like.” But, as bad as it seemed, it’s not the first time a so-called dynasty has lost its “mo-jo” after dominating in the previous decade. In fact, it’s part of the league’s history. Let’s take a look.

Since the NFL’s existence, each decade has featured a team that has etched its way into the history books as THE team to beat. This team has usually played so well that its garnered respect from even the toughest of adversaries. According to Sports Illustrated, the Green Bay Packers completely dominated football in the 60s, behind the mind of legendary coach Vince Lombardi. Lombardi’s Packers won five NFL titles in seven years from 1961-67, while producing 12 Hall of Famers. The team only lost 20 games during that span.

In the 70s the Pittsburgh Steelers won four Super Bowls (1974, ‘75, ‘78 and ’79) in six years. The Steel Curtain Defense and its potent offensive unit, which featured five NFL Hall of Famers on offense: wide receivers John Stallworth, Lynn Swann, center Mike Webster, quarterback Terry Bradshaw and running back Franco Harris, dominated just about every other team it faced. On the defensive side, the Steel Curtain defense also featured Hall of famers in defensive end “Mean” Joe Greene, linebackers Jack Ham and Jack Lambert and cornerback Mel Blount. Of those famous players, four of them, Greene, Webster, Stallworth and Swann, were drafted in the same season. The team was so good that in 1993, their coach Chuck Noll was elected for enshrinement in Canton, Ohio, the museum’s home.

The 1980s saw the emergence of the San Francisco 49ers, which featured a host of great players, such as quarterbacks Joe Montana and Steve Young, receivers Jerry Rice, Dwight Clark, running back Roger Craig and defensive back Ronnie Lott. While Rice will be remembered as the greatest receiver of all time, it was the antics of Clark, which propelled the Niners into prominence. The team defeated a top-ranked Dallas Cowboys team in 1982 to win the NFC Championship. In what is now referred to as “the catch,” Clark ran across the back of the end zone and extended his body to snag a Montana pass over Cowboys all-star safety Everson Walls as the clock expired. The 49ers went on to defeat the Cincinnati Bengals 26-21 to win its first of four Super Bowls in a 10-year span, ending in 1990 with a 55-10 blowout of the John Elway-led Denver Broncos. The Niners would win one more title in 1995, defeating the San Diego Chargers 49-26, behind the arm and legs of Young. It would be the team’s last Super Bowl title.

Other notable players to grace the Shakytown lineup during those years include, Hall of Famer defensive back Eric Wright, Hall of Fame Young, who was eventually inducted into the Hall of Fame and wide receiver Terrell Owens. Owens actually joined the organization in 1996, immediately following its final Super Bowl season.

The Dallas Cowboys ruled the NFL in the 1990s. The team featured Hall of Fame trio quarterback Troy Aikman, all-time leading rusher Emmitt Smith and all-world receiver Michael Irvin, who were later joined by flamboyant cornerback Deion Sanders, also known as “Prime Time” won three Super Bowl titles, including back-to-back championships in 1992 and 1993 and again in 1996 to claim the decade. The Cowboys also have the distinction of having played in more Super Bowls than any other team, reaching the final eight times. The team that falls second in this category is the Steelers, with seven. The Steelers have actually won more titles than any other team with six Super Bowl Championships gracing the walls of Heinz Stadium. The New England Patriots and Denver Broncos are tied at third with six appearances a piece, followed by the 49ers, Washington Redskins, Oakland Raiders and Miami Dolphins, all of whom have five.

Beginning in 2001, the tide changed direction as the NFC lost its dominance of the league, after appearing in nine of the previous 11 Super Bowls. At the turn of the century, the New England Patriots began a six-year run through the league that included three Super Bowl wins in six almost consecutive appearances. From 2001 until 2007, the Pats struck fear in the hearts of nearly every team they faced, behind the dynamic arm of quarterback Tom Brady and the mind of coach Bill Belicheck.

So, it’s been established, the Steelers ruled the 70s, the 49ers found gold in the 80s, while the Cowboys staked their claim in the 90s and the Patriots were the team to beat in the early part of the 2000 decade. Now what?

The Brady-Belichick era ended Sunday at the hands of their rival Baltimore Ravens. Not that the Ravens victory, destroyed the Pats, but a series of injuries, off-field problems and defections by members of the coaching staff are beginning to take its toll on the once-prominent team.

So the question is: Who will become the league’s new “dynasty?”

Will it be the ever-improving and youthful Green Bay Packers, behind strappy, young quarterback Aaron Rodgers? Will it be the New Orleans Saints, who travel behind the star power of running back Reggie Bush, quarterback Drew Brees and a host of capable receivers? Could we possibly be looking at the re-emergence of America’s team, the Dallas Cowboys, a young team that is currently playing its best football in 14 years? Or does the answer lie out west with the San Diego Chargers and its omni-potent offensive and defensive units?

We certainly can’t forget about the adolescent New York Jets, which, along with the Packers and Houston Texans, is one of the youngest team in the league, or, the Cincinnati Bengals, who have re-invented themselves as one of the AFC’s most dangerous teams.

Stay tuned to the remaining playoff games, I think the answer lies within. Until next time. I’m out.