Sports Then and Now

Despite not having a Hall of Fame caliber quarterback, the Washington Redskins clearly ranked as the best of the 44 Super Bowl Champions.

Since the first Super Bowl was held in January 1967, 44 teams have hoisted the Vince Lombardi Championship Trophy. But which of these championship teams was really the greatest of the greats?

In part two of our countdown of the Super Bowl Champions, we count down to the number one champion in Super Bowl history. For more details about the categories used to rank the teams, check out part one.

20. 1977 Dallas Cowboys – Record: 15-2 (32 points); Average loss by 11 points (9 points); Average win by 14.6 points (23 points); Opponent winning percentage: .485 (29 points); Wins over +.500 teams: 4 (25 points); Total Points: 118
Arguably the best of Tom Landry’s 29 Dallas Cowboy squads, the 1977 Cowboys combined an explosive offense led by Roger Staubach, Drew Pearson and rookie Tony Dorsett with a dominating defense led by linemen Randy White and Harvey Martin. Dallas finished 12-2 during the regular season with their two losses coming back-to-back after winning their first eight games. In the Playoffs, Dallas out-scored the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings by a combined score of 60-13 to reach the Super Bowl. Facing the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XII, the Cowboys were dominant in a 27-10 victory.

19. 1990 New York Giants – Record: 16-3 (26 points); Average loss by 8.7 points (20 points); Average win by 11.4 points (9 points); Opponent winning percentage: .500 (36 points); Wins over +.500 teams: 4 (28 points); Total Points: 119
Because the 1990 New York Giants narrowly won the NFC Championship Game over the San Francisco 49ers and then had to withstand a last second missed field goal to win Super Bowl XXV, the Giants are often overlooked when the best championship teams are discussed. However, the second of Bill Parcell’s Super Bowl teams was a solid team led by a defense that allowed the fewest points in the NFL. After starting quarterback Phil Simms was lost for the season in the 14th week, backup Jeff Hostetler stepped in and did not throw an interception in three playoff wins. Read the rest of this entry →

Of all the games that were played during Week 14 of the 1980 NFL season, the matchup between the New Orleans Saints and the San Francisco 49ers seemed to be one of the least compelling games.

The 49ers were 5-8 entering this game and appeared headed toward their fourth straight losing season and seventh in the last eight seasons.  San Francisco had started the season 3-0 before losing eight games in a row.

Second-year head coach Bill Walsh was trying to move ahead with second-year quarterback Joe Montana as his quarterback of the future, who had traded starts throughout the season with Steve DeBerg.  Montana would get the start against the Saints.

While the 49ers’ recent history had been rather bad, the history of the New Orleans Saints had been all bad.

Ever since their inception in 1967, the Saints had never recorded a winning season.  However, the Saints had high hopes for the 1980 season as they were coming off an 8-8 season the year before and were favorites to win the NFC Western Division, thanks to Pro Bowlers Archie Manning and Chuck Muncie.

But things went bad from the start as the Saints as they lost their first 13 games of the season, and during the stretch they traded Muncie to the San Diego Chargers after the fourth game of the season.

The losing continued and after a 27-7 Monday night loss to the Los Angeles Rams, head coach Dick Nolan was fired and replaced on an interim basis by Dick Stanfel.

The Saints were so bad that New Orleans sportscaster Bernard “Big D” Diliberto encouraged all Saints fans to wear paper bags over their heads at the Saints’ home games at the Louisiana Superdome.  One of the fans that wore a bag on his head wrote “Aints” on his bag on the nickname stuck to the franchise.

But the Week 14 game against the 49ers in San Francisco appeared to be the Saints’ day as they jumped out to a 35-7 halftime lead, thanks to an impressive first half by Manning as he completed 14 of 22 passes for 248 yards and threw three touchdowns, two in the first quarter, Ike Harris for 33 yards and Henry Childs for 21 yards, and one more right before the end of the half to Harris again, this time for 41 yards. Read the rest of this entry →

Dana Stubblefield proved to be great value for the 26th pick in the 1993 NFL Draft.

The San Francisco 49ers have two first-round picks in the upcoming NFL Draft. With two picks, how could you go wrong? Well, in the last twenty years, the 49ers have had two first-round picks five times (and one year with no first round pick at all) with varying degrees of success. Here is a look back at the last twenty years of 49er first-round selections.

1990     No. 25     Dexter Carter                RB     Florida State

Does anyone else remember Dexter “Fumble” Carter? He was used mostly as a returner and never managed to crack the starting lineup as a running back. He debuted in San Francisco with eight fumbles his first season. Dexter did manage to stick around the NFL for seven years and a total of 33 fumbles. Grade D

1991     No. 25     Ted Washington        DT     University of Louisville

This is a tough one to call. Washington has been described as the premier nose tackle of his era, yet the 49ers let him go after three seasons for a fifth-round draft selection. Perhaps they didn’t see him progressing as much as they liked, or they thought he was better suited as a true nose tackle in a 3-4 scheme and were unwilling to abandon the 4-3 that they ran at the time. Grade C+

1992     No. 18     Dana Hall                DB     University of Washington

Another three-year wonder, Hall just plain stunk. Do you smell toast? Grade D

1993     No. 26     Dana Stubblefield      DT     University of Kansas

The 49ers made amends for trading Washington as Stubblefield was named Defensive Rookie of the Year on his way to a long, decorated career in San Fran. Grade A
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When the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers meet on the football field this weekend the Eagles will be looking to strengthen their playoff position while the 49ers are trying to stay in the hunt for a playoff bid.

In the current decade, the Eagles have made seven playoff appearances, played in five NFC Championship Games and reached Super Bowl XXXIX.  Conversely, the San Francisco 49ers have not made the playoffs since 2002 and have also not recorded a winning season during that stretch.

It is a far cry from the 1980s when the San Francisco 49ers were the unquestioned team of the decade and, after opening the decade with a Super Bowl appearance, the Philadelphia Eagles struggled through a stretch of mediocrity.

By 1989, the 49ers were zeroing in on their fourth Super Bowl Championship of the decade under the guidance of first year head coach George Seifert. The 49ers were a team of superstars at the peak of their talents.

In 1989, Buddy Ryan had the Philadelphia Eagles poised to move to elite status in the NFL.

On the other hand, the Eagles were the brash and bold upstarts led by feisty head coach Buddy Ryan. After winning the NFC East in 1988 and losing to the Chicago Bears in the famous “Fog Bowl”, the Eagles were looking to take the next step in 1989 and push past the perennial champion 49ers.

In our Classic Rewind, we will look at their exciting meeting in the third week of the 1989 season. In many ways, this game would serve as a microcosm of how both franchises fared during that period of NFL history.

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The NFL network began their fourth season broadcasting games on November 12th.

Like the proverbial question about the sound of a tree in the forest, I have a similar question about the NFL.

If they play an NFL game in prime time and half the people in the country can’t watch is it still considered an NFL game?

That is my question following the game Thursday night between the Chicago Bears and San Francisco 49ers, which was broadcast on the NFL Network.

Like many others across the country, my cable company, Bright House Network, is embroiled in a long-running disagreement with NFL Network over channel placement, pricing and other such things that seem trivial to me, but important to television executives.

Overall, seven of the top 10 cable providers in the country do not offer NFL Network.

Considering that the NFL Network started broadcasting just over six years ago on November 4, 2003, you would think these companies would have settled the disagreement by now, but unfortunately, it looks like many of us will be enduring another year of missing out on some exciting NFL matchups. Read the rest of this entry →

Michael Crabtree will finally start spending time on the field with his teammates instead of in meetings with his agents.

Boy there sure is a lot going on in the sports world this week. Yet, when I look at what to write about I’m almost paralyzed by the choices. Sort of like looking at the dessert aisle at an all-you-can-eat buffet; so much to choose from you just don’t know where to start.

Michael, Thank You For Joining Us
I don’t know about you, but I’m so glad that Michael Crabtree finally came to his senses and took the multi-millions of dollars the San Francisco 49ers have been offering him for months.

I have read several defenses of him saying that Michael is a good guy and was just trying to make sure he got what he deserved. Hey, he very well be the nicest guy since Harry Truman, but in this case he was just trying to be greedy.

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