Pro Football Dynasty Project

What is an NFL Dynasty? Really we throw the term around, but what criteria does a team need to be called a dynasty? We are polling experts, historians, archived articles, and you our listeners and readers to help us come up with the criteria and how to measure future and past teams under consideration of earning the right to be a dynasty.

Football pundits often use the word “dynasty” to refer to some of the great teams in professional football. The term may be overused, and some outstanding teams are credited with the moniker when they may not have reached the honor, while others may not be getting their due. Football fans get caught up in it, too, and label this team and that as a dynasty. This series will look at the pro-gridiron empires and their accomplishments over time and then determine if they meet the moniker of being a dynasty.

First off, let’s define what a dynasty in pro football is. Many have tried to explain the requirements to be called a dynasty. The most generic qualifications are to be at the top of the competitive field for an extended period. That extended period is over a succession of seasons in the case of football. Overall, there has to be an element of sustained success where a franchise is a top contender every season in the considered span to garner the label of a dynasty.

To do the task with diligence, we must use facts and data to support the crowning of a dynasty. These facts must be relevant throughout the history of organized, professional football. Let’s place that start time as September of 1920, when the American Professional Football League was founded, and then go forward to cover the primary professional American football leagues. We can tinker below that date, too. It is not a hard fast date but a reference point to keep us grounded.

For the sake of our study, we will need to determine how many seasons are required to consider being a dynasty. In that span, does the team need to have won a title? If so, how many championships does it take for the criteria for being a Dynasty in Pro Football? Another factor that we can measure is the winning percentage over the span under consideration. The dominance of this type is rare, and it is not easy to do in any era during the past 100-plus years of organized leagues at the professional level.

There has to be a better way of determining a dynasty because all we have now are facts in statistics and the opinions of many. This project aims to harness these two things and provide a template to measure whether a team should be deemed a Dynasty or merely a Darn Good Team. So what is an NFL Dynasty?

Here is how you can help. Answer a couple of questions on our form:

What is A Pro Football Dysnasty Questionaire

We polled dozens of pro football historians, authors, and statisticians and the responses on the criteria of what a pro football dynasty is, are amazing and diverse. There were also some common threads that the vast majority agreed on.

Dominance

I think it is without argument that a dynasty must be one of the best teams of the era they were in. There are many ways to look at this and quantify it.

• Winning percentage
• Championships
• Point differential percentage

The span of reign for a dynasty to consider

I asked our experts what they thought the number of seasons should be to be considerd a dynasty. Here are some of the intresting comments that cam in anonomously.

• Span - I think it depends on the era. It was much easier to dominate opponents before the salary cap, and easier than that before the merger, and easier than that before the war. I think a 3-4 year run.
• Span - on top today is as impressive as a 5-6 year run in the 1950s. (Think Patriots vs. Browns or Lions)
• A minimum of three, but the shorter the window of success is, the higher the level of success must be to offset. (E.G. a 10-year average of 10.5 wins and +80 point differentials with a Super Bowl win might qualify, while over three years you might need to average 13 wins, +160 points, and win 

Doing some research on the subject I found some resources that add some extra intreesting layers to consider in this project of identiifying teams as a professional dynasty.

1. The Bleacher Report's Cody Swartz put out a post a few years ago titled "The 10 Steps for Building an NFL Dynasty". Mr. Swartz had some thoughts on buliding the Pro Dynasty that we can borrow for our study on how to identify one. Here are a few of the ten he pointed out that we can use.

• Perennial top four of the respective league
• Most dominant team in the sport during their reign
• Can't lose Title consistently
• Same core players/ Stars
• Prevented another team from dominating
• Hall of Fame combination at QB & Coach
• Elite Defense

2. The experts and historians polled had some great ideas and suggestions. For many, the poll was anonymous, so I am not sure which of them suggested what, so I apologize for not citing and giving credit.

• Number of players/coaches who make the HoF.  
• Number of MVP or All-pro players.
• Division titles  
• ‘X’ number of players that are with the team more than 2yrs during the dynasty period.

3. Os Davis has posted a response to my challenge. You can find it here on the Sports History Network, "What Makes An NFL Dynasty?"

Our journey has just begun! We are busy in the labratories and thinktank rooms of the Pigpen formulating a recipe that will provide an honest, unbiased scorecard of candidate teams form history, along with many opinions of experts to help us learn about great pro teams of the past and present and see how they stack up in as far as being a dynasty.

This page will build as we go along, as we will add links to the best teams pro football has ever seen. Up near the topof this page, starting the week of July 24, 2023 you will witness links to team names appear as we go through the study on this project.

The image used above int he banner is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons of the 1999 Packers and Broncos game at Camp Randall Stadium courtesy of user Langdon Street.