Can a Dynasty last or are all sports dynasties doomed to die out eventually?

[nickagneta]

Hey the 1985 Bears were amazing I want footage of that monday night game against Marino and the Dolphins, but the greatest defense of all-time is the 1977 ATLANTA FALCONS GRITZ BLITZ BABY!!!!  Allowed 129 points (9.2/g), 1st of ALL-TIME!!! 

Look at the names on this defense Claude Humphrey, Jim Bailey, Mike Lewis, Jeff Merrow, Robert Pennywell, Fulton Kuykendall, Ralph Ortega, Greg Brezina, Rolland Lawrence, Rick Byas, Ray Brown, Ray Easterling.   Every one of those players is in the Hall of Fame, oops I meant NFL.   Well you know what I'm saying who wants to go up against that defense with Jerry Glanville as defensive coordinator.  They used to put 13 guys up on the line of scrimmage!!!   Gritz Blitz every play baby!! They only allowed more than 10 points in a game 4 times all season (14,16,21,23).  Now that is some defense.

We are talking about the 77 Falcons right? The 7-7 Falcons who's defense was so good it didn't even get to play a playoff game? The defense that 3 times that year gave up more than 200 yards rushing in a game and consistently gave up over 100 yards rushing a game?

A very good defense that was statistically that good because teams knew they didn't have a very good rushing defense and a horrible offense that couldn't score. So teams ran the ball on them all year long and beat them that way because opening up the offense to score big points versus them was not necessary. Score 10 points versus that Falcons team and you won the game.

Have to agree Nick, 77 Falcons aren't even close to the SB Ravens or SB Bears defenses.

Let's not forget those Steel Curtain defenses of the 70's. I think 75 or 76 specifically, though can't remember which, was unbelievable.

[star18]

1976 Steelers were actually the best ever only 28 points given up in the last 9 games of the season with 5 shutouts and a 9-0 record.  I bought up the 1977 Falcons because most people don't know about them.   Statsitically though the 1977 Falcons have the best numbers at only 9.2 per game, and they scored 12.8 per game so they did score 50 more points than they gave up all season.  Especially with those names, a bunch of players that few people would recognize it is an impressive accomplishment.

[the_Bird]

Take a look at these team-by team league stats for 1977 for some context.

http://www.databasefootball.com/leagues/leagueyear.htm?lg=nfl&yr=1977

Total passing touchdowns for all teams in 1977: 388.
Number of interceptions?  562.
Average passer rating: 61.1

There was such a thing as a "dead ball" era in the NFL, which pretty much culminated in the 1977 season.  There's a fair amount of writing on it around (and the changes that were subsequently made). 

Not that Atlanta wasn't a good defense, but you cannot, cannot ignore the context and declare them to be "best ever."

[Fafnir]

1976 Steelers were actually the best ever only 28 points given up in the last 9 games of the season with 5 shutouts and a 9-0 record.  I bought up the 1977 Falcons because most people don't know about them.   Statsitically though the 1977 Falcons have the best numbers at only 9.2 per game, and they scored 12.8 per game so they did score 50 more points than they gave up all season.  Especially with those names, a bunch of players that few people would recognize it is an impressive accomplishment.

I don't think the 1976 Steelers should get bonus points for only giving up 28 over nine games. Choosing your endpoints allow you to cherry pick any argument.

For example the 85 Bears gave up 10 points in the playoffs, you need to look at the whole season. I'm sure you could find similar endpoints in the Ravens season too.