2024 Super Bowl-era Franchise Rankings

Chiefs continue sprint vs history as Patrick Mahomes and Andy Reid keep winning.

There is nothing like the pursuit of history in our sports world, and this year, the Kansas City Chiefs have a beautiful opportunity at two different claims if they can win another Super Bowl. I realize I say “another” as if it is now an easy pursuit or something routine, but that is what we are talking about.

The first one is the simple notion of winning an unprecedented 3-peat in the NFL. Now, I should qualify it because two 3-peats have already happened. The 1929-1931 Green Bay Packers were the 3-time champions, but I am not sure we can take pre-World War II NFL terribly seriously. No offense to the friends and families, but since we did not introduce the NFL Championship Game until 1933, we just have no way of comparison for these apples and Volkswagens.

The other 3-peat was 1965-67 and involved those same Green Bay Packers. As you are probably aware, this was the final NFL Championship Game followed by Super Bowls I and II. This one seems much closer to the proper claim, but given that all three did not fall under the umbrella of “the Super Bowl era,” I believe the Chiefs' 3-peat would rightfully be called the modern first of its kind.

The other historical landmark that can be matched if these Chiefs can win another Super Bowl this season would be to win their 4th Super Bowl in six seasons. That has been done just once in the history of that game when the Pittsburgh Steelers ran off Super Bowls IX, X, XIII, and XIV in 1974, 75, 78, and 79.

Several other teams have had a chance at this accomplishment, but the Cowboys, Patriots, and Patriots again could not secure the fourth of the four. But here are the Chiefs with wins in Super Bowls LIV, LVII, and LVIII, and now have a chance at it, and even those Steelers did not have another Super Bowl appearance mixed in. But when you add in the LV loss to the Buccaneers, you see how these Chiefs are something special.

Fifty-eight Super Bowls have been completed, and the Kansas City Chiefs are now our first back-to-back champions of the NFL in 20 years. It is their fourth Super Bowl win, and the past decade has been a busy one — heck, the past few years — as the Chiefs have accomplished more in the last six years than what the franchise had pieced together in its first 52. It happens. Championships are rare and tough to attain. And this version of the Chiefs is quickly on its way to becoming the best we have ever seen in this league.

In the past decade, no franchise has accomplished more than the Chiefs as they finally overtook the New England dynasty this past season, but with Patrick Mahomes running the NFL at the age of 28, the Chiefs are showing few signs of slowing down anytime soon. Well, that is for the last decade, at least, 2014-2023. The Chiefs have plenty of ground to make up if they plan on stealing any of Bill Belichick’s thunder over the past two decades if you want to go all the way back to 2000 or so.

But, as you may be aware, even Belichick and the Patriots still do not sit at the top of the NFL because the Pittsburgh Steelers continue to hold them off — barely.

And then there are two teams in the middle of three-decade droughts since they last held the Lombardi Trophy in their arms: Dallas and San Francisco. In many ways, they are like twin brothers with traditions that mirror one another. In the past 30 years, though, the 49ers have been much more successful and painfully close several times, whereas Dallas has been running in the same unsatisfying circles of frustration. While both teams have won zero Super Bowls since 1995, the 49ers have lost three Super Bowls and five NFC Championship Games. Eight times they were close. Meanwhile, Dallas has been to zero of both of those games and has not been close at all. Somehow, they still sit above San Francisco in this year’s rankings, but the margin has never been smaller.

Such is the “game of thrones” we know as professional football, where these proud franchises attempt to stuff their trophy cases to claim the historical king of the hill by fighting over the same turf year after year.

We love it. We talk about it. We read about it. We argue about it.

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So, I tried to do something that could answer the question of who has been the best in these 58 years by creating a system to objectively weigh all 32 franchises against each other based on annual accomplishments.

How would you keep it objective? Everyone is always stumping for their favorite team and slanting things in favor of that agenda. How do you keep opinions out of this?

I put together a scoring system 22 years ago that credited teams for making the playoffs, advancing to the final four of each conference’s championship games, making a Super Bowl, and winning that Super Bowl.

The system had to be more complex than simply counting Lombardi trophies because some teams have a knack for rising up every few years and winning the Super Bowl despite missing the playoffs altogether for several years in between (shoutout to Eli Manning and the New York Giants). At the same time, it is a very big deal to win one of those trophies — let alone several — so any point system should give a great deal of credit to any team winning it all.

The database is updated every off-season after the Super Bowl because, of course, things change. Less and less each year, mind you, as the longer we do this, the more it resembles icebergs racing each other as sample sizes grow: One year is not enough to move very far, but they do, in fact, move. I have tinkered with the system over the years, but this is the one that works best. This objective scoring system (remember, this is all math) includes these point values:

• Winning the Super Bowl: 11 points

• Losing the Super Bowl: 5 points

• AFC/NFC Championship Game: 3 points

• Making the playoffs: 1 point

To be clear, you only get one point threshold per year — you don’t collect on multiple levels. We add up the points from each year in existence (adjusting for expansion), and that leads to the overall standings (you can see season-by-season point totals here). Ties? There are no ties. We break them with Super Bowls, then Super Bowl losses, then championship games, as necessary. Also, we provide rankings for “points per year” at the bottom of this piece, grading on a curve for those teams that have not existed for all 58 seasons.

Obviously, the Chiefs are the big movers recently, climbing from 14th to 9th and now to 6th in just 25 months and almost to the top of Tier 2 (“Light Heavyweights”). With this season’s Super Bowl victory, they hopped all the way to No. 6 all-time and passed divisional rivals Denver and Las Vegas, as well as the Los Angeles Rams.

Other teams that jumped someone in this year’s rankings again include the Miami Dolphins (who moved past the Indianapolis Colts) now up to 11th, the Baltimore Ravens jumped over the Seattle Seahawks for the 17th spot, the Cleveland Browns pushed past the Chargers into 26th, and the Detroit Lions pushed from 31st to 29th with their trip to the NFC Championship Game.

But enough of me spoiling your trip down this list. It’s well past time to unveil the 22nd edition of the Sturm Super Bowl-era NFL Franchise Rankings and, in a way, set the standard for the fresh season of 2024 that is opening very soon.

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Tier One

The Heavyweights

1. Pittsburgh Steelers

Last year: No. 1

Total: 117 points

Playoff years: 33 | Final Fours: 8 | Super Bowl losses: 2 | Super Bowl wins: 6

Last decade (since 2014): 9 points

Average: 2.01 points per season

The Steelers remain on top, but the scramble for in the heavyweight division has never been closer. The two teams at the very top are the two teams that have won the Super Bowl six times and Pittsburgh has added a solid consistency post-2000 that is pretty strong stuff. It may be a bit before they win again, but they continue to hold down the top spot which they finally grabbed about a decade ago from Dallas.

2. New England Patriots

Last year: No. 2

Total: 115 points

Playoff years: 27 | Final Fours: 4 | Super Bowl losses: 5 | Super Bowl wins: 6

Last decade: 43 points

Average: 1.98

The Patriots are an amazing story to have not done anything for about 30 seasons and then spend the next 25 almost zooming to the very top. It is the story of Brady and Belichick and it is absurdly good. Two three-title dynasties that happened with nearly a decade in between. Did they leave meat on the bone? Perhaps, but that sort of speaks to their dominance, too. 11 Super Bowl appearances? Insanity.

3. Dallas Cowboys

Last year: No. 3

Total: 114 points

Playoff years: 36 | Final Fours: 8 | Super Bowl losses: 3 | Super Bowl wins: 5

Last decade: 6 points

Average: 1.97

I can write an entry all about the Cowboys and will when we are “off to Oxnard” yet again, but for now, these visual aids are a rough scene. The chart above shows what a massive lead they had on every franchise in the NFL in 1995 and then how they have plateaued worse than anyone has ever plateaued before for the last 30 years.

Below, we can do the season by season breakdown. Here is a reminder of the points system:

• Winning the Super Bowl: 11 points

• Losing the Super Bowl: 5 points

• AFC/NFC Championship Game: 3 points

• Making the playoffs: 1 point

And here is how it breaks down from 1966-1995 where they had nearly zero seasons of no points or accomplishments.

Look at all the Super Bowls and look at all the NFC Championship Games.

And then once Jerry Jones was successful at running Jimmy Johnson out and having things develop as they have, here is what we might call “the Jerry Jones-GM era” and we use the exact same points system:

Dang. Sometimes, words would just get in the way.

4. San Francisco 49ers

Last year: No. 4

Total: 112 points

Playoff years: 28 | Final Fours: 11 | Super Bowl losses: 3 | Super Bowl wins: 5

Last decade: 16 points

Average:  1.93

The 49ers are doing everything perfectly since the 1990’s, except closing the deal. Since Super Bowl 30 when they trailed the Cowboys, 101-78, they have gone on a run of 34-13 to close the gap to just two points to become the NFC leader. That means if they get to the NFC Championship Game this year and Dallas does not, they will take over 3rd place. If they win a Super Bowl this year, they can go all the way to first. Of course, 49ers fans will tell you that winning a Super Bowl is a cruel joke these days and they are in a longer drought than Dallas – albeit a much different drought.

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Tier Two

The Light Heavyweights

5. Green Bay Packers

Last year: No. 5

Total: 83 points

Playoff years: 27 | Final Fours: 6 | Super Bowl losses: 1 | Super Bowl wins: 4

Last decade: 15 points

Average: 1.43

This next tier starts with Green Bay. People always ask me if they have disappointed with only two Super Bowl wins in my lifetime. My sincere answer is after growing up with them never making the playoffs in a non-strike year (1982 does not and should not count for any bragging rights) until I was 21 should tell you that I cannot believe they ever won a Super Bowl, let alone two as I was an adult and I will promise that their competitiveness is enough to get my gratitude. They have not stopped being really good since I was in college and I am now 52, so I have zero complaints.

⬆ 6. Kansas City Chiefs

Last year: No. 9

Total: 79 points

Playoff years: 25 | Final Fours: 3 | Super Bowl losses: 2 | Super Bowl wins: 4

Last decade: 47 points

Average: 1.36

We have probably said plenty about the Chiefs up top, but I will say that if you go back to maybe the 2018 version of this when Patrick Mahomes was just getting started, they were basically tied with the Chicago Bears down around No. 17 and now they are about to jump into the Top 5 franchises! The unexpected rise and dominance has to keep smiles glued on the faces of that region and Mahomes is clearly already worthy of their best statue. What a team.

⬇️ 7. Las Vegas Raiders

Last year: No. 6

Total: 79 points

Playoff years: 23 | Final Fours: 9 | Super Bowl losses: 2 | Super Bowl wins: 3

Last decade: 2 points

Average: 1.36

Chiefs win the tiebreaker with the Raiders for 6th place with Super Bowl wins (4-3).

The Raiders never imagined the Chiefs would pass them, but here we are. On the other hand, the Raiders have not been competent in almost 40 years and are still ranked this high. That tells a story about their first few decades.

⬇️ 8. Denver Broncos

Last year: No. 7

Total: 76 points

Playoff years: 22 | Final Fours: 2 | Super Bowl losses: 5 | Super Bowl wins: 3

Last decade: 12 points

Average: 1.31

The Broncos are dangerously close to going a decade without a playoff berth (they won Super Bowl 50 for the 2015 season), which shows you how quickly things can dry up in this sports world if you don’t continue to water your garden.

⬇️ 9. Los Angeles/St. Louis Rams

Last year: No. 8

Total: 70 points

Playoff years: 26 | Final Fours: 6 | Super Bowl losses: 3 | Super Bowl wins: 2

Last decade: 19 points

Average: 1.21

The Rams are definitely one of those teams that deserve a lot of credit for their multi-era accomplishments. They have only won the two Super Bowls, but the 1970’s and early 1980’s Rams were plenty to deal with and now they are the only team to get a title in this Brady/Mahomes era since 2017!

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Tier Three

The Middleweights

10. New York Giants

Last year: No. 10

Total: 61 points

Playoff years: 17 | Final Fours: 0 | Super Bowl losses: 1 | Super Bowl wins: 4

Last decade: 2 points

Average: 1.05

Giants win the three-way tiebreaker with the Colts and Dolphins for 10th place with Super Bowl wins (4-2).

There is a sizable drop to this 3-way tie at 61 points, but the Giants have four Lombardi Trophies which break all ties. They have one of the weirdest histories in sports because by every other measure, they are just not very impressive. But, you know, they took care of the important stuff quite well.

⬆️ 11. Miami Dolphins

Last year: No. 12

Total: 61 points

Playoff years: 25 | Final Fours: 2 | Super Bowl losses: 3 | Super Bowl wins: 2

Last decade: 3 points

Average: 1.05

Dolphins win the tiebreaker with the Colts for 12th place with Super Bowl appearances (5-4).

Miami has made the playoffs in back to back years for the first time since 2001, so if you think they are angry about their place in this football world presently, you are wrong.

⬇️ 12. Baltimore/Indianapolis Colts 

Last year: No. 11

Total: 61 points

Playoff years: 24 | Final Fours: 4 | Super Bowl losses: 2 | Super Bowl wins: 2

Last decade: 5 points

Average: 1.05

The Colts miss the Peyton Manning era which at the time was thought of as “disappointing”, but as this project shows us, contending every year is very difficult and should not be undervalued.

13. Washington Commanders

Last year: No. 13

Total: 59 points

Playoff years: 19 | Final Fours: 1 | Super Bowl losses: 2 | Super Bowl wins: 3

Last decade: 2 points

Average: 1.02

Commanders win the tiebreaker with the Vikings for 14th place with Super Bowl wins (3-0).

The Commanders have a rich history that has been starving for over three decades. We assume at some point, they will get back in gear, but there have been too many reboots to count.

14. Minnesota Vikings

Last year: No. 14

Total: 59 points

Playoff years: 31 | Final Fours: 6 | Super Bowl losses: 4 | Super Bowl wins: 0

Last decade: 6 points

Average: 1.02

I say this every year: No franchise has been more competitively excellent and managed to win nothing quite like the Minnesota Vikings. It is very difficult to make the playoffs 31 times and the Final Four 10 times and the Super Bowl 4 times and still never win it all. But, they have.

15. Philadelphia Eagles

Last year: No. 15

Total: 56 points

Playoff years: 26 | Final Fours: 4 | Super Bowl losses: 3 | Super Bowl wins: 1

Last decade: 20 points

Average: 0.97

The Eagles have been a really good franchise for a long, long time. And yet, they still look up at Washington. Like we said, it is difficult to win this “game of thrones.”

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Tier Four

The Welterweights

16. Buffalo Bills

Last year: No. 16

Total: 42 points

Playoff years: 20 | Final Fours: 3 | Super Bowl losses: 4 | Super Bowl wins: 0

Last decade: 8 points

Average: 0.72

Next year’s champion for the last five years now faces a remodel on the fly.

⬆️ 17. Baltimore Ravens

Last year: No. 18

Total: 41 points

(Established 1996)

Playoff years: 15 | Final Fours: 3 | Super Bowl losses: 0 | Super Bowl wins: 2

Last decade: 8 points

Average: 1.46 points per season in 28 years of existence

The Ravens points per season is 5th best in the NFL. They have honestly been a near-model franchise since they were moved to Baltimore from Cleveland. They have won every year and have done so without a generational QB dragging them along like so many others.

⬇️ 18. Seattle Seahawks

Last year: No. 17

Total: 40 points

(Established 1976)

Playoff years: 20 | Final Fours: 1 | Super Bowl losses: 2 | Super Bowl wins: 1

Last decade: 11 points

Average: 0.83 in 48 seasons of existence

Now in a post-Pete Carroll world, we can ponder how close they might have been to a dynasty, but things change fast.

19. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Last year: No. 19

Total: 38 points

(Established 1976)

Playoff years: 14 | Final Fours: 2 | Super Bowl losses: 0 | Super Bowl wins: 2

Last decade: 14 points

Average: 0.79  points per season in 48 seasons of existence

Tom Brady moved to Tampa Bay at age 43, won a Super Bowl with a franchise that had no chance before he arrived, retired, and we probably don’t talk about it enough.

20. Chicago Bears

Last year: No. 20

Total: 36 points

Playoff years: 16 | Final Fours: 3 | Super Bowl losses: 1 | Super Bowl wins: 1

Last decade: 2 points

Average: 0.62

Bears win the tiebreaker for 20th place over the Titans by virtue of Super Bowl wins (1-0).

The Bears would love to be a franchise that makes the playoffs more than twice since 2010. They believe that changes this year.

Now we will save our commentary for the final 12 franchises unless needed:

21. Tennessee Titans

Last year: No. 21

Total: 36 points

Playoff years: 22 | Final Fours: 5 | Super Bowl losses: 1 | Super Bowl wins: 0

Last decade: 6 points

Average: 0.62

22. New York Jets

Last year: No. 22

Total: 32 points

Playoff years: 14 | Final Fours: 4 | Super Bowl losses: 0 | Super Bowl wins: 1

Last decade: 0 points

Average: 0.55

Zero points in the last decade!

23. Cincinnati Bengals

Last year: No. 23

Total: 30 points

(Established 1968)

Playoff years: 16 | Final Fours: 1 | Super Bowl losses: 3 | Super Bowl wins: 0

Last decade: 10 points

Average: 0.54 points per season in 56 seasons of existence

24. New Orleans Saints

Last year: No. 24

Total: 28 points

(Established 1967)

Playoff years: 14 | Final Fours: 2 | Super Bowl losses: 0 | Super Bowl wins: 1

Last decade: 7 points

Average: 0.49 per season in 57 seasons of existence

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Tier Five

The Lightweights

25. Atlanta Falcons

Last year: No. 25

Total: 26 points

Playoff years: 14 | Final Fours: 2 | Super Bowl Losses: 2 | Super Bowl Wins: 0

Last decade: 6 points

Average: 0.46

Falcons win the tiebreaker with the Browns for 25th place with Super Bowl appearances (2-0).

⬆️ 26. Cleveland Browns

Last year: No. 27

Total: 26 points

(Did not play 1996-1998)

Playoff years: 16 | Final Fours: 5 | Super Bowl losses: 0 | Super Bowl wins: 0

Last decade: 2 point

Average: 0.46 points per season in 55 seasons of existence

⬇️ 27. Los Angeles Chargers

Last year: No. 26

Total: 25 points

Playoff years: 15 | Final Fours: 3 | Super Bowl losses: 1 | Super Bowl wins: 0

Last decade: 2 points

Average: 0.43

28. Carolina Panthers

Last year: No. 28

Total: 20 points

(Established 1995)

Playoff years: 8 | Final Fours: 2 | Super Bowl losses: 2 | Super Bowl wins: 0

Last decade: 7 points

Average: 0.69 points per season in 29 seasons of existence

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Tier Six

The Featherweights

⬆️ 29. Detroit Lions

Last year: No. 31

Total: 17 points

Playoff years: 13 | Final Fours: 2 | Super Bowl losses: 0 | Super Bowl wins: 0

Last decade: 5 points

Average: 0.29

We must definitely speak about it when the Lions make their first NFC Championship Game since 1991. Those three points pushed them from 31st to 29th and they can actually rise out of the Featherweight division if they can do it again. Team Dan Campbell here and he has a chance to be king of that city and state if he keeps this franchise on the right tracks and they sure look like they are capable of being good for a bit.

⬇️ 30. Arizona Cardinals

Last year: No. 29

Total: 15 points

Playoff years: 9 | Final Fours: 1 | Super Bowl losses: 1 | Super Bowl wins: 0

Last decade: 5 points

Average: 0.26

⬇️ 31. Jacksonville Jaguars

Last year: No. 30

Total: 14 points

(Established 1995)

Playoff years: 8 | Final Fours: 3 | Super Bowl losses: 0 | Super Bowl wins: 0

Last decade: 4 points

Average: 0.5 points per season in 29 seasons of existence

32. Houston Texans

Last year: No. 32

Total: 7 points

(Established 2002)

Playoff years: 7 | Final Fours: 0 | Super Bowl losses: 0 | Super Bowl wins: 0

Last decade: 5 points

Average: 0.32 points per season in 22 seasons of existence

There is periodically talk about Houston passing Dallas in terms of Texas relevance and while I understand that CJ Stroud is more interesting right now than more Dak Prescott and Mike McCarthy in our lives, I think it is difficult to express how little the Texans have accomplished in 22 years of football. They appear to be on the right path, but they are still waiting for their first relevant post-season run. That is required before we take too many big and historical claims very seriously.

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Well, there you have it. Please comment below on your thoughts and if you spot a factual error of any kind, please alert me. I try to keep these records with great accuracy, but I also am quite capable of errors.

Also, all my data can be found here on this handy google doc of my work.