The Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Francisco 49ers 25-22 in Super Bowl LVIII to become the first repeat champion in nearly 20 years. Kansas City is officially a dynasty with three Super Bowl championships in the past five seasons.
Where do the 2023 Chiefs rate among the greatest Super Bowl champions ever?
ESPN’s Aaron Schatz recently ranked the top 57 Super Bowl champions ahead of Sunday’s game using the DVOA metric. Once the game ended, Schatz updated his rankings.
Where were the 2023 Chiefs? No. 42.
Before we reveal No. 1, let’s give a brief explanation of what the DVOA metric is, courtesy of FTN:
DVOA measures a team’s efficiency by comparing success on every single play to a league average based on situation and opponent.
That’s just the ultra-short version of the DVOA. FTN’s website has a much more in-depth explanation.
Back to the list. No. 1 is none other than the 1991 Washington Redskins. We’ll allow Schatz’s own words to explain why Washington came in on top of the list.
Here’s the team that DVOA says is the greatest of all time. Washington led the NFL in points scored and was second in points allowed. It lost by a field goal to the Cowboys after an 11-0 start, then sat its starters in the second half of the final week and lost to the Eagles by two points. That was it for losses.
For the 1991 season, Washington was second in offensive DVOA behind San Francisco, third on defense behind Philadelphia and New Orleans and first on special teams. But what’s more impressive is where Washington ranks in DVOA out of 1,309 teams going all the way back to 1981. It’s the only team to rank in the top 50 for all three phases. (Specifically, Washington is 50th in offense, 36th in defense and 19th in special teams.)
Washington won games during the regular season by scores like 45-0 (Detroit), 34-0 (Phoenix) and 23-0 (Philadelphia). It beat the Falcons 56-17 and the Rams 27-6. Then came the playoffs. A rematch with the No. 8 Falcons ended with a score of 24-7. The Lions made it to the NFC championship despite ranking only 13th in DVOA, only to be pummeled by Washington, 41-10. Washington had a 37-10 lead over the No. 4 Bills with half of the fourth quarter left in Super Bowl XXVI, eventually winning the Lombardi Trophy 37-24 after two late Bills touchdowns sandwiched around a successful onside kick.
This isn’t Schatz cherry-picking the winner. This isn’t a case of Schatz drawing a team from a hat. Schatz uses in-depth data to show Washington’s greatness.
Washington fans have always believed the 1991 team was shortchanged in terms of its greatness. Everything on that team was elite, from the coaching to the offensive line to the running game, passing game, special teams and defense. It’s a shame that era of Washington football doesn’t have more members in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which is a discussion for another day.