The world of American football is one with countless different pieces of trivia and information associated with it. It is also one that is filled with reasons for lovers of the game to get excited about in conversations, given the fact that so much of the sport can be considered to be subjective in nature. What is it, exactly, that makes a team the ‘best’? Is that a subject in which only the trophies won matter, or is it one in which something else can be considered? What might be thought of as being the ‘best’ for one person might not necessarily be the case for someone else.
The subjective nature of it all means that you might not agree with this list, but it is an attempt to offer a sense of what makes a team the ‘best’, which is where you might find yourself disagreeing. The key thing to realise is that this is just our list and it has been written with genuine intentions, as opposed to being ‘clickbait’ or the like. Hopefully, you will at least see why it is we’ve gone for the teams we’ve gone for. It is also important to point out that this is being written before the Super Bowl of 2026, so exact details might have changed by the time you’re reading it.
New England Patriots
There are two teams that have won six Super Bowls apiece at the time of writing, with the New England Patriots being one of them. When you also consider the fact that, by the end of the playoffs in 2023-2024, they had a better playoff win percentage than any other team, it isn’t hard to see how it is that the Pats have made it to the top of our list. By that point, the team had played 59 playoff games and won 37 of them, giving them a playoff win percentage of 62.71%. A member of the American Football Conference, they have sold out every home game they’ve played since 1994.
The team was founded as the Boston Patriots in 1959. They joined the National Football League in 1970 as part of the merger between the NFL and the American Football League. It was when the team moved to Foxborough a year later that a decision was taken to change the team’s name to its current moniker of the New England Patriots. Their success was largely down to the combination of head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady, who won all six of the team’s Super Bowl titles during what became known as the Brady–Belichick era, when they installed a culture referred to as the ‘Patriot Way’.
Pittsburgh Steelers
If the ‘best’ team in American football isn’t the New England Patriots, then there is a solid argument to be made that it is the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Steelers can trace their history back to the 1920s, even though the team only formed in 1933. As with the New England Patriots, they play their games in the regular season as part of the American Football Conference, although they’re in the North division compared to the East division of the Patriots. The fascinating thing about their place on the list is the fact that they were thought of as perennial losers before the AFL-NFL merger.
The Steelers have appeared in the Super Bowl eight times at the time of writing, which puts them tied with the Denver Broncos, the Dallas Cowboys and the San Francisco 49ers in terms of second-most appearances. It is the fact that they’ve won it so many times that sees them on this list, however. Unlike the Patriots, whose success in the Super Bowl all came during the same time period, the Steelers won it for the first time in 1974, winning it three more times in that decade before then winning it twice more in 2005 and 2008. The history of the club’s success was largely thanks to Chuck Noll’s success in picking the best players in the draft.
Miami Dolphins
If you were looking purely at the number of Super Bowl wins achieved by a team, then the Miami Dolphins would have to wait a while before their name appeared on the list. The fact that they have so far only enjoyed two Super Bowl wins isn’t enough to see them here, but what does earn them the right to be talked about amongst the best team ever is the fact that they achieved something that no other team has yet managed. That was back in 1972 when the Miami Dolphins finished the regular season with 14 wins to their name and no defeats, making it to the playoffs.
In the playoffs, the Dolphins took on the Cleveland Browns in the playoffs and won 20-14, then defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 21-17 in the AFC Championship game to set up a Super Bowl game against the team that was known at the time as the Washington Redskins. They won that game 14-7, meaning that they didn’t lose a single game during the entire campaign. That is why the 1972 Miami Dolphins team is considered to be one of the best ever, with no other team also going unbeaten for an entire season, although some have come close to doing it in the past.
Chicago Bears
As with the Miami Dolphins, the Chicago Bears wouldn’t make it into the top part of any list looking at the number of Super Bowl wins achieved, given the fact that they have only won it once to date. It is how the team won that one that warrants a place on this list, however, thanks to the incredibly stingy nature of the side’s defence. They were 12-0 when they came up against the Miami Dolphins, who unwittingly preserved their record of being the only team to enjoy a perfect season when they defeated the Bears and became the only team to manage it across the campaign.
In the playoffs, the Bears beat the New York Giants 21-0 and the LA Rams 24-0 to set up a Super Bowl matchup with the New England Patriots. They won that 46-10 to mean that they had conceded just 198 points across the entire season. The Super Bowl win was also the second-biggest margin that any team has enjoyed in the prestigious event, demonstrating just how dominant they were that season. They made it to the Super Bowl again in 2007, but lost 29-17 to the Indianapolis Colts. Still, that dominant defensive season remains in the record books.
San Francisco 49ers
If the Chicago Bears are going to make the list, then it’s only fair that the San Francisco 49ers get a mention. Whereas the Bears only have one Super Bowl win to speak of, the 49ers aren’t far off matching the New England Patriots and the Pittsburgh Steelers with their six wins apiece, having won it five times themselves. That could see them make this list on its own, but it is what the 49ers did during the 1984-1985 season that sees them stand out from the crowd. As with the Bears a year later, they ended the regular season with a record of 15-1 on their way to the playoffs.
In the playoffs, they first came up against the New York Giants, winning 21-10, then defeated the Bears themselves 23-0 in the NFC Championship game. That meant that they needed to defeat the Miami Dolphins in order to win the Super Bowl, seeing Joe Montana come up against Dan Marino in what was thought of as being the battle of the two quarterbacks. Marino had thrown 48 touchdowns during the regular season, but it was Montana who won the day thanks to throws totalling 331 yards and rushes of 59 yards in what is considered one of the Super Bowl’s finest ever individual performances.