Super Bowl XLIV – Where Do Saints, Colts Fit in History?

Super Bowl XLIV is about offense, offense, a small sprinkle of Darren Sharper and Dwight Freeney’s ankle, and then more offense. This shouldn’t come as a surprise as the grind-em-up offense of the Indianapolis Colts slams in to the top-ranked offense in 2009. The Saints averaged 31.9 points per game making them one of the most efficient offenses to ever star in the Super Bowl.

This shouldn’t, in any way, take away from the greatness of Peyton Manning who is being anointed as the greatest quarterback to ever play the game. Where do the AFC Champion Colts and NFC Champion Saints fit with the best offenses that ever competed in a Super Bowl? In my opinion, even with a victory on Sunday, neither the Saints nor the Colts of 2009 will be better than these teams.

10. 1988 Cincinnati Bengals – Lost Super Bowl XXIII

Despite averaging just 27.0 points per game throughout the regular season, Boomer Esiason and the Bengals were one of the grizzliest offenses in the league at the time. During the late eighties, averaging 27.0 points with four games against the powerful Cleveland Browns and the surreal Houston Oilers is a testament to how strong this team really was. These Bengals led the league in total yards from scrimmage (6,057), points (448) and rush yards (2,710) before getting busted up by Jerry Rice and the Niners at the Super Bowl in Miami.

9. 2006 Indianapolis Colts – Won Super Bowl XLI

Peyton and the Colts ranked second in the entire league with 26.7 points per game, and 4,308 total passing yards that season with the help of veteran Marvin Harrison and an emerging Reggie Wayne who both received over 1,300 yards each. A pass-heavy offense was able to steam roll the defensively loaded Chicago Bears, who had allowed just 15.9 points per game, 29-17.

8. 1979 Pittsburgh Steelers – Won Super Bowl XIV

During the first, golden era of Steeler Nation and the Terrible Towels, Terry Bradshaw, Lynn Swann, John Stallworth and Franco Harris combined to form an unrelenting force of nature. The Steelers led the league in total yards with 391.0 per game (6,258 total) and 412 points while crushing the L.A. Rams to hoist the one before “The Thumb”.

7. 1984 Miami Dolphins – Lost Super Bowl XIV

I’ve been making a case that Drew Brees is beginning to become more like Marino by piling up statistics with no rings to show for it. In 1984, Marino threw for 5,084 yards and 48 touchdowns and made his lone Super Bowl appearance in a loss to the Washington Redskins. I don’t like besmirching Brees anymore than you enjoy reading it, but Brees is going to be carrying one of two things by the end of Sunday’s game – a ring, or the monkey that was born on Marino’s back with his first and only Super Bowl loss.


6. 1992 Dallas Cowboys – Won Super Bowl XXVII

“The Triplets” scored a deafening 52-points to win the Super Bowl behind what’s considered the best offensive line ever built. What was staggering about Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith’s Super Bowl blowout was that this was not a team that blew up the scoreboard during the regular season, instead preferring to chew up the clock and grind down opposing defenses.

5. 1983 Washington Redskins – Lost Super Bowl XVIII
Before Joe Theismann was embarrassing himself as a horrific NFL commentator, he was a two-time Super Bowl Champion and in 1983 won the MVP award. Alongside a legendary bruiser named John “Riggo” Riggins, the ’83 ‘Skins set a new record for points scored by any team in the regular season. While averaging 33.8 points per game, the Redskins torched the scoreboard for 541 points throughout the season. Many will consider this one of the best offenses to ever play in a Super Bowl…but that shouldn’t excuse the fact they lost.

4. 1989 San Francisco 49ers – Won Super Bowl XXIV
This was the season Jerry Rice scored the previous NFL record of 17 receiving touchdowns as Joe Montana hit his stride with the best quarterback rating in league history at the time (112.4). John Taylor and Brent Jones rose to stardom as Steve Young began to make his case for the starting job. The quarterback drama couldn’t derail the league’s best offense in the Super Bowl, however, as the Niners stomped the Denver Broncos 55-10. Montana’s Niners led the league with 29.1 points per game and 391.8 total yards per scrimmage on average.

3. 2007 New England Patriots – Lost Super Bowl XXXVIII
If you’re a Patriots fan who somehow tried to forget this game ever happened, you can go throw up now. Though they played like conservative cowards in the Super Bowl loss to the Giants, the Patriots scored the most points in NFL history during the regular season with 589, giving them an average of 36.8 points per game. On top of that, they had the highest average betting spread to cover as most of their games included a 14-point line in their favor. Somehow they forgot all of this in allowing the underdog Giants to rally past them in what is largely considered the greatest upset in Super Bowl history.

2. 1998 Denver Broncos – Won Super Bowl XXXIII
The crazy part of how good the Denver Broncos were on offense is that they ranked second in the league in total yards with 6,276 and were second overall with 501 points to the Minnesota Vikings. But winning championships count and as far as talent goes, the ’98 Broncos were loaded to the brim. Jon Elway had an MVP season and Terrell Davis broke the 2,000 rushing yard ceiling as the Broncos cruised over the Falcons.

1. 1999 St. Louis Rams – Won Super Bowl XXXIV
Kurt Warner went from backup to bonafide MVP and Marshall Faulk earned his place as a Hall of Famer by becoming one of the most dazzling rushing talents the league had ever seen. Torry Holt and Isaac Bruce didn’t hurt either. The Rams led the league with a mind boggling 526 points and thus the Greatest Show on Turf was born.

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