1) Packers- Founded in 1919.
9 league championships, 4 Super Bowls and 9 conference titles. There is perhaps no city as intimately intertwined with its sports team as Green Bay is with the Packers. The Packers in large part built professional football to what it is today, and the ultimate hardware still bears their patron saint's name.  
The immortals: Bart Starr, Don Hutson, Reggie White, Brett Favre, Ray Nitschke, Paul Hornung, Forrest Gregg
2) Steelers- Founded in 1933 as the Pittsburgh Pirates before switching to the Steelers in 1940.
6 Super Bowls and 8 conference titles. The Steelers were relative late bloomers compared to their contemporaries, but once the Super Bowl era kicked off, the Steel Curtain soon descended upon the NFL.  Owned by the Rooney family since their inception, they ruled the seventies and are now sneaking up on the Patriots for the team of the 21st Century.
The immortals: Joe Greene, Terry Bradshaw, Jack Lambert, Franco Harris, Rod Woodson, Lynn Swann, Jack Ham.

3) Cowboys- Founded in 1960. 
5 Super Bowls and 10 conference titles. Few outside of Dallas would agree that the Cowboys still deserve to be called "America's team." But in truth, what could be more American than amassing wealth, and on that front, no one holds a candle to the Boys.  Jim Jones has built the Cowboys into the most valuable franchise in America, and are second only to Manchester United worldwide. Though playoff wins are few and far between nowadays (and that's an understatement), their ownership of the nineties alone puts them at a solid third place.  
The immortals: Bob Lilly, Emmitt Smith, Roger Staubach, Randy White, Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin, Tony Dorsett, Deion Sanders

4) Bears- Founded in 1919 as the Decatur Staleys.
8 league championships, 1 Super Bowl, and 4 conference titles. Bests all other teams with both 712 total wins and a .578 win percentage.  
The immortals: Walter Payton, Dick Butkus, Mike Ditka, Bronko Nagurski, Gale Sayers, Sid Luckman, Red Grange, Mike Singletary, Bill George.

5) 49ers- Founded in 1946.
5 Super Bowls and 5 conference titles.
The immortals: Jerry Rice, Joe Montana, Ronnie Lott, Steve Young.

6) Giants- Founded in 1925.
4 league championships, 4 Super Bowls and 11 conference titles. Hold the record for playoff appearances with 31.
The immortals: Lawrence Taylor, Michael Strahan, Emlen Tunnell, Phil Simms, Sam Huff.

7) Browns- Founded in 1946.
8 league championships and 11 conference titles. Though today's Browns are more synonymous with torture and misery, it might be hard to imagine that at one time the North Coast ruled the football universe. Unfortunately, the Super Bowl era has not been kind to Cleveland. 
The immortals: Jim Brown, Otto Graham, Paul Warfield, Lou Groza, Ozzie Newsome.

8) Redskins- Founded in 1932 as the Boston Braves. However, because some perhaps saw the name Braves as being a bit disrespectful towards Native Americans, they changed their moniker to the Redskins a year later. They moved to Washington in 1937, where they've won 2 league championships, 3 Super Bowls and 12 conference titles.
The immortals: Sammy Baugh, Joe Theismann, Darrell Green, Sonny Jurgensen.

9) Raiders- Founded in 1960 as the Oakland Senores.
3 league championships, 1 Super Bowl and 4 conference titles.
The immortals: Gene Upshaw, Jim Otto, Art Shell, Marcus Allen, Willie Brown, Ted Hendricks.

10 Patriots-Founded in 1959 as the Boston Patriots before expanding their base to all of New England in 1971.  
3 Super Bowls and 7 conference titles. A relative newcomer to the football landscape, the Brady/Belichick era has catapulted a once floundering franchise into perennial Super Bowl contenders and good for the tenth greatest pro football franchises of all time.
The immortals: Tom Brady, John Hannah, Mike Haynes, Andre Tippet, Adam Vinatieri.

Add comment