OK, so I never got around to posting the Championship and Big Game results last year. Philly won, earning their sixth and seventh trophies and moving from fifteenth overall to lucky thirteenth, where they will remain unless jumped. New England moved into a tie with Green Bay with one championship win and one loss, with Green Bay controlling the tie breaker. New England did move from a tie for fourth in terms of total games to sole possession of the number of championship games played from 23 to 25, moving to first. They leap frogged over Pittsburgh, Dallas and the Giants at 24 (where they had a three way tie in total appearances), putting them in second and leaving Green Bay at 5th. Nothing will change the appearances rankings at the top in any of the Championship games. New England will add either one or two games (26 or 27 total).
For people who do not follow this blog, which is everyone but me, let me explain my ranking system. From last year:
Next week, the Hallas and Hunt Trophies will be awarded to the conference champions. The conferences are the heirs to the old leagues, so a conference championship is equivalent to a win in the old league title games. Two weeks later is the Big Game, which also has a trophy. My Ultimate Football Team rankings include all three types of trophies. Currently, Green Bay has the most such championship game trophies with 15, not counting championships where the NFL had no game because it was equivalent to a single division.
From the prior year:
I do not count non-title game wins, such as division championships and pre-NFL league championships, including those won by the Packers and others before there was a Title Game. If I were to count the old victories, I would also have to count equivalent wins - which would be division championships. That would be quite a job because my spreadsheet contains annual rankings, allowing me to track a team's position over time. Even excluding early non-title game wins, Green Bay was an early leader, who then ebbed and regrouped in the 1960s, ebbing again until recently. Their last Super Bowl has them firmly in place in the top spot with 15 wins and nothing that happened this year changed that.
Now that we are all caught up, let us talk about this year. If New England wins next week they will quietly possess more AFL, AFC and NFL titles than any other team in the playoff era with 16. If they win the Big Game, they will have an insurmountable 17 wins, although that is what everyone said about Green Bay when they had 13 in the playoff era.
I have already dealt with their lead in total appearances, but never say never about being caught. Once Green Bay, Dallas or New York rebuild to championship caliber (and Brady retires), the hunt could go on quickly, with Denver, San Francisco, Washington and Chicago not too far behind once they finish (or start) rebuilding). If another team has the kind of run like New England has, they can catch up into the rarified air of the top ten, which is rounded out by Indianapolis (which lost last night, but barely).
That leads us back to Kansas City. Next week, they will make their seventh appearance. That will tie them with Seattle just by suiting up, with a ranking of 20th (and pushing the 21s to 22 - except themselves, of course). There are more teams with 6 appearances than I really want to list right now. Winning the AFC against New England (which involves getting through the New England line. Not an easy thing to do) will give them 8 appearances for showing up at the Big Game, win or lose. That will kick Seattle down to 21st and the field stays at 22nd.
This is where things get complicated. Kansas City currently has four trophies and 16th position with Baltimore and Detroit. An AFC win and a Big Game loss gives them five trophies and sole possession of 16th, dropping the other two to 17th. If they also win the Big Game they will have six trophies with only four losses Easy so far.
The L.A. Rams have something to say about their ranking. If they also win next week L.A. will have seven wins and eleven losses, moving them to 14th. If the Rams lose the NFC championship (not unlikely), they will move to six wins and twelve losses and will stay at 15th, unless KC beats New Orleans, which would drop them to 16th and put the Chiefs into 14th position (moving Buffalo to 14th). If the Rams win the big game, they will have eight trophies with eleven losses and will be tied with Oakland at 11th. Got it?
Not so fast. If New Orleans beats the Rams (also not unlikely), they will have three wins and one loss and move ahead to Tennessee, who is at 3 and 7. If they lose, the Saints to go two and two, staying at 23rd bu allowing Cincinnati and Tampa to join them there in a three way tie. If thee Big Game, the Saints go to four and one. They won't catch up to the Rams but will pull ahead of Kansas City if Kansas City loses to New England (not unlikely), but they would then have to beat New England (more unlikely). That would put them at 16th and move Baltimore, Detroit to 17th and Kansas City to 18th. If the Saints beat the Chiefs, they will be at four and one, but the Chiefs will still have advanced to five and two, with the Chiefs ahead of the Saints in overall victories. Clear enough?
Things will be clearer a week from now, but the contingencies are more fun before we start Conference Championship week. Regardless, by showing up, the Rams will have 18 appearances (tied with Denver and moving out of a tie with Washington, leaving them at 10th in overall appearances. Sorry, Mr. Snyder - oh, not really. But sorry for the DMV (DC, MD, VA). Delaware follows either Baltimore, Philly or DC, so there is no joy for them either. If the Rams also show up (win or lose) to the Big Game, they will have 19 appearances and be tied with Oakland at 7th (Sorry Denver too). Longevity has its bonuses.
By showing up, New Orleans has its fourth appearance, moving it from 30th to 28th, dropping Jacksonville to 31st, alone at last (except for virgin Houston). If they go to the Big Game, they will have five appearances and occupy the 27th seed with Arizona.
In other words, New England could be the current best ever in terms of trophies while the other three teams playing next week will move around, with New Orleans having the most to gain.
Cleveland would be below JAX with Houston at zero, but they got the legacy wins and appearances that should belong to Baltimore. If Baltimore had brought its record with it as Cleveland, it would have had 8 wins and 12 losses and be at 12th position in trophies and tied for SEVENTH with 20 appearances (but we can't talk about that). So much for longevity.
If Baltimore got the same deal as Cleveland, than they would have kept the games wins that the Colts took to Indianapolis before the Manning era, at five wins and three losses. That would give Baltimore as a city nine wins and five losses, with 14 appearances (tied with Minnesota and Philadelphia and, ironically, Cleveland, as the snake's head eats its tail), who would all rise to TWELTH, as Indianapolis would only have three trophies and four losses, tied with with Seattle with seven appearances at TWENTIETH. Meanwhile, Baltimore would be ranked NINTH overall with the city wins. Indy would then be in 24th place, just behind new Orleans (and the head swallows its tail again).
Either way, Baltimore is the victim of a double standard, both the team and the city and Indy would be just another expansion team. So endeth my yearly dirge for the Charmed City. Indeed, if you compare Metros, the DC/Balto area would beat the New York area, even if you stripped away the old Boston wins, which would give the New England, taking the Boston metro off the top for appearances (for a third bite at that snake's tail).
This proves that greatness, while quantifiable, is based to some extent on opinion and arbitrary judgments by the League (who actually count only NFL, AFL and Big game wins and losses and rate the team with no losses as the best. How is that for stupid?.
I may post again next week and hopefully at least in three, with just the final trophy rankings.
