Recently on Wednesday Wizengamot, we have examined the definitive parameters for using the term “dynasty” in sports commentary. Today, we present the list of “official” National Football League dynasties as we see it here on The Daily McPlay. You don’t have to agree with us; that’s fine. We have outlined our definition(s), based on the actual meaning of language, and we use that as the basis for this list. Onward!

[Editor’s Note: Last week, we did the NBA, so you can check that out, too, if you dare. We start this list with the 1950s, as we did the same for our awards analyses miniseries, as explained here. And yes, we’re including the AFL, too!]

1950–1955 Cleveland Browns: It’s ironic the first modern dynasty belongs to a franchise which has never played in a Super Bowl. Yet when the Browns joined the NFL, they were incredibly dominant, playing in six consecutive league championship games, winning three of them—including back-to-back efforts in 1954-1955 after losing three straight title tilts from 1951–1953. Think about that level of dominance … pretty nuts.

1952–1957 Detroit Lions: A double dose of irony, of course, with this franchise posting a concurrent dynasty in the 1950s next to Cleveland. The Lions went back-to-back in 1952 and 1953, missed out on a three-peat achievement in 1954, and then capped off their run with a 1957 championship. Of course, Detroit went the next 25 seasons with just a single playoff year (1970) in the middle. That’s difficult.

1958–1959 Baltimore Colts: This team famously won the first overtime game in NFL Championship Game history and then doubled down the following year, with both victories coming over the New York Giants. A quirk about this dynasty is that the Colts failed to reach the postseason in the five seasons prior to 1958 (see above) and the four seasons after 1959. These two stand out as very isolated, which looks a little weak overall.

1960–1961 Houston Oilers: The American Football League started itself with a little dynasty here, as the Oilers also lost the 1962 AFL title game, coming close to a three-peat streak right off the bat. This a forgotten group, we think, in the sense the new league was itself a curiosity, and not a lot of people took it seriously until later in the decade with the Super Bowl III victory for the AFL. Too bad; these guys were fun!

1961–1967 Green Bay Packers: This is the most dominant group ever, really, surpassing the Browns’ achievement above, due to five NFL championships in a seven-season stretch, including the first two Super Bowls. The Packers redefined “winning” with the first official three-peat run of the modern NFL era (1965-1967). They also played in three straight title games from 1960-1962, winning the latter two to repeat first.

1964-1965 Buffalo Bills: A second AFL dynasty that most football fans know little about, of course, unless they’ve been reading our stuff. Since this achievement happened right before the Super Bowl era, few people bother to learn about it or take it seriously—which is stupid, of course. There are great sports stories to be told from time periods gone by and long past, and these teams certainly belong in that elite category.

1972–1973 Miami Dolphins: Everyone knows about the perfect season in 1972, because we hear about it every NFL campaign. Of course, the Dolphins also lost Super Bowl VI before winning Super Bowl VII and Super Bowl VIII. If it wasn’t for the World Football League and the dynasty next on the list, maybe Miami could have extended its run a little longer. Still, the 17-0 legend and the repeat titles are worthy memories.

1974–1979 Pittsburgh Steelers: After making just one postseason appearances in the franchise’s first 39 years of existence, the team dominated the 1970s with four Super Bowl victories in a six-year stretch. The Steel Curtain went back-to-back in both 1974-1975 and 1978-1979, in the process stopping Miami from a three-peat run of its own and halting the Dallas Cowboys’ attempt at repeat titles, too. Incredible feats!

1981–1989 San Francisco 49ers: Our local dynasty, the 49ers also overcame decades of suckitude to establish new standards for excellence. The team had just made four playoff appearances in 31 seasons of existence when it came out of seemingly nowhere to win Super Bowl XVI and then pretty much own the 1980s. While the 1984 title team may have been the best, the repeat championships in 1988-1989 were key.

1992–1995 Dallas Cowboys: While no team has won three straight Super Bowls, these teams came closest with three championships in a four-year stretch, stopped only by the first year of free agency in the league, really (and a team that cheated the new salary cap, too). Dallas kicked off this run with back-to-back Super Bowl wins over the Bills, who actually lost four consecutive title games to miss out on dynasty status there.

1997–1998 Denver Broncos: While an isolated dynasty of sorts, this one is very famous thanks to its quarterback and a handful of other sociocultural reasons that still endure today in collective memory. The Broncos stopped the Packers from a repeat in 1997 and then pulled one of their own off unexpectedly as two of its biggest stars basically disappeared from the sport right afterward, rarely to be seen again.

2001–2004 New England Patriots: Yes, this deserves an asterisk, as we all know (Spygate). We really hate to waste any space here on cheaters, but we have an obligatory responsibility here to acknowledge what happened—including back-to-back Super Bowl victories in 2003 and 2004—with factual reality of fraud and deceit, which is necessary for context that modern journalists so often refuse to include in their work.

2019–2023 Kansas City Chiefs: Our final entrant on this list may not be done yet, although the current signs suggest the pulse is weakening. But we digress, as the Chiefs have been to seven consecutive AFC Championship games from 2018-2024, while winning three Super Bowls and losing two others in the process. It’s been an incredible run for the franchise that won Super Bowl IV and not much else earlier.

There you have it; that’s our list. We realize many dominant teams aren’t here, but those teams never won back-to-back titles, which is the basest requirement here as explained from the start. We apologize to the 1970s Dallas Cowboys, for example, or 1982-1991 Washington Redskins, even. However, we do not apologize to the 2007-2011 New York Giants or the 2010s Patriots—for obvious reasons previously explored here.

So, this is what we leave you with in the end: 13 dynasties. Hope it works for you as well as it works for us.