Ranking Every Super Bowl Champion Since 2010
A record breaking year for viewership in the NFL came to an unceremonious halt last Sunday. Many Americans were passionately rooting against Kansas City, the previous back-to-back champions, but were still disappointed by a game that was effectively over by halftime. The game really speaks to a larger lesson about football, that the whole season of play is meaningless if you can’t put the final game together. Below, I rank every Super Bowl championship team, putting an emphasis on how they played in the postseason and, of course, championship game.
2019 Kansas City Chiefs
2013 Seattle Seahawks
2022 Kansas City Chiefs
2016 New England Patriots
2023 Kansas City Chiefs
2024 Philadelphia Eagles
2010 Green Bay Packers
2014 New England Patriots
2012 Baltimore Ravens
2015 Denver Broncos
2018 New England Patriots
2011 New York Giants
2021 Los Angeles Rams
2017 Philadelphia Eagles
2020 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
2019 Kansas City Chiefs
It’s hard to find a weakness in the 2019 Kansas City Chiefs team. Their offense was loaded with prime Tyreek Hill, a young and electric Travis Kelce, and probably the best offensive line of any of the Chiefs’ championship teams. The defense was equally impressive. Headlined by a ferocious defensive line duo of Frank Clark and Chris Jones, but also an underrated secondary with Tyrann “Honeybadger” Mathieu and Kendall Fuller. At a 12-4 regular season record, it’s fair to say this team lost some games they should not have, but when it mattered the most they came together. Their playoff run had an average margin of victory of fourteen points, including against the 49ers in a Super Bowl that most people had San Francisco winning. For me, it’s hard to point to any other team since 2010 that would have outmatched and outwitted this deep and stacked roster.
2024 Philadelphia Eagles
Most people might believe I put this year’s Super Bowl champion Eagles team too low on my list at number six. It’s true that the 2024 Eagles had one of the best defenses we’ve seen among any championship team this decade, but it’s hard to look past this offense which looked immobile at times. They put up good numbers in the Super Bowl and NFC championship, but were held fairly in check in each of their other two playoff games and, to be frank, throughout most of the season. Jalen Hurts ranked 20th in both passing yards and passing touchdowns this season. When Saquon Barkley is in the backfield, I understand you might not need to throw it as often, but Hurts didn’t always show up in a way you’d like your starting quarterback to. I think they have a tough time competing with the likes of the Legion of Boom 2013 Seattle defense or the high flying, high scoring offense of 2019 Chiefs.
2020 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
I don’t think anyone expected Tom Brady to take the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on a deep playoff run when he joined the team in 2020. There was plenty of talent that surrounded him, between Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, and that impenetrable offensive line, but at 43 years old and in an entirely new scheme most fans thought his move was more of a transition into retirement than anything else. Instead, Brady and company ran through the NFC en route to the Buccaneers second title, and Brady’s seventh. They were a great team, and Brady was able to shed off questions about his age with a quick and decisive composure that quarterbacks to this day could learn from. Do I think they could have competed and overcome most of these other champions? No. I think they struck luck facing a Chiefs team in the Super Bowl that was depleted with injuries, and hitting the road as a wild card team against empty stadiums, but I do think they serve as a eternal symbol to NFL teams that it’s not always about how you get there, but the way in which you finish.
