The Kansas City Chiefs’ run over the last six years has been historic. They have made six consecutive AFC Championship Games and appeared in four Super Bowls, winning three of them.
However, according to 33rd team writer Ian Valentino, they only rank as the fifth-best dynasty in NFL history. They have plenty of time to move up the list, but for now, they don’t quite get to the level of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ dynasty of the 1970s, which ranked second on Valentino’s list.
“The Pittsburgh Steelers’ dominance from 1972 to 1979 stands as one of the most powerful eras in NFL history.” Valentino wrote. “At the core of this legendary team was the renowned ‘Steel Curtain’ defense, which boasted future Hall of Famers like Mean Joe Greene, Jack Lambert, Jack Ham, and Mel Blount. This formidable unit quickly earned a reputation as one of the best of all time, consistently overpowering their opponents’ offenses.”
From 1972-1979, the Steelers never had a record worse than 9-5 and qualified for the playoffs every season. They took home four Super Bowls over that period and had two additional conference championship appearances. Twice they led the league in point differential and were in the top four every season except for 1977 when they ranked 10th. This era saw the team feature 10 future Pro Football Hall of Fame players and was led by Hall of Fame head coach Chuck Noll.
The only dynasty ranked ahead of the Steelers on this list is the New England Patriots from 2001-2018. They likely rank ahead of Pittsburgh here due to their longevity and the added degree of difficulty of maintaining a solid roster during the salary cap era.
It would be tough to make an argument for the Steelers to be any higher on this list. The Patriots won more Super Bowls and maintained competitiveness for longer. The only real slant would be to say the collection of individual talent in the Steelers’ dynasty was the best ever assembled, which may be true. Ten Hall of Famers is unheard of.
The list is rounded out by the 1981-1988 San Francisco 49ers at No. 3 and the 1960-1967 Green Bay Packers at No. 4. Both had incredible runs, but I agree with Valentino that they should be below the Steelers here.
Kansas City looms as a threat to take the Steelers down a peg, but it would need to win at least one more Super Bowl to start the conversation in my opinion. For now, only New England can best those legendary Steelers teams from the 70s.
