Oh that winning feeling
All Foxboro’s known for 16 seasons in row
When the fifth Super Bowl banner gets unveiled tonight, it’ll be another reminder that the dynasty built in Foxboro under Bill Belichick will go down as one of the most dominant runs in NFL history.
It doesn’t matter how this season plays out. Five Super Bowl titles in 17 seasons has etched a permanent place in NFL annals for Belichick and Tom Brady.
However, there’s another record in reach for the Patriots that would bolster their claim to owning the most dominant stretch in NFL history.
Since 2001, the Patriots have recorded 16 straight winning seasons with at least nine victories, tied for the longest streak in NFL history.
Think about that: There are high school juniors across New England who have lived their entire lives without experiencing a losing Patriots season.
The last time the Patriots failed to post a winning record, Belichick was in his first campaign in Foxboro in 2000 and the Patriots went 5-11. Brady was a rookie who played in just one game in mop-up duty.
The team still played in old Foxboro Stadium, and Bill Clinton was President of the United States.
Times have changed, but what hasn’t in the 16 seasons since is the culture of winning that has permeated the Patriots, even as the principals around Brady and Belichick have rotated.
The only team to match the Patriots’ current run of nine-win seasons was the San Francisco 49ers from 1983-1998. (The Dallas Cowboys had 20 straight winning seasons from 1966 to 1985 — with three Super Bowl wins along the way — but in two of them they failed to reach the nine-win plateau. The Oakland Raiders had also 16 straight winning seasons, with two Super Bowl titles, from 1965-80, but failed to reach nine wins in four of those.
The 49ers won four Super Bowls during their 16year run (which started two seasons after they won Super Bowl XVI) and were a dominant force, but their dynasty had a few key differences with these Patriots.
While Brady and Belichick will forever be linked atop the Patriots in this era, the Niners were led by three head coaches (Bill Walsh, George Seifert and Steve Mariucci), and two Hall of Fame quarterbacks (Joe Montana and Steve Young).
Walsh, also a Hall of Famer, got the dynasty started with Montana and receiver Jerry Rice. It was Walsh’s blueprint, and infamous West Coast offense, that laid the groundwork for the 16year run. Walsh retired following his third Super Bowl win in 1988 and handed the team over to Seifert, his defensive coordinator, who went on to win two more Super Bowls there.
Brady, growing up in the San Francisco area, had a chance to watch two of the best quarterbacks ever play for the 49ers in that era. Montana posted a flawless 4-0 record in Super Bowls and a perfect 11-0 touchdown-to-interception ratio in those games. Young was the MVP in Super Bowl XXIX before earning his way into Canton.
But the 49ers’ run also happened mostly before the onset of NFL free agency and the institution of the salary cap. The Patriots have built their dynasty in a period where teams can reload on the fly, and it can be hard for successful teams to retain players under the cap.
That the Patriots faced those challenges along the way makes their five Super Bowl titles and the 16-season run of winning records since the turn of the millennium all the more impressive.
That the stretch has been led by the same coach and quarterback is even more remarkable. Belichick and Brady have the longestrunning coach-quarterback partnership in NFL history, with their 16 seasons three more than Don Shula and Dan Marino in Miami.
Ultimately, the Patriots are seeking to join the Pittsburgh Steelers as the only franchises to win six Super Bowls. But along the way to that goal, it’d be a nice addition to their resume to notch the longest stretch of consecutive seasons with at least nine wins by doing it for the 17th straight year.