Last week, ESPN.com ranked the 80 Super Bowl teams. We decided to take a peek and offer some thoughts.

Jamie Malanowski, managing editor: One of the interesting things from these arbitrary rankings is that there’s little relationship between exceptional teams and good games.

We tend to think that the best games are those between two closely matched clubs. Working from this list, we can get the best pairings just by adding the rankings of the two teams. The pair with the lowest number should yield the best game.

In this case, the pair with the lowest number is the 1978 Steelers (3) and the 1978 Cowboys (19). Their combined score of 22 is by far the lowest combo, and in fact, the hard-fought 35-31 Steelers win was close and exciting and one of the best Super Bowls ever.

But a look at the next nine games shows far more uneven results:

1984: 49ers 38, Dolphins 16. Combined rank: 39 (Lousy game)

1983: Raiders 38, Redskins 9. Combined rank: 55 (Awful game)

2004: Patriots 24, Eagles 21. Combined Rank: 55 (Good game)

1998: Broncos 34, Falcons 19. Combined rank: 56 (Lousy game)                                

1997: Broncos 31, Packers 24. Combined rank: 57 (Good game)                                 

1989: 49ers 55, Broncos 10. Combined rank: 59 (Horrid game)                                 

1991: Redskins 37, Bills 24. Combined rank: 62 (Lousy game)                                   

1972: Dolphins 14, Redskins 7. Combined rank: 66 (Decent game)

2001: Patriots 20, Rams 17. Combined rank: 70 (Good game)

Just to pile on, only five other games score in the 70s:

1971: Cowboys 24, Dolphins 3. Combined rank: 71 (Boring game)  

1976: Raiders 32, Vikings 14. Combined rank: 71 (Awful game)                                

1990: Giants 20, Bills 19. Combined rank: 76 (Good game)                                     

1985: Bears 46, Patriots 10. Combined rank: 78 (Brutal game)                                       

1974: Steelers 16, Vikings 6. Combined rank: 78. (Not really that close)

Some other close, exciting games: Rams 23, Titans 16, in 1999, with a combined rank of 86; and Patriots 32, Panthers 29, in 2003, with a combined rank of 112.

So maybe this means that the caliber of the teams has nothing to do with the quality of the games. Which means that perhaps we should pull the names of the contending teams out of hat, and hope that Detroit and Oakland give us an exciting contest. 

Conor Hogan, fashion assistant and what we believe to be the only Seahawks fan outside the Great Northwest: I must stay loyal to my 2005 Seattle Seahawks. This is a powerhouse team that included NFL MVP Shaun Alexander, shoe-in Hall of Famer Mike Holmgren and five other Pro-Bowlers. Had it not been for numerous late-season injuries, some dropped passes and a few questionable calls, they would be the defending Super Bowl champions and vaulted into ESPN’s top 25.

Matt DeMazza, assistant managing editor: Yes, Seattle ran roughshod through the tough NFC West, in which the great St. Louis Rams finished 6-10—good for second place.

Of course, these lists that have become en vogue in the past decade or so are mostly silly, meant as little more than water-cooler and radio-talk fodder. That said, I guess the only two things I’d say about the list are that it’s hard to compare pre-salary-cap teams with post-salary-cap teams and that for one-year domination, I’d probably put the 1985 Bears atop the list instead of the 1989 Niners. Other than that, it’s hard to squabble about the rest.

Malanowski: I do notice with bitter satisfaction that my beloved 1968 Baltimore Colts were ranked above the Jets, just one of two instances where the losing team was ranked above the winner (the other was the Rams-Pats of 2001). As Tom Callahan points out in his excellent new biography, Johnny U: The Life and Times of John Unitas, the result of the game, which ended 16-7 could have been very different. Unitas did not get along well with the stiff-necked coach, Don Shula, who perhaps was too keen on proving that his Colts could win without the legendary Unitas. Shula stuck with QB Earl Morrall, who in substituting for the injured Unitas had won the league MVP, even though Morrall was having a lousy game. Unitas didn’t get into the game until the fourth quarter, drove the Colts for one score and had them on the move. Had Unitas come in at half time, as he was ready to do, the Colts may have won. Then what? Joe Namath’s guarantee is remembered like Fred "The Hammer" Williamson’s boast. The leagues decide not to merge. The AFL folds. Decades later, Donald Trump’s USFL becomes the first league to successfully challenge the NFL. 

Dave Pfister, assistant editor and resident old-timer: Eh? No Bulldogs? Why I bet Jim Thorpe alone could beat your 49ers with both legs tied behind his back. And who in Sam Hill is this Jose Mantanas, anyway? Sounds like some thievin' Barbary Coast bandito. Ah, you kids with your namby-pamby Super Bowl and your broadcast televisions and your automobile advertisements and your rock and roll bands. In my day we had the Championship Game and the only TV we had was the crazy hobo in Buchanan Park, and the only cars we had were horses, and the only entertainment we had was Smitty changing horseshoes like the dickens at halftime. He could do 30, hell, 40 shoes before the teams got back onto the field! Poor fella was killed on account of a kick in the head during the '26 playoffs. His own horse, too. Wardrobe malfunction, the papers called it.