I'll say again, and please read carefully. The New England Patriots, who won 3 SB in 4 years, were not only a great team, but one of only a handful of NFL dynasties. However, in comparison to the other dynasties, the Pats were less dominant, and aided with more good fortune during their run.
They won their titles by a total of 9 points, and had at least 3 game altering plays VERY late in three separate games that were more the product of CHANCE than their excellence. If not for this chance, the Pats excellence would not have been enough to win 3 titles in 4 years. Exhibit A is the tuck play against the Raiders. Without that chance occurrence, the Pats don't even get to that first title game.
You are correct about there being chance plays in every game. However, a chance play, or any play early in a game has much less impact than a play late in a game. Why? Because early in a game there is still quite a bit of contest left to determine the outcome. A team can recover from early misfortune because there is time to regroup, and develop a new strategy based on the circumstances. Late in a game, the opportunities to compensate for an error are severely limited, mostly by time.
I don't recall any of the other dynasties being the recipients of UNFORCED errors in the closing minutes of big games. An unforced error in football is an error where the opposition had no direct effect on the player making the error. Such as the tuck play, a fumble that wasn't a fumbe. Or, Drew Bennett dropping a pass on 4th down in a position to win the game. Or, a kicker who kicks the ball out of bounds on the kickoff.
I don't recall any close SB's in other dynasties that had an impactful play that was an unforced error. I don't know of any other dynasty having tuck play in their history. Furthermore, I don't recall any other dynasty being so closely matched, where the outcome was in question until the very end, in all of their SB's, like with the Pats. Every other SB dynasty was DOMINANT. There was never an opportunity for chance because they so thoroughly dominated the opposition that their games were out of reach in the final minutes.
The Patriots were a great team. Not as great as the Joe Greene Steelers. Not as great as the Lott and Montana 49'ers. Not as great as the Smith, Irvin Cowboys. Not as great as the Starr Packers. Not as great as the Greise, Czonka Dolphins. Not as great as the Elway, Terrell Davis Broncos. But, better than the Staubach Cowboys. Better than the Gibbs Redskins. Better than the Plunkett Raiders. Better than the Lawrence Taylor Giants (only slightly, though).
I'm not anti-anything. I'm just analyzing the data.
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