Where does Seattle’s defense belong in the all-time pecking order? It’s a question that can be more accurately answered in a month. If this defense leads the Seahawks to another Super Bowl, it would be able to stake a nice claim.
Seattle has allowed the fewest points in the league three years in a row. That hasn’t been done since Minnesota in 1969-71.
The Seahawks have allowed an average of 15.2 points per game over the last three years. That’s about 8 points lower than the NFL average in this span (teams in the last three years have scored about 23 points per game).
The Bears in the mid-‘80s are similar. They allowed 13.2 points per game in the 1984-86 seasons, when NFL offenses were averaging 21 points per game.
For pure difference between a defense and what the rest of the league was doing, the numbers suggest the Monsters of the Midway were the top defense.
But I’m not as high on that defense as others. They brought a new dimension to the game, where they crowded the line of scrimmage, went hard after quarterbacks and caused a lot of problems. But once offenses figured out that they could spread the field, that defensive approach became obsolete.
In grading defenses, I want to see some championships – that’s the ultimate goal. And I want to see the unit come up big in the big games against big opponents.
The New York Giants of the late ‘80s, I think, tend to get overlooked. They had Lawrence Taylor, Carl Banks and a bunch of other good players. They had Bill Belichick drawing up the schemes. And it’s a unit that played really well in some big situations. In the 1990 season, they went on the road in the NFC Championship game and won 15-13 against a San Francisco juggernaut that was headed for a three-peat. Then that defense came up big again in beating the K-Gun Bills 20-19 – a team that had scored 51 points in the AFC title game a week earlier.
That New York Giants group won two Super Bowls. The Bears and the Ravens (2000 season) had great defenses, but those groups made it to only one Super Bowl each.
Seattle was remarkably impressive last year in dismantling a record-breaking Denver offense. If the Seahawks can lift another Lombardi, they’ll definitely be able to make a case that their defense belongs with the all-time greats.
Here (strictly off numbers) are the best defenses in three-year periods since the league went to a 16-game schedule in 1978.
| THREE-YEAR DEFENSES SINCE 1978 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Years | Team | Points | Avg | Pct |
| 1984-1986 | Chicago | 13.2 | 21.1 | 62.5% |
| 2012-2014 | Seattle | 15.2 | 22.8 | 66.7% |
| 1985-1987 | Chicago | 14.2 | 21.2 | 66.9% |
| 2000-2002 | Philadelphia | 14.5 | 20.9 | 69.3% |
| 1986-1988 | Chicago | 14.6 | 20.8 | 70.1% |
| 2011-2013 | San Francisco | 16.1 | 22.7 | 71.1% |
| 1999-2001 | Baltimore | 14.7 | 20.6 | 71.6% |
| 1983-1985 | Chicago | 15.6 | 21.5 | 72.3% |
| 2010-2012 | Pittsburgh | 16.1 | 22.2 | 72.5% |
| 2011-2013 | Seattle | 16.5 | 22.7 | 72.7% |
| 1984-1986 | San Francisco | 15.4 | 21.1 | 72.8% |
| 2001-2003 | Philadelphia | 15.3 | 20.9 | 73.3% |
| 2001-2003 | Tampa Bay | 15.4 | 20.9 | 73.7% |
| 2008-2010 | Baltimore | 16.1 | 21.8 | 73.9% |
| 1979-1981 | Philadelphia | 15.1 | 20.4 | 74.0% |
| 2008-2010 | Pittsburgh | 16.2 | 21.8 | 74.3% |
| 1990-1992 | New Orleans | 14.3 | 19.3 | 74.3% |
| 2000-2002 | Tampa Bay | 15.5 | 20.9 | 74.4% |
| 2009-2011 | Pittsburgh | 16.3 | 21.9 | 74.5% |
| 2002-2004 | Tampa Bay | 15.9 | 21.3 | 74.6% |
| 1983-1985 | San Francisco | 16.3 | 21.5 | 75.8% |
| 2009-2011 | Baltimore | 16.6 | 21.9 | 75.8% |
| 1980-1982 | Philadelphia | 15.6 | 20.5 | 76.0% |
| 1981-1983 | Miami | 16.0 | 21.0 | 76.1% |
| 2004-2006 | Baltimore | 16.0 | 20.9 | 76.5% |
| 1989-1991 | San Francisco | 15.2 | 19.9 | 76.5% |
| 1985-1987 | San Francisco | 16.2 | 21.2 | 76.5% |
| 2002-2004 | Philadelphia | 16.4 | 21.3 | 77.0% |
| 1995-1997 | Kansas City | 16.1 | 20.9 | 77.1% |
| 1990-1992 | San Francisco | 14.9 | 19.3 | 77.2% |
| 1998-2000 | Baltimore | 16.2 | 20.9 | 77.4% |
| 1995-1997 | San Francisco | 16.3 | 20.9 | 77.8% |
| 1992-1994 | Dallas | 15.0 | 19.2 | 78.0% |
| 1982-1984 | Miami | 16.6 | 21.2 | 78.0% |
| 2007-2009 | Pittsburgh | 17.0 | 21.7 | 78.3% |
| 2000-2002 | Baltimore | 16.3 | 20.9 | 78.3% |
| 2006-2008 | Pittsburgh | 16.8 | 21.5 | 78.4% |
| 2004-2006 | Chicago | 16.4 | 20.9 | 78.5% |
| 1988-1990 | NY Giants | 16.0 | 20.3 | 78.6% |
| 1997-1999 | Tampa Bay | 16.5 | 20.9 | 78.9% |
| 1994-1996 | Dallas | 16.4 | 20.7 | 79.3% |
| 1993-1995 | Dallas | 16.0 | 20.1 | 79.4% |
| 1999-2001 | Tampa Bay | 16.3 | 20.6 | 79.4% |
| 2010-2012 | San Francisco | 17.7 | 22.2 | 79.5% |
| 1989-1991 | NY Giants | 15.8 | 19.9 | 79.5% |
| 1998-2000 | Tampa Bay | 16.6 | 20.9 | 79.6% |
| 2006-2008 | New England | 17.1 | 21.5 | 79.6% |
| 1999-2001 | Pittsburgh | 16.4 | 20.6 | 79.7% |
| 1987-1989 | Cleveland | 16.6 | 20.8 | 79.9% |
| 2005-2007 | Chicago | 16.8 | 21.0 | 79.9% |
—Ian Allan