Belichick, Patriots join 49ers in elite dynastic company

We reported last week that New England had a shot to win 14 games in a season for the fourth time in franchise history.

 

The Patriots accomplished that feat with their 38-7 victory Miami. The organization won 14 games in 2003, 2004 and now in 2010; they won 16 in 2007. Only San Francisco has matched that feat, winnining 15 games in 1984 and 14 games in 1989, 1990 and 1992.

 

The 411 first reported here at ColdHardFootballFacts.com built quite a bit of groundswell around the airwaves and inter-webs this week.

 

Bill Belichick, after all, is the only coach in history to win 14-plus games four times, and he did it in the space of eight seasons (2003-10). The 49ers won 15 games once with Bill Walsh, and 14 games three times with George Seifert, in the space of nine seasons. 

 

No other organization boasts more than two 14-plus win seasons.

 

It's really mindblowing stuff. Remember, as we said at the time, the Packers, Giants and Bears are three of the NFL's oldest, most successful and most glamorous franchises (No. 1, No. 3 and No. 4, respectively, in our epic, all-time franchise rankings that we compiled in 2008). These three high-profile franchises have played a combined 257 NFL seasons and have each enjoyed dynastic periods in their histories.

 

These three organizations have combined for just three seasons of 14 or more victories (granted, 14-win seasons were not much of a reality until the NFL went to a 16-game schedule in 1978; but that's still 99 seasons of comparison). 

Here's a look at the number of double-digit wins in history by each franchise.

 

	First year	16	15	14	13	12	11	10
Arizona	1920						3	3
Atlanta	1966			1	1	1	2	1
Baltimore	1996				1	2	1	2
Buffalo	1960				2	3	3	5
Carolina	1995					2	2
Chicago	1920		1	1	3	2	7	6
Cincinnati	1968					2	2	4
Cleveland	1946			1		3	5	9
Dallas	1960				2	9	6	9
Denver	1960			1	3	3	4	6
Detroit	1930					1	2	5
Green Bay	1921				4	5	5	10
Houston	2002	Ha, ha, ha! That's funny.
Indianapolis	1953			2	3	5	3	7
Jacksonville	1995			1		1	3
Kansas City	1960				3	1	5	6
Miami	1966			2		4	7	8
Minnesota	1961		1			5	5	5
New England	1960	1		3	0	1	7	6
New Orleans	1967				1	2	2	3
N.Y. Giants	1925			1	3	4	5	9
N.Y. Jets	1960					1	2	7
Oakland	1960				2	7	5	4
Philadelphia	1933				1	3	7	10
Pittsburgh	1933		1	1	1	5	5	7
San Diego	1960			1	1	3	5	2
San Francisco	1946		1	3	4	4	1	8
Seattle	1976				1	1		3
St. Louis	1937			1	1	4	5	8
Tampa	1976					1	2	3
Tennessee	1960				3	2	5	7
Washington	1932			2		1	3	10