Since I posted this, the Sporting News poll has appeared on the right hand sidebar. There aren't a lot of people voting at the moment, and if every reader went and clicked on the 1962 Packers, they'd win big. There's no registration or click through link if you click on the poll for the 1962 Packers. Thanks.
The Green Bay Packers were the NFL dynasty of the 1960s. From 1961 to 1967, the Packers won three NFL championships and the first two Super Bowls. In 1960, they lost in the NFL championship game to the Eagles. Six championship games in eight seasons and they were named the champs five times. That's good enough to be named as the top NFL dynasty of all-time. But The Sporting News is looking at the NFL's 10 greatest teams of all-time. Here's why the Packers 1962 team is the greatest of those five championship teams.
They went 13-1 that season, scored 415 points, allowed 148 points, and overall dominated with 267 point differential. The team wasn't just loaded with talent, but Hall of Fame talent. Obviously Vince Lombardi was a Hall of Fame coach, but they had five members of the Hall on offense (QB Bart Starr, C Jim Ringo, OL Forrest Gregg, HB Paul Hornung, and FB Jim Taylor) and five more on defense (LB Ray Nitschke, DT Henry Jordan, DE Willie Davis, S Willie Wood, and DB Herb Adderley). Nearly half the starters were among the best ever.
1962 was also the prime years for most of these players. Starr, Gregg, Hornung, Taylor, Nitschke, Jordan, Davis, and Wood all began their NFL careers in the mid to late 1950s. By the time 1962 rolled around, these young veterans were at their best, and Jim Taylor was the NFL MVP in 1962. By the time their first two Super Bowl victories came in 1966 and 1967, it was near the end of the line for some of these veterans, and in fact Hornung, Taylor, and Ringo had already left.
1962 was a dominant season when the Packers had the greatest collection of their talent from the Lombardi era on the field, and it's why the 1962 Packers were number one team of all-time. Plus that assertion got a little assist from Niners Nation as his statistical analysis backs up the 1962 Packers (while he's still pulling for the 1984 49ers).