On the eve of the slowest sports day of the year, ESPN’s Bill Barnwell dropped his comprehensive list of the 25 greatest NFL teams of the past 25 years.
With 2025 as the quarter-century mark of the 21st century, lists like this across sports and pop culture have been popping up on social feeds throughout the year. And with the Patriots being the definitive team of this millennium, the Flying Elvis has been making appearances towards the top of these lists across the board.
So when Barnwell included four Patriots teams in his top 25, it came as no surprise.
But when you see which of those four teams Barnwell chose to hand the top spot to, it may make you do a double take.
Here’s Barnwell’s complete list of the top 25 NFL teams of the past 25 years, with the teams from New England bolded:
25. 2018 Los Angeles Rams (15-4, lost to Patriots in Super Bowl LIII)
24. 2004 Pittsburgh Steelers (16-2, lost to Patriots in AFCCG)
23. 2014 Seattle Seahawks (14-5, lost to Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX)
22. 2022 Buffalo Bills (14-4)
21. 2008 Pittsburgh Steelers (15-4)
20. 2011 San Francisco 49ers (14-4)
19. 2015 Carolina Panthers (17-2)
18. 2023 Baltimore Ravens (14-5)
17. 2022 Philadelphia Eagles (16-4)
16. 2022 Kansas City Chiefs (17-3)
15. 2013 Denver Broncos (15-4)
14. 2009 New Orleans Saints (16-3)
13. 2000 Baltimore Ravens (16-4)
12. 2007 Indianapolis Colts (13-4)
11. 2016 New England Patriots (17-2, won Super Bowl LI)
10. 2001 St. Louis Rams (16-3, lost to Patriots in Super Bowl XXXVI)
9. 2019 Kansas City Chiefs (15-4)
8. 2010 Green Bay Packers (14-6)
7. 2003 New England Patriots (17-2, won Super Bowl XXXVIII)
6. 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers (15-4)
5. 2017 Philadelphia Eagles (16-3, beat Patriots in Super Bowl LII)
4. 2024 Philadelphia Eagles (18-3)
3. 2004 New England Patriots (17-2, won Super Bowl XXXIX)
2. 2013 Seattle Seahawks (16-3)
1. 2007 New England Patriots (18-1, lost Super Bowl XLII)
…yes, you read that correctly.
“No, the best team of the past 25 years did not win a Super Bowl,” wrote Barnwell for ESPN.com. “Would this even be a debate if Asante Samuel caught that interception on the final drive? If David Tyree didn't bring in the Helmet Catch?
“Of course not. Samuel didn't and Tyree did, and it's why these Patriots aren't the most successful team of the past 25 years, even if they came within moments of being the first 19-0 team in league history.”
Apologies to anyone who found those last two paragraphs triggering, even with six Lombardis in the trophy case. 2007 will always sting in a way that can’t be described unless you lived it. Heck, even Tom Brady is on the record saying he’d trade two Super Bowl rings just to have the one from ’07, which would have (as we all know) completed the only 19-0 campaign in NFL history.
But even with as great as the 2007 Patriots were, does it make sense to have a team that didn’t win a ring atop this mountain?
“Obviously, winning pro football's biggest prize is a valuable item to put on a resume,” wrote Barnwell. “I weighted things disproportionately in favor of teams that took home the Lombardi Trophy, but I'm considering what those teams did over the entire season, not just how their campaign ended.”
And with that in mind, it’s hard to argue with Barnwell’s placement of a team that suffered what most Pats fans would consider the most devastating championship game loss in the history of Boston sports.
“Over a full year, it's tough to find a team that can realistically compete with the 2007 Pats, even with Super Bowl wins on their resume,” wrote Barnwell. “They were the only one-loss team of the era. They had the largest average margin of victory (17.5 points) by more than a field goal over the next-best team. The 2000 Ravens were the only team with a better pythagorean expectation over the regular season and postseason combined.
“You remember (or have heard about) the offense, but the defense wasn't too shabby, either. The Patriots ranked sixth in EPA per play and fourth in points allowed per drive. The defense contributed six touchdowns during the regular season, which seems almost unfair given what the offense was doing on a weekly basis. Getting to play from ahead as often as they did obviously made life easier for Mike Vrabel & Co., but even with win probability constraints on their performance and measure what they did when each team had at least a 20% chance of winning, New England ranked fourth in third-down conversion rate and QBR allowed.”
The numbers are nice and all, but they’re not really necessary. We all know what we saw, and it was special.
Apex Tom Brady throwing to post-prime Randy Moss felt like someone turned fair trades off in Madden...but in real life. And with Brady being gifted Wes Welker as a slot receiver seemingly built in a lab for the Patriots offense, New England had both the best over-the-top wideout and underneath-the-defense wideout in the NFL. It was truly something to behold.
But they didn’t finish the job. And in the 24 hours since this list came out, the cries for placing the 2004 Patriots over the 2007 Patriots have been loud on social media.
What does Tom E. Curran of NBC Sports Boston think of Barnwell’s rankings?
“I love that,” said Curran on Tuesday’s Jones and Keefe. “I remember saying when that game ended, and it was the 42nd [Super Bowl], ‘The Patriots go from being the best team of all-time to being the 43rd best team of all time.’ And it just builds, because they didn't win a Super Bowl.
“But yeah, I wholly agree with that. That level of dominance - really only saw it from the Bears in ’85 and maybe the 2000 Ravens. But that team on both sides of the ball, with the Vrabels and the Harrisons and Asante Samuel - for as much poop as he'll get for what happened in that game, I mean, that's a Pro Bowl-level player. And we could just talk about the players on those teams forever, [like] Logan Mankins. So yeah, I love that. I was surprised that he did that, but I agree.”
In addition to 2007 (1st), 2004 (3rd), 2003 (7th) and 2016 (11th), the 2001, 2014 and 2018 Patriots were all listed as “honorable mentions” at the top of the article.
“Including their playoff run, [the 2001] Patriots played the second-easiest schedule of any Super Bowl winner over the past 25 years, as they had just two wins over teams with winning records during the regular season,” Barnwell wrote of the team that started it all.
“Their playoff wins were all narrow, although whatever good fortune they might have come across in the victory over the Raiders was offset by losing Brady to an ankle injury in the second quarter of the AFC Championship Game, with Bledsoe coming back in to help top Kordell Stewart and the Steelers. Their best game of the season, quite comfortably, came in the Super Bowl. Many of the players on this team would eventually help turn New England into a dynasty, but there were much better versions of the Patriots to come.”
It’s also worth noting that Brady’s 2020 Buccaneers team was among the honorable mentions, along with both Giants teams to beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl.