Best NFL Defense All Time

Introduction

It is an age-old water cooler conversation between sports fans on who the best NFL defense of all time is. There are differing opinions on what determines what great defense is and who the title belongs to. This article lists the best defenses of All Time in NFL history and some of the reasons and players that give them that status.

Passer Pressure

One way to look at the success of a defense is how much pressure they can put on opposing quarterbacks. Here are a couple of defenses that did it the most.

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The 2021 Miami Dolphins were a defensive unit with six players who each had double-digit hits on opposing passers. These stalwarts were led by Emmanuel Ogbah (24 QB hits) and Andrew Van Ginkel (20 QB hits).

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The 2020 Pittsburgh Steelers lead All NFL defenses in QB pressures. The COVID season may have kept many humans away from close contact with each other, but the exception was the Steel City pass-rush on opposing passers. Pittsburgh produced a record 213 pressures on opposing QBs, led by edge rusher TJ Watt’s 15 sacks.

Keeping Scoring to a Minimum

The top responsibility of a defense is to keep opponents from crossing your goal line, or even getting close enough to boot one over the crossbar for that matter. The stingiest D’s in history make our list of greats. Here are three units that did it better on average than any other teams in League history.

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The Tennessee Titans in 2000 allowed only 11.9 points per game on average for the season. That 16-game span ranks them third best all-time in the category. The mastermind was Defensive Coordinator Gregg Williams, who guided stars like Blaine Bishop, Jevon Kearse, Randall Godfrey, and Samari Rolle.

The Titans, remarkably, were the top defense in this category in 2000 as the Baltimore Ravens allowed over 1-½ points less per game (10.3 average).

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The Ravens were the Super Bowl Champs that year, and a big reason was the play of their outstanding defensive unit.  DC Marvin Lewis had the scheme to fit the tremendously talented players in his care. With stars like Ray Lewis, Rod Woodson, Sam Adams, Peter Boulware, Tony Siragusa, Chris McAlister, and Duane Starks, it is no wonder the unit was so stingy on allowing points.

A third team in history is almost equally impressive at keeping opponents off the scoreboard.

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You had to know that, like the 2000 Ravens, the Chicago Bears defense would be in the discussion. The Bears thrived in the Buddy Ryan system a year earlier, but since his departure, Vince Tobin took the reigns and kept the talented defensive in tip-top shape. The ’86 squad allowed over a half point better than they did in their Super Bowl Year of ’85. Mike Singeltary, Vestee Jackson, Wilbur Marshall, Steve McMichael, Dan Hampton, Richard Dent, William Perry, and Dave Duerson made up quite a formidable foe for offenses.

Get That Ball

Turnovers are the great equalizer in football. How many times have we seen the team with more production on offense fall to defeat because of handing the ball over to their opponents? The defenses in the Super Bowl Era, with most takeaways by a defense in a season, take us back in time.

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The 1983 edition of the Washington Defense was highly opportunistic. The unit gathered a total of sixty-one turnovers during the season. Darrell Green had two interceptions and a fumble recovery. Greg Williams had two picks and jumped on four loose balls, but Free Safety Mark Murphy led the team by grabbing nine errant opposition passes.

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The Seattle Seahawks defense in 1984 had a read nose for finding the ball and gaining possession of it. Opponents gave up the ball fifty-eight times to Seattle on the season. An excellent thirty-eight interceptions (ten by Hall of Fame Strong Safety Kenny Easley) fueled the turnover numbers for this defense.

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The Chargers are generally known for having high-powered offenses, but in the franchise’s early days, the defense produced more turnovers than a local bakery. The Chargers also returned nine interceptions for touchdowns, which is still an NFL record. The defense was led by cornerback Charlie McNeil, who had nine interceptions, and linebacker Bob Laraba, who had five interceptions. The 1961 squad of Head Coach Sid Gillman and Defensive Assistants Jack Faulkner (Defensive Backs) and Chuck Noll (Defensive Line) schemed together a team that produced 66 turnovers by the opposition during the regular season and another seven in the AFL Championship game.

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Keeping the Yardage at a Minimum

Another great way to measure defensive success is to use the metric of how many yards they let opposing offenses gain per game. The lower this average number, the better the defense is. There are a few that were better at this than most were.

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The 1969 Minnesota Vikings, with a defense known as the “Purple People Eaters,” were as stingy at allowing offenses to gain yardage as they came. The Vikes permitted an average of only 194.29 yards per game. This helped to propel the team to a 12-2 record and advance to the Super Bowl, where they fell to a pretty good Kansas City team. Defensive Coordinator Bob Hollway and Head Coach Bud Grant proved to coach up the incredible talent of men like Jim Marshall, Alan Page, Paul Krause, Carl Eller, and others to this fantastic feat. They repeated very similar numbers of success the following year in 1970.

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The 1971 Baltimore Colts defense was one of the most dominant units in NFL history. They allowed a league-low 140 points and 203.7 yards per game, and they intercepted 28 passes. The defense was led by defensive linemen Bubba Smith and Billy Newsome, linebackers Mike Curtis and Ray May, and defensive backs Mike Padovani and Rick Volkman. They also had up-and-coming legends like Ted Hendricks and Jerry Logan, among others, as opposing offenses were in for a long day. The Colts were one of the best-ever units at squelching opposing offensive production, allowing a little over 200 yards per contest. This defensive unit was a significant reason why the team won the Super Bowl that year.

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Conclusion

As you have seen, defenses can be effective and legendary in different ways, whether preventing scoring, suffocating yardage gains, or taking the ball away from the opposition. Defenses come in many different varieties, each with advantages that can lead to winning ball games.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 30th, 2024 at 6:03 pm and is filed under Top Lists. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.