The Greatest Franchise of All Time

1. GREEN BAY PACKERS

First Packers season: 1921

Packers franchise record: 637-503-36 (.557) – 5th

Packers franchise playoff record: 25-15 (.625)

Packers championships: 1929, 1930, 1931 (pre-title game era); 1936, 1939, 1944, 1961, 1962, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1996

Face of the Packers franchise: Earl "Curly" Lambeau (pictured here with star receiver Don Hutson)

Greatest Packers players: Herb Adderley, Tony Canadeo, Willie Davis, Brett Favre, Forrest Gregg, Arnie Herber, Clarke Hinkle, Paul Hornung, Cal Hubbard, Don Hutson, Henry Jordan, Jerry Kramer, James Lofton, Blood McNally, Mike Michalske, Ray Nitschke, Bart Starr, Jim Taylor, Reggie White, Willie Wood

Greatest Packers coach: Vince Lombardi (1959-67), 89-29-4 (.746) – the definitive figure in the NFL's "coming of age" decade of the 1960s, one of the winngest coaches in league history and the only coach to capture five championships in a seven-year period.

Packers claim to fame: The only team to win three straight NFL championships, and they’ve done it twice, as part of a record 12 crowns for TitleTown.

It never got any better for Packers fans than it did on: December 31, 1967

In the final minutes of the coldest game in the history of the NFL’s coldest town, the Packers drove 68 yards against Mother Nature and the Doomsday Defense to capture a thrilling 21-17 victory over the Cowboys in the 1967 NFL championship game.

Green Bay legend Bart Starr, the greatest quarterback in history, completed 5 of 5 passes in the ball-busting frost and then literally took matters into his own hands: he called a handoff to Chuck Mercein but kept the ball himself, without telling his teammates, plowing into the end zone for the game-winning TD.

More than a thrilling victory, it marked a historic milestone that had never been preceded or since duplicated: The Packers were now the first team in history to win three straight NFL championship games. Two weeks later, the Packers beat the AFL’s Raiders in Super Bowl II, thus becoming the first team to win consecutive Super Bowls.

Packers overview:

As much as you might like to find a “controversial” pick at the top of our (or anybody else’s) all-time franchise rankings, there simply is no way to justify selecting any other organization other than the Packers.

In fact, we could have put a “controversial” team in the No. 1 spot just to get a rise out of people and stir up a hornet’s nest of head-scratching hype. But then we’d be no better than the hairy-palmed hacks at ESPN and would not be a doing a service to you, our readers.

The truth is that only one team belongs at the top.

From the time the Acme Packing Co. first fielded an NFL team in 1921, right through to the overtime loss in the 2007 NFC championship game, the Packers have been a powerhouse on pro football playing fields.

Green Bay met with success instantly: the Packers fielded just one team with a losing record from their debut season of 1921 through 1947 (5-7-1 in 1933).

Green Bay has also met with success recently: the Packers fielded just one team with a losing record from Brett Favre’s debut season of 1992 through 2007 (4-12 in 2005).

(A bit of trivia: The Packers are the only existing franchise, with the Dolphins, to march through an entire NFL season undefeated. The 1929 Packers went 12-0-1 to earn the first of three-straight league championships in the pre-title-game era, when the championship was simply handed to the team with the best record. The Dolphins, of course, went 17-0 in 1972, capping the season with a win in Super Bowl VII.)

Green Bay's contributions to pro football lore are unmatched:

The Packers play in the most famous arena in football, named for their founder, first star player, first great coach (arguably its greatest) and the man who willed football into this little Great Lakes harbor town: Earl “Curly” Lambeau.

The Super Bowl trophy is named for Green Bay's 1960s coach, Vince Lombardi, one of the great icons of the game and a symbol of old-school American values whose reputation extends beyond sport.

The Packers have won more titles than any other team (12). They’re the only organization to win three straight NFL championships, and they’ve done it twice: Green Bay won three straight from 1929-31, in the pre-title-game era, and then did it again from 1965 to 1967.

When the modern NFL was born in 1966 with the first AFL-NFL championship the Packers, naturally, won the first two Super Bowls.

And from Blood McNally to Brett Favre, the Packers roster has read like a who’s who of legends decade after decade.

Yet the greatest attribute of the Packers is not just the two different dynasties they’ve fielded, the record 12 championships, or the cast of legendary characters who have worn green and gold.

The greatest attribute of the Packers, instead, is that they’re the last vestige of the small-town Midwestern roots of pro football. While the Dayton Triangles and Duluth Eskimos of the football world have been ground into dust, the Packers have persevered and excelled against all odds. In a sports world otherwise dominated by big egos with big dollars from big cities, teams from the Big Apple and the Big D have never been quite as good as the publicly owned non-profit club from little Green Bay.

Nearly a century later, the team pulled together in this frosty, isolated Midwestern harbor town by Curly Lambeau and the Acme Packing Co. remains a dominant force on the field and in the culture and lore of American sport.