The prevailing thought after Super Bowl 59 is that we watched the greatest Eagles performance of all time, to complete the greatest season in franchise history. There’s no legitimate argument against it.

This team went out and throttled the two-time defending champions, sacked Patrick Mahomes six times, and ragdolled their offensive line. It got so bad in the fourth quarter that the Kansas City Chiefs were chasing garbage time stats while Kenny Pickett was taking snaps. It was the most comprehensive big game performance we’ve ever seen from an Eagles team, completing an 18-3 season that would have been 19-2 if not for a Jalen Hurts concussion in Washington.

Obviously this puts them above the only other team to win a Super Bowl, which is Nick Foles’ 2017 squad. As special as that victory was, Jim Schwartz’s defense gave up 613 yards to the Patriots and only a miracle play from Brandon Graham sealed the win. Because of the way each team finished the job, the 2024 squad has to rank ahead of the 2017 squad.

So you begin to ask yourself if any other team in Philadelphia sports history has come close to doing what this team did, and we start by narrowing the field to championship winners going back to 1970. There is absolutely no disrespect to the great squads that won titles before 1970; there just aren’t enough people alive in 2025 who clearly remember watching those teams play, which makes it impossible to do a fair and legitimate comparison. We’ll leave teams like the 1960 Eagles and 1967 Sixers in a separate category. For this exercise, these title-winning teams will be the focus group:

  • Phillies: 1980, 2008
  • Flyers: 1974, 1975
  • Sixers: 1983
  • Union: should have been 2022…
  • college teams: 1985 Villanova, 2016 Villanova, 2018 Villanova

The first team that jumps off the screen and slaps you in the face is 1983 76ers, who went 65-17 and 12-1 in the postseason, sweeping the Lakers for the title. It’s hard to imagine the Fo’ Fo’ Fo’ Sixers ever being topped in terms of utter domination. They finished with a 79.2 regular-season winning percentage and rampaged through the playoffs with four double-digit wins. If you add up all of the games, it’s 77 wins out of 95 games. That is an incredible 81% percent of games won. There likely will not be a Sixers team that ever replicates what was done by Moses Malone, Dr. J, Andrew Money, Mo Cheeks, and underrated company.


From there, you go to the Phillies squads of 1980 and 2008, which won 91 and 92 regular season games, respectively. Mike Schmidt, Steve Carlton, and a stacked roster won those playoff series 3-2 and 4-2, while the ’08 Phils went 3-1, 3-1, and 4-1. As good as those teams were, they didn’t dominate to the level of this Eagles team or that Sixers team, so at best you’d probably have them in tier 1B or tier 2.

For the Flyers we go back to the Gerald Ford administration. Sure, we joke about how long it’s been while probably forgetting that both squads won 50 games with goal differentials of +109 and +112. The 1974 team beat a 52-win, Bobby Orr-led Boston Bruins squad and the 1975 team beat the Leafs, Islanders, and Sabres in an expanded playoff bracket. You can’t diminish what the Broad Street Bullies did, with Bobby Clarke and Bernie Parent playing their best hockey and Dave Schultz racking up penalty minutes.

Lastly, the Villanova teams of recent years. Some people don’t think they belong on the list, but you’re talking about teams that went 35-5 and 36-4. If you have to give the nod to one of those teams, it’s the 2018 team, because they had the slightly better record and won the Big East tournament. The 2018 squad hammered every team in the NCAA tournament and had five draft picks in Jalen Brunson, Donte DiVincenzo, Eric Paschall, Mikal Bridges, and Omari Spellman. Collin Gillespie, who came off the bench as a freshman, later won a ring as a UDFA and Phil Booth carved out a European career. That Nova team was not ranked lower than 6th all year long and beat Gonzaga, Xavier twice, Creighton, Providence twice, Butler twice, Marquette three times, Bama, Texas Tech, WVU, Kansas, and Michigan.

All of that considered, I’d rank the best teams in Philadelphia sports like this:

  1. 1983 Sixers
  2. 2024 Eagles
  3. 2008 Phillies
  4. 2018 Villanova
  5. 2017 Eagles

To explain the thinking, I’d give the Sixers the slightest edge over the Eagles, seriously like just BARELY an edge because of the 12-1 postseason record. The 2024 Eagles needed Jalen Carter to save their bacon in the divisional round, which then opened the door for the Washington and KC blowouts. But Moses and Dr. J just ran over every team that was put in front of them and finished by sweeping Kareem and Magic’s Lakers. If not for the Snow Bowl II being a tight game, you could make a case for the Eagles to be #1.

From there, I’d go 2008 Phillies. 92 wins, 70 losses isn’t regular season domination, but they finished strong and played their best baseball when it really mattered. They went 11-3 in the playoffs and not once were they behind in any of those series against the Brewers, Dodgers, or Rays. That’s why they get the slight edge over the 1980 team, because they put together more comprehensive beatdowns over a longer playoff stretch.

At four is Nova. Why? Because the final run was total annihilation. They finished on an 11-game winning streak to claim the Big East tournament title and national title and won 10 of those 11 by ten points or more. That includes an OT against Providence where they found a second and third gear. Don’t let any Temple fluffers like Kyle Pagan convince you that 2018 Villanova does not belong on the list. He needs to take off the cherry and white quarter zip and admit how good that squad was. And don’t tell me they’re not a Philadelphia team, because they went 11-1 in the Wells Fargo Center that year.

Number five, finally it’s the 2017 Eagles. Just the slightest of edges over the Broad Street Bullies, who I have at #6. Yes, the 2017 Eagles defense struggled in the Super Bowl, but they beat Tom Brady with a backup quarterback, lost their starting left tackle that season, and were absolutely throttling teams with Carson Wentz before the season-ending injury. They looked like the 2024 Eagles for most of the regular season, then shifted into Nick Foles mode and finished the job.

Agree or disagree? Keep in mind this is just like, my opinion man.