Patriots set NFL record with 17 straight 10-win seasons, passing Joe Montana-Steve Young 49ers
No, it’s not recency bias. The New England Patriots really are the NFL’s most unkillable dynasty.
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We’ve received evidence of that fact before — Tom Brady’s record six Super Bowl rings are probably enough — but this latest stat from the Patriots’ 13-9 victory over the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday really drives home just what level of sustained success we’re dealing with.
With today’s win over the Cowboys, the Patriots now have won at least 10 games in 17 consecutive seasons dating back to 2003 and surpassed the SF 49ers - (16 seasons from 1983-98) - for the most consecutive seasons with at least 10 victories in NFL history.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 25, 2019
Those San Francisco 49ers would be the Joe Montana and Steve Young 49ers, who combined for four Super Bowls in that span (plus another in 1981) while moving from Montana and Bill Walsh to Young and George Seifert.
This Patriots run, from 2003 to present, was accomplished with just one head coach, Bill Belichick, and one quarterback, Brady (plus that year of Matt Cassel). Just like the Niners, the run was preceded by a Super Bowl followed by a down year, at which point the Patriots buckled down and truly became the multi-Super Bowl behemoth we all know and jeer against.
It might be worth pointing out the Patriots accomplished this in part because of the hapless rest of the AFC East. The division’s three other teams have finished above .500 only 13 times in 17 years, and the Patriots have gone 101-20 in the division since 2003.
However, there’s no denying the Patriots’ capacity for dominance at this point. Any team in the league can attest to how hard it is to reach 10 wins in only back-to-back years.
Patriots have won double-digit games 17 years. The Lions have never done it in back-to-back seasons. Mind blown. Again. Because I look this up every year.
— Justin Rogers (@Justin_Rogers) November 25, 2019
Meanwhile, the Patriots basically sleep-walked to a 10-1 record to open this season and add another year to their run. At this point, Belichick’s retirement might be the only thing that ends it.
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