The defending NFL champion Green Bay Packers are off to an impressive 9-0 start. This time of year, whenever a team reaches such a record, the inevitable question arises: can they run the table and enter the playoffs with a perfect record? Perhaps more importantly, can they carry their success forward and repeat in the Super Bowl.
A possible answer can be found with an instant replay, back to 1984. Arguably, the team that this year’s Packers most resembles is that year’s offensive powerhouse, the Miami Dolphins.
The resemblance is uncanny. Starting with the coaching staff, the Packers now and the Dolphins then were led by coaches that had established themselves as leading offensive strategists. Don Shula had, by 1984, led the Dolphins to several Super Bowls, winning two of them and leading one of his teams to the only perfect season in NFL history. In 1984, his Dolphins were perhaps the most potent offensive team ever assembled in the NFL.
Brazil is one country where football is considered a religion. When the top football teams of the country meet, all activity stops from the first whistle until the final whistle of injury time. The saying is, the English invented football, but the Brazilians perfected the game.