SI's Greatest NFL Rivalries of All Time

[ZMovieman]

Which is best? Do you agree with their list?

[Andy]

One bad thing about rooting for a team that's only 10 years old - no one puts you on these lists.

 

I think 20 years from now, Panthers/Bucs is going to be a very big rivalry though, maybe Panthers/Falcons too.

[rawaction]

I actually almost completely agree with that list.

[ZMovieman]

Maybe it's being from Illinois and going to school in Wisconsin, but I had always assumed Bears/Packers was the rivalry to end all rivalries (even if it's been dumbed down of late). At the risk of sounding naive, can someone explain the Cowboys/Redskins rivalry to me and why people think it's better than the older Bears/Packers one?

[rawaction]

Maybe it's being from Illinois and going to school in Wisconsin, but I had always assumed Bears/Packers was the rivalry to end all rivalries (even if it's been dumbed down of late). At the risk of sounding naive, can someone explain the Cowboys/Redskins rivalry to me and why people think it's better than the older Bears/Packers one?

 

The old Cowboys vs. Indians thing. While the rivalry isn't nearly as old as Bears/Packers, it has had more success. The Bears and Packers have been pretty bad teams for a long time. Both were terrible from the late 60's until the Bears in the mid-80s. And the Bears have been mostly bad since. The Pack was bad from their SuperBowl teams in the late 60's until the Brett Favre era, and are now headed back down. At the same time, the Cowboys and Redskins have often played with more at stake, combining for 13 SuperBowls with 8 victories since the 60s.

 

The Bears/Pack have more of a history, and I think the Skins/Boys rivalry is losing some steam w/o Landry and Gibbs, but I think it can be argued either way.

[frostwyrm]

I grew up in the Washington D.C. area and every Cowboys game was a huge deal. Some kids at my high school would call themselves Cowboys fans, I'm sure just to irritate other people. It really did bug me at the time.

[NCCubFan]

I think the opinions on this board differ from SI because a large proportion of this board consists of Bears and some Packers fans. I voted for Bears vs. Packers even though its probably biased since I'm a Bears fan. I think Bears vs. Packers is a natural rivalry, whereas Cowboys vs. Redskins is artificially created when Dallas was inexplicably deemed to be in the east. I don't think Cowboys vs. Redskins would have been nearly as much of a rivalry if they weren't in the same division.

[adamb0719]

Maybe it's being from Illinois and going to school in Wisconsin, but I had always assumed Bears/Packers was the rivalry to end all rivalries (even if it's been dumbed down of late). At the risk of sounding naive, can someone explain the Cowboys/Redskins rivalry to me and why people think it's better than the older Bears/Packers one?

 

The old Cowboys vs. Indians thing. While the rivalry isn't nearly as old as Bears/Packers, it has had more success. The Bears and Packers have been pretty bad teams for a long time. Both were terrible from the late 60's until the Bears in the mid-80s. And the Bears have been mostly bad since. The Pack was bad from their SuperBowl teams in the late 60's until the Brett Favre era, and are now headed back down. At the same time, the Cowboys and Redskins have often played with more at stake, combining for 13 SuperBowls with 8 victories since the 60s.

 

The Bears/Pack have more of a history, and I think the Skins/Boys rivalry is losing some steam w/o Landry and Gibbs, but I think it can be argued either way.

 

It is a bit more than Cowboys and Indians.

The man who originally owned the Cowboys had planned on buying the Redskins and moving them to Dallas. When the 'Skins owner found out he was gonna move the team, he pulled out of the deal. In return who had planned on buying the 'Skins bought the rights to the Redskins fight song "Hail to the Redskins". After all of that, the man who wanted to move the 'Skins ended up getting his own franschise, a new one, and it was going to be established in Dallas (which was his goal with the Redskins). Well every NFL owner, except one, approved the deal. The one who held out-the Redskins owner. Do the man who was going to form the Cowboys sold the Redskins owner back the rights to the song, and the Redskins owner approved the move. However the hatred between the two never subsided. A few years later the Cowboys management planned on releasing a bunch of chickens onto the field during halftime of a Cowboys/Skins game, in DC, the plot was discovered, and it never happened, but that is the basis of the rivalry.

 

I think I have that right. It has been awhile since I heard the story, but I used to work with a die-hard Skins fan, and he brought in a newspaper article from many years ago that had that story in it.

[CuseCubFan69]

Maybe it's being from Illinois and going to school in Wisconsin, but I had always assumed Bears/Packers was the rivalry to end all rivalries (even if it's been dumbed down of late). At the risk of sounding naive, can someone explain the Cowboys/Redskins rivalry to me and why people think it's better than the older Bears/Packers one?

 

The old Cowboys vs. Indians thing. While the rivalry isn't nearly as old as Bears/Packers, it has had more success. The Bears and Packers have been pretty bad teams for a long time. Both were terrible from the late 60's until the Bears in the mid-80s. And the Bears have been mostly bad since. The Pack was bad from their SuperBowl teams in the late 60's until the Brett Favre era, and are now headed back down. At the same time, the Cowboys and Redskins have often played with more at stake, combining for 13 SuperBowls with 8 victories since the 60s.

 

The Bears/Pack have more of a history, and I think the Skins/Boys rivalry is losing some steam w/o Landry and Gibbs, but I think it can be argued either way.

 

I agree with that.