The NFL's Best vs. the Rest: What Separates Consistently Good Teams from Peers?

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The National Football League prides itself on parity, the opportunity for any team to make a run at the playoffs and the Super Bowl any given year.

It is a novel idea. Granted, it is nearly impossible to achieve perfect parity in any league, but, in seasons past, the NFL had done a pretty good job of making sure no single team dominated the NFL landscape.

Of course, there have been dynasties. The Cowboys, 49ers, Steelers, and Patriots all come to mind.

But the Steelers with six Super Bowl rings have more national championships than any other franchise. In baseball, the Yankees hold that honor with 26, and the Celtics hold that title in the NBA with 18 championships to their name.

In other words, even though there have been instances of dominance by a single team throughout the history of the NFL, it's not as noticeable as the dominant teams in other sports.

Unfortunately, as we approach the conclusion of the current decade, the parity that the NFL supposedly prides itself on is going down the drain. Six weeks into the 2009 NFL season, there is a clear separation between the top 10 or so teams and the rest of the pack.

The separation between the top tier and the rest of the league is astounding. It is nearly insurmountable. We can all predict with relative certainty which teams will be participating in the playoffs this winter. There is not much suspense, which is a shame because it dilutes the quality of the game.

Teams such as Indianapolis, the Giants, Minnesota, New England, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, and New Orleans (these are just examples, there are a few others as well) are so far ahead of their counterparts it isn't even funny.

Each one of the above teams have, for the most part, played pivotal roles and have been on top of the league for most of the decade. The other teams (Atlanta and New Orleans, for example) haven't been on top for long, but their respective organizations went through major overhauls at one point or another that completely changed the culture of the franchise.

It is not coincidental that the same group of teams routinely find themselves at the top of the Power Rankings year to year. Running a successful football franchise requires three aspects, all of which need to go right for a team to enjoy sustained success.

One, the ownership at the highest levels needs to be supportive and unobtrusive in the coaches' day-to-day operation of the team. The owners need to provide stability to the organization. Let the coaches and the general manager run the show. That is what they are paid for, and, nine times out of 10, they are better at what they do than the owner ever will be.

Secondly, an NFL team needs to have great coaching.

Starting with the head coach, the team needs to have stability and cohesiveness at all levels of the staff. The head coach oftentimes will get too much blame, as the coordinators and the positional coaches will usually have just as much impact (if not more of an impact) on the performance of individual players than the head coach.

Finally, the team needs to have a roster filled with talented, professional players. Talent is an obvious necessity. While superior athletic ability is always important, having players that act in a professional manner and who love the game that they are playing are just as important. Ideally, an NFL roster is composed of 53 players that possess talent and professionalism.

While there are many parts that go into creating a consistently successful football franchise, those are the three most prominent aspects. Each area is crucial to the overall success of the team, and if any one of those categories is left unfulfilled, any given team will collapse.

Looking at the poorer teams in the NFL (Washington, Detroit, St. Louis, Kansas City, etc.), it is clear that all of these teams are having major issues in one or more of those categories.

No matter how even the NFL attempts to make the playing field in the NFL, there are going to be teams that break down and need to be rebuilt. The concerning trend is that, as of the 2009 season, it feels like more and more teams are trending downwards, and it is taking longer for these teams to correct themselves.

Again, all these teams have multiple issues, and there will not be one sole fix all that can correct these teams.

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