Today's NFL is a ratings monster. The hype is year round; the Super Bowl is a national holiday in the tradition of a Roman bacchanal.
The players are bigger, faster, stronger, and much better paid then their 1980s' counterparts, but the teams of the 80s' were better.
The great teams of the '80s': the San Francisco 49ers, the New York Giants, the Washington Redskins, and the Chicago Bears, all represented the dominant NFC in 11-straight Super Bowls from 1981 to 1992.
The NFC won 10 of those 11 games, with the Redskins' loss to the Oakland Raiders in 1984 being the only blemish.
The Dallas Cowboys of the early '90s were the last of the great teams before the advent of free agency. Free agency changed the game completely.
Parity is the name of today's NFL.
No longer could teams with wealthy owners like Jack Kent Cooke (Washington Redskins) and Eddie Debartolo (San Francisco 49ers) stockpile veteran depth.
The Redskins regularly brought in old, seasoned pros to make their Super-Bowl runs. Joe Gibb's always wanted to go to big running backs. Sometimes two or three stocked on a team. John Riggins, Joe Washington, George Rogers, Earnest Byner, Gerald Riggs, and one-game wonder Timmy Smith, all ran behind the legendary Hogs.
The Hogs were helped by being able to maintain structure. Structure that allowed them to have many of the same players playing together for a long, dominant stretch.
With free agency, this can no longer occur.
The deep-pocketed Redskins did insure the continuity of Hog dominance by snatching All-Pro left tackle Jim Lachey from the Oakland Raiders in the mid-'80s, to strengthen an area Joe Gibbs always deemed essential to success.
An offensive line that stays together plays better together.
The solid, cohesive, veteran lines of the 1980s' great teams are a thing of the past.
These teams enjoyed running the ball behind Pro-Bowl studded offensive lines, which upon reaching the Super Bowl, generally dominated their weaker AFC brethren.
In today's NFL, these teams would be stripped of their veteran players by ravenous teams with tons of cap space. The name of the game now is not greatness, but parity. The great teams are gone.
No longer can teams stash veteran quarterbacks on a roster. The cap prevents it. Steve Young and Joe Montana would eat up too much cap space. The Redskins always kept a veteran quarterback on hand to help out in an emergency.
Doug Williams, Mark Rypien, and Jay Schroeder all manned that key position for the Redskins, once Joe Theismann's career ended on a leg-shattering sack by the great Lawrence Taylor. Joe Gibbs is the only coach to win three Super Bowls with three different players at quarterback.
The key to that is depth. Depth is a luxury that is lacking in today's NFL. Depth can no longer be afforded.
A few key injuries at one position and a team's season is wrecked.
The Niners and Redskins of the '80s loved bringing in veteran players to supplement their squads.
Bill Walsh once said that a fourth-quarter pass rush is the key to winning in the playoffs.
So the Niners coveted veteran pass-rushers: Hall of Fame defensive end Fred Dean, Charles Haley, Gary "Big Hands" Johnson, Tim Harris, and Richard Dent all passed through Candlestick.
The Niners picked up veteran run-stuffers like Jack "Hacksaw" Reynolds and Matt Millen. The Redskins added All-Pro Wilber Marshall from rival Chicago, in a key free-agent move that weakened the Bears severely, and strengthen the Redskins.
Another factor that made these teams better was continuity among their defenses. All of these teams had great defenses throughout the '80s, and each team was stocked with a corps of veteran players who had played together for years.
The Bears had the famed "46 Defense" with Hall of Famers Dan Hampton and Mike Singletary, along with Pro Bowlers and veteran stars like Richard Dent, Steve McMichael, Otis Wilson, Wilbur Marshall, Todd Bell, Gary Fencik, Dave Duerson, and Al Harris.
The Redskins had Pro-Bowl ends Dexter Manley and Charles Mann, along with the monstrous Dave Butz at tackle. Long-time linebackers Monte Coleman and Neal Olkewicz were pro's pros. Hall of Fame cornerback Darrell Green was the fastest player in the league and a major gamebreaker.
The Giants had the great Lawrence Taylor. The other linebackers from one of the greatest groups ever were Hall of Famer Harry Carson, All-80s linebacker Carl Banks, and solid veterans Pepper Johnson and Gary Reasons. Their veteran defensive line, Leonard Marshall, Jim Burt, and George Martin would devastate Joe Montana in two, key NFC playoff wins.
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