The Five Luckiest Teams, Coaches and Players to Ever Win a Super Bowl Ring

Football is the ultimate team sport.  All 53 players and usually a dozen coaches must come together to win a championship.  In any organization, and on any great team, there are bound to be weak links who are just lucky to be along for the ride.  Nonetheless, when a team wins the Super Bowl, everyone gets a ring, regardless of how much they might deserve one as an individual.  

Sometimes, a team seems to catch every crucial break and lucky bounce en route to the Super Bowl.  Click through the slideshow for 5 of the luckiest Super Bowl winners. 

Terry Bradshaw

Terry Bradshaw leads off this list because his career was one that all athletes will envy.  Bradshaw won four Super Bowl rings without ever being one of the best players on his team.  When Bradshaw landed in Pittsburgh, he stumbled into one of the most favorable situations a quarterback could ever dream of.  Over his four championship seasons, his defenses ranked 2nd, 2nd, 1st, and 5th in points allowed.  He also landed on a team that ran the ball as frequently and successfully as anyone in the league.

Bradshaw makes the list because almost everything a quarterback could ever ask for was given to him in Pittsburgh.   We may never know how many other quarterbacks could have also won those titles given all the other support Bradshaw had around him, but it's safe to say that list is fairly lengthy.

The 2001 New England Patriots

Some teams are simply teams of destiny.  No matter what happens, they just keep on winning.  Lose your starting quarterback?  No problem, throw in that new guy we drafted 199th.  Fumble the ball away to seal a loss against the Raiders in the snow?  It's all good, the Tuck Rule will save you.  Get out-gained by 200+ yards in the Conference Championship and Super Bowl combined? No matter, 7 forced turnovers and a dead-eye kicker will carry you to the trophy.

The 2001 Patriots made no sense.  Every time it seemed like they were down and out, someone would pull a rabbit out of their hat and keep the season rolling.  

Trent Dilfer

Trent Dilfer is the poster child of hope for every team without a decent quarterback, that they just might be able to win a ring without a franchise quarterback.  Dilfer was brought in to relieve Tony Banks, but was only a marginal improvement at best.  Still, with a monstrous defense—one of the best of all time—and Jamal Lewis in the back field, Dilfer's main job was to just not screw it up.

In the final seven games of their season, including the playoffs, the Ravens won them all without once surpassing 200 yards through the air.  Dilfer's job was so easy, even Terry Bradshaw was jealous of his supporting cast.   

John Gruden

John Gruden spent his career trying to build offensive football teams.  So naturally, he got his Super Bowl ring when he stepped into a perfect situation with Tony Dungy's players, including Warren Sapp, running Monte Kiffin's defense.

In Oakland, Gruden built great offenses that would inevitably get stymied by defensive teams come playoff time.  In Tampa, after his immediate smash success when the defense was already elite and ready to go from day one, he oversaw the steady decline of the franchise to where it is now.  For whatever reason, the Bucs decided to throw draft picks and millions of dollars at the Raiders for Gruden's services, and it was the perfect scenario for a guy like Gruden, who had little-to-no clue about building a defense.

Barry Switzer

You don't often get to step into a coaching job for a two-time defending champion with key elements of the roster still totally intact.  But that's exactly what Barry Switzer got to do with the Cowboys, following the clash of egos between Jimmy Johnson and Jerry Jones that resulted in Johnson's exit following two titles.

Enter Switzer.  Switzer was able to manage the enormous talents of those Dallas Cowboys teams for the first two seasons before things fell off in his final two seasons.   Switzer was little more than a placeholder, as Jerry Jones sought someone who would be more submissive than the headstrong Johnson.  He is another great example of a guy who stumbled upon an ultimately favorable situation that had little to do with his own personal efforts.