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I'ts been argued that Defense wins Championships, I believe it takes Balance and Team Chemistry. What is everyone else views or opinions of what it takes?

IT takes a combination of all. Defense is the cornerstone of championships but special teams
and offense plays a major factor. Not only do you need to stop the opposing team, you must
outscore them as well. A team that has the right chemistry like the Bears Super bowl Shuffle
will defeat any common group of guys who has talent only.

It takes all 3 phases... Offense, Defense, and Special Teams. It also takes a bit of luck...

We can`t talk about luck and professionalism at the same time. Football players in the NFL are
professionals. The players can not rely on a little luck. The players are paid to execute. The
players must complete their assignments at least 90% of the time to be successful in reaching
and winning the big game. As a team they must have chemistry on all phases, offense, defense
and special teams to help each other perform the assignment. WINNING!

Homer Statement # 1 for Friday May 8: They say defense wins Championships, then the Cowboys should be on here at least once right? Surely one of those '70s teams can squeeze in here somewhere.

There are some interesting numbers in that list.

Here's a breakdown of a few of them ... (there are 26 teams listed there, so there's no confusion) ...

Their combined winning percentage is almost 81%
Their average wins per 16 game season would be 13.

8 Teams won the Super Bowl.

5 Teams made it to the Super Bowl, but lost.
Of those 5 teams ...
One of them (#6) lost to another team on the list (#24). So they lost to another really good defense.
One of them (#2) lost to a team that the previous season was on the list (#18). So a team that also probably had an excellent defense.
Two of them lost to the cowboys of the 70's, as TTW mentioned.
And the last was the infamous SB III where Joe Namath boldly predicted a victory over the Colts. One of the biggest upsets in sports history.

Of the remaining 13 teams, five of them lost to a team that was higher ranked on the list.

Combined, out of the 26 teams, 14 teams either won the Superbowl or lost to a team with a better defense.

Of the remaining 8 teams ...
7 made the playoffs (don't know what happened with the '77 Falcons)
5 lost in the Div Game
2 Lost in the Conference Championship game
(incidentally, two of these eight teams also lost to the cowboys of the 70's, and two others lost to the Vikings and Raiders ... all teams known for having pretty good defenses in the 70's as well)

Since 1978, only one team on that list has lost against a team that wasn't also on the list ...
the 1986 Bears ... Hmm, and I think we all know that game should have been won by Chicago.

So while I agree, that it takes a balanced team effort, I think the numbers show that if you have a good defense, you've got a great chance to win it all.

QUOTE(#1):

Originally posted 11:32 AM ET  05.06 by GSH 1

I'ts been argued that Defense wins Championships

This is a classic chicken and egg discussion. Is an offense strong enough to overcome a stingy defense, or is the defense strong enough to overcome a high-scoring offense?

But let's look at some facts. Since we're talking about Championships, I've looked at all 43 Superbowls, focusing specifically on the Passer Rating stats (courtesy of www.pro-football-reference.com) in those specific games. Why? Because I think that this offensive stat is as good as any for providing a counterargument for defenses winning games.

From Superbowl 1-31, the team with the better Passer Rating on game day won every single time. In all 43 Superbowls, only four times has the team with the lower Passer Rating won (08 & 05 Steelers, 03 Patriots and 97 Broncos).

Overall, the better Passer Rating in that one specific game translates into a 91% win percentage.

Now, I realize that regular season passer rating has no correlation whatsoever with postseason succes - otherwise, with a league leading rating of 105.5, the Rivers-led Chargers should have won the SB hands down, and the Steelers, with Big Ben ranked 24th in passer rating, should not even have come close to the playoffs.

Consider also that the Cardinals, with a defense ranked 28th in points allowed per game in 08, did make it to the SB, and were only a couple of plays away from winning it.

At the end of the day, both of the following statements are equally true:
*The team that scores more points always wins
*The team that allows fewer points always wins.