Professional football's 10 greatest dynasties

This space is normally reserved for political and media commentary, but seeing as how ABC News will be taking a backseat to ABC Sports today, this would seem an opportune occasion to delve into the world of professional football.

And so, as we prepare to watch Super Bowl XL this evening and see the crowning of a new NFL Champion, consider this, my list of the 10 greatest professional football dynasties of the modern (post-1920) era to have completed their journeys (IE, no New England yet – still not sure where that squad will one day rank):

10. 1993-1996 Dallas Cowboys: Won three Super Bowls with a team that included Troy Aikman, Emmit Smith and Michael Irvin. An offensive powerhouse with a genuine double-threat.

9. 1950-1957 Cleveland Browns: Otto Graham under center, six consecutive NFL championship appearances, winning half of them.

8. 1958-1960 Baltimore Colts: With Johnny Unitas as the helm, this squad won two of the last NFL Championship games (the Super Bowl would be created a few years later), including a 23-17 overtime victory over the New York Giants at Yankee Stadium that some stubbornly insist upon calling “The Greatest Game Ever Played.”

7. 1982-1992 Washington Redskins: Not so much a single dynasty as the crowding of great teams under the helmsmanship of Joe Gibbs. Four Super Bowl appearances with three victories each coming with a different quarterback under center.

6. 1990-1994 Buffalo Bills: If Scott Norwood hadn't botched the most famous kick in football history – a shank that would later ignite Jim Carrey's acting career – this squad would have enjoyed a championship. But, as is, they ventured to the top of the AFC for four straight years, every time ending up in the big game against an NFC East opponent who was simply too much for them to handle.

5. 1960-1967 Green Bay Packers: Won five national championships in seven years, including the first two Super Bowls ever played. Bart Starr brilliantly led the squad through each victory. Perhaps most memorably, the team claimed the 1967 “Ice Bowl,” the match I would consider to be the “Greatest Game Ever Played.”

4. 1936-1945 Boston/Washington Redskins: What people don't necessarily realize about Sammy Baugh, arguably the only man to ever play quarterback with the same level of skill as Joe Montana, is that he didn't just line up on offense. He was the team's punter and often made a cameo on defense as well. But all of that playing time didn't stop him from leading the team to six championship games in 10 years, a streak unbothered by the team's relocation from Boston to Washington.

3. 1974-1980 Pittsburgh Steelers: Those “Terrible Towels” you'll see at tonight's game are not exactly originals. It was the flying yellow dish rags in the stands for these years that guided the Pittsburgh team to four Super Bowl victories, with the “Steel Curtain” - one of the greatest defensive squads ever assembled – shutting down opposing offenses as Terry Bradshaw stretched the field.

2. 1922-1923 Canton Bulldogs: Think the 1972 Miami Dolphins (who didn't make this list because a year is not a franchise) were the first undefeated squad? Not quite. This team didn't lose a single game over the course of two consecutive seasons, and even managed to claim the league title a year later, in 1924, after their owner moved them to Cleveland. In that last season, they lost one match, but from 1922-1923, the team never came out on the losing end of a game.

1. 1981-1990 San Francisco 49ers: Four titles. Joe Montana. 'nuff said.