[C-Gold]

Everybody always says the 1985 Bears but I believe the 2000 Ravens had the best defense of All-Time.

1) Best rush defense in NFL history. Gave up 970 rush yards total, 60.6 per game, 2.7 per carry, only gave up 5 rushing TD all season
2) Recovered 26 fumbles, double the 2nd ranked team in 2000.
3) 165 points against
4) Had a long stretch of games where they didn't give up a defensive TD
5) Dominated the Giants in the SB
6) Gave up 7 or less points in half of all regular season games

Let's look at their talent with 8 pro bowlers on defense, and 2 HOF guys.

DE Michael McCrary - 2X Pro Bowler, 1X All-Pro. guy had one of the best motors I can ever remember.
DE Rob Burnett - 1X Pro Bowler, had 2 more career sacks thatn McCrary.
DT Sam Adams - 3X Pro Bowler, huge space eater in the middle, wouldn't get pushed around.
DT Tony Sirigusa - Giant space eating meat ball in the middle of the line
DE/OLB Adalis Thomas - 2X Pro Bowler, 2X All-Pro

MLB Ray Lewis - 13X Pro Bowler, 10X All-Pro, quite possibly the best LB to ever play the game
OLB Peter Boulware - 4X Pro Bowler, 1X All-Pro
OLB Jamie Sharper - never made a pro bowl but was a very solid starter
(Pro Bowler Ed Hartwell came later)

S Rod Woodson - 11X Pro Bowler, 6X All-Pro, NFL 75th anniversary all-time team, one of the best safeties ever
CB Chris McCalister 3X Pro Bowler, 2X All Pro, one of the most underrated players of the last 20 years.
CB Duane Starts - Solid cover corner
S Anthony Poindexter - Solid hard hitting safety

Return man - Jermaine Lewis 2X Pro bowler, 2x All Pro
K Matt Stover made the pro bowler but K technically counts as offense.

[therocket]

Bears d set the blueprint for much of the complex defenses we see now. Rules were different. They smashed people and had fun doing it. Ravens D was indeed great. It is hard to compare teams in differnt eras. 85 bears were rockstars, shuffling all the way to the superbowl. I blame Charles fooking Martin for not allowing us to win a couple more.

[smitch124]

The 1992 and 1993 Cowboy Defenses were awesome and horribly underrated.

[rm18]

Eagles defenses of the mid 90's were impressive remember them smashing the eventual champion 49ers 40-8

[Nick Papageorgio]

85 bears. Pro Bowls mean nothing once the fans had a say in who makes it.

[nyplayer33]

85 bears and it isn't even close

[will2survive]

Ravens 2000 defense with Dilfer as qb, won a Super Bowl- answer: 2000 Ravens

[slacker00]

Ravens 2000 defense with Dilfer as qb, won a Super Bowl- answer: 2000 Ravens

Careful, Trent Dilfer made the pro bowl in 1997, C-Gold loves pro bowlers.

[indio]

Some teams from the 70's had some pretty impressive runs.

'76 Steelers - They lost Bradshaw in week 5 and were 1-4. Defense said it had to step up. They gave up 28 points and 1 TD in their last 9 regular season games, with 5 shutouts and 8/9 holding opponent to 6 pts. or less. Let me say that again, ONE TD in the last NINE games. For those old enough to remember, that one touchdown was a 70 yrd TD by #00, Kenny Burrough.

'77 Falcons - They get forgotten since the team was a very mediocre 7-7, but the defense still holds plenty of records. The team gave up a grand total of 129 points for the season. That's an average of 9.2 a game. (that includes a kickoff return for TD). 10/14 games holding an opponent to 10 pts or less and my personal favorite stat which is the opponents team passing stats. 141/320 (44%) with 9 TD's and 26 INT. This gang was of course known as the Grits Blitz. Too bad the only team they could score more than 17 on all year was the 3-11 Saints, who were atrocious.

Probably a little love needs to go out to the Chiefs of the late 60's, who went back to back years averaging less than 13 pts a game allowed in a league that had scoring like a pinball machine.

[VegasInsider]

2013 Swiss Cheese New England Patriots

[Brock Landers]

77 Falcons Grits Blitz

Best ever statistically

[daneblazer]

That Ravens defense was the best I ever remember watching.

Most people will say the Steel Curtain or the 85 Bears.

The Purple People Eaters in the 70s would be in the discussion had they won the Superbowl.

[newguy]

1985 Bears. Look at what they did in the playoffs. Shutout NY Giants and LA Rams and gave up 10 to Pats. That is two top-ten scoring offenses that year (Giants = 6, Pats = 10). You can say what you want but that team was sick and demolished people. Ravens good too in a different league

[seaborneq]

The Deion Sanders led Niners team was so good that the offense only had to worry about scoring. Very underrated bunch even though is was the then NFC all coming together for the cause of ending the Cowboys three-peat chances. Deion, Toi Cook, Ken Norton, Rickey Jackson, Merton Hanks, Eric Davis, Dana Stubblefield, Renaldo Wynn and Tim McDonald were just a rare collection of talent that year. I know I am missing some others, but I remember the true concept of the Niners playing ten men of on two thirds of the field because the other side was covered by Deion. All the db's made the pro bowls that year and whoever was opposite Deion led the league in interceptions.

[seaborneq]

The Deion Sanders led Niners team was so good that the offense only had to worry about scoring. Very underrated bunch even though is was the then NFC all coming together for the cause of ending the Cowboys three-peat chances. Deion, Toi Cook, Ken Norton, Rickey Jackson, Merton Hanks, Eric Davis, Dana Stubblefield, Renaldo Wynn and Tim McDonald were just a rare collection of talent that year. I know I am missing some others, but I remember the true concept of the Niners playing ten men of on two thirds of the field because the other side was covered by Deion. All the db's made the pro bowls that year and whoever was opposite Deion led the league in interceptions.

I looked it up. Bart Oates, Gary Plummer, Richard Dent and Charles Mann also signed up for a shot at a ring that year. A bought super bowl indeed.

[meader99]

Bears d set the blueprint for much of the complex defenses we see now. Rules were different. They smashed people and had fun doing it. Ravens D was indeed great. It is hard to compare teams in differnt eras. 85 bears were rockstars, shuffling all the way to the superbowl. I blame Charles fooking Martin for not allowing us to win a couple more.

Charles Martin and the hit list. Those were the days.