All-Time Franchise Great Football Teams

The All-Time Franchise Great Football Teams collection for SECOND SEASON Pro Football Game lets you create your own timeless "field of dreams" on which pro football's greatest players can don their team colors and compete against each other on your tabletop for the honor of being named "Greatest Of All Time!"

All thirty-two current pro franchises are represented here, identified by their current cities—we’ve just”relocated” the Oakland franchise to Las Vegas.

Once these teams are poised for action on your game table, you'll notice that they've NOT been created entirely equal. We based each team's ratings totals on its overall historical winning percentage, using an appropriately elevated cumulative ability level. Thus, Chicago, Green Bay and San Francisco are the top-rated teams in this collection, while Arizona and Tampa Bay bring up the rear. Still, the variance between best and worst is not inordinately great—certainly less than the range between best and worst in a typical pro season. So, every team in this collection will have a fighting chance against any other. In a full-season of action, the top teams might end up with a record of 10-6, and the bottom teams at 6-10.

To make it easier and more consistent for SS gamers, all teams are presented in a standard 4-3 defense, and a standard pro-set two-back offense with a single tight end and two wide receivers. Old-school "ends" who played in the 1950s and early '60s are often placed in the EC box. "Flankers" are usually placed in box EB. No situational substitutions are marked on the team sheets—in the spirit of "timeless," inter-era football, we thought it best to present the default mode as classic, every-down, two-platoon football: offense, and defense. We felt that situational substitution could get unnecessarily complicated with so many talented players, and that might make games less fun to play. We also wondered whether it would be "realistic," given the demeanor of the players and the premise of the set. However, if you want to bring in specific players for specific down and distance situations, by all means feel free to do so!

Probably the biggest challenge facing you when playing these teams against each other is how to get all of the players involved. Unlike historical seasons, where for the most part starting roles are clear-cut, and reserves aren't supposed to play much, these all-time teams are populated ONLY with starting players. To address this, we've come up with a couple of ideas, outlined in the set's "liner notes," which we think will keep games simple and fun yet also ensure that everyone gets to play. Fans of the finder columns will be pleased to know that we've included them with this release, with ranges generally based on historical "touches."

The vast majority of players will be instantly familiar to you, but there are a few "surprise" players on the rosters—players who were significant to their franchises in some brief, notable, or quirky way. (We won't mention any names here, it'll be more fun for you to discover them on your own!)

Finally, we've included an Instant Results Matrix, so you can quick-play games as part of a larger "All-Time Great Teams" project, if you wish. For example, you could play a full season of games coaching your favorite team, and "quick play" the rest of the games that don't involve your team, allowing you to experience the drama of a season unfolding, playoff races and all!

The All-Time Franchise Great Football Teams for SECOND SEASON Pro Football Game are now available, in one single set (originally, the teams were released in two phases, 2015 and 2016). In the printed version ($33 postage-paid), each all-time great team is presented in black-and-white on a 5 x 8" double-sided team card. Or, purchase the PDF editions, presented in team colors ($21), in single-sided "team sheet" format.

Either way, it’s timeless pro football fun, on your game table with the All-Time Franchise Great Teams for SECOND SEASON Pro Football Board Game!