Patriots Fans Probably Won't Agree With Recent Ranking Of Super Bowl Winners

Rankings are fun, and unless they are the final College Football Playoff ones, they usually mean absolutely nothing. So keep that in mind before this story goes on, New England Patriots fans.

Before the Pats face the Atlanta Falcons in Super LI, FOX Sports’ Chris Chase went through all 50 previous Super Bowl winners and ranked them from best to “worst.” So where did he put the four Patriots squads that won it all? (Remember, deep breaths, Pats fans.)

The first New England team that showed up was the 2004 squad at No. 14, followed by 2014 (No. 20) and 2003 (No. 32). But you have to scroll all the way to the bottom before you find the 2001 Patriots at No. 50.

Here’s why Chase has them as the worst of the best:

“There’s a theme at the bottom of these rankings, no? Back when Tom Brady was just a pudgy former Michigan quarterback who’d stolen Drew Bledsoe’s job and Bill Belichick was wearing the stink of Cleveland and his William Henry Harrison-like stint as Jets coach, the Patriots were still the Patriots, surviving their first playoff game on a technicality and allegedly engaging in some Nixonian antics that led Marshall Faulk to say he was “cheated out of the Super Bowl.”

It’s hard to argue that the 2001 Patriots were the “worst” of New England’s four Super Bowl-winning teams. While it is easy to feel nostalgic about that team, the Patriots were nowhere near as dominant as they were in the other three years. That was just the beginning of an incredible run that still continues to this day.

But the worst Super Bowl winner ever? That might be a bit strong.