Once upon a time, back when boom boxes, ca sette players and skate boards were all the rage, the NFC enjoyed a run of succe s that had never been seen before and will never be seen again. At the crux of that succe s were four teams that helped the conference will 13 straight Super Bowls.Three of those four teams -- the , and -- will play in this weekend's NFC divisional round. And while they did not win a Super Bowl during that era, the , who earned the NFC's top seed going into the postseason, also represent a piece of that era as a perennial postseason player.In fact, had Buddy Ryan's Eagles played in any other era, they probably would have captured at least one Lombardi Trophy. The Eagles of that era featured dynamic quarterback Randall Cunningham and a defense that was anchored by Reggie White, arguably the greatest defensive player of all time. Ryan's team was a victim of the era in which it played in, as it shared a conference with four of the greatest teams pro Austin Corbett Jersey football has ever seen.The era's crown jewel -- the 49ers -- matched the 1970s ' total of four Super Bowls during the 1980s. Quarterback Joe Montana ran Bill Walsh's West Coast Offense to perfection while winning three Super Bowl MVP trophies. Montana had plenty of help, as the 49ers featured epic rosters in those days that included Jerry Rice, arguably the greatest receiver in NFL history, Roger Craig, the NFL's first 1,000-yard rusher and receiver, and a defense that boasted several future Hall of Famers in Ronnie Lott, Charles Haley and Fred Dean. "That team was just loaded!" The 1984 went 15-1 and became Super Bowl champs : NFL 100 GREATEST TEAMS on NFL Network NFL Network (@nflnetwork) If Walsh's 49ers had a kryptonite, it was the Giants and Bill Parcells, who po se sed a secret weapon of sorts in then-Giants defensive coordinator Bill Belichick. The defensive minds of Parcells and Belichick were the brains behind a physical Giants defense that was led by Hall of Famers Lawrence Taylor and Harry Carson. On their way to the franchise's first Super Bowl, the Giants mauled the 49ers, 49-3, in a divisional round game that saw Montana get knocked out of the contest after throwing a pick-six to Taylor.As bad as that lo s was, it doesn't hold a candle to the lo Nick Scott Jersey s the 49ers endured four years later at Candlestick Park. Playing for the right to become the first team to win three straight Super Bowls, the 49ers were upset by a Giants team that was playing with a backup quarterback (Jeff Hostetler) and running back (Ottis Anderson).Fittingly, two big plays by the Giants' defense defined New York's 13-12 upset: Leonard Marshall's crushing hit of Montana (that knocked him out of the game) and Taylor's recovery of a Craig fumble that set up the game-winning field goal. New York, not San Francisco, would then go onto defeat the in Super Bowl XXV, leaning on Belichick's game plan that currently resides in Canton, Ohio. No. 25: There Will Be No Three-Peat - 1990 Giants vs. 49ers in the NFC Championship Game (Jan. 20, 1991) : NFL 100 Greatest Games on NFL (@NFL) Like a storm that left devastation in its wake, the Giants of the Parcells era put a permanent dent in the 49ers' dynasty. San Francisco's dynasty outlasted the Giants, however, and the team was still in pursuit of its fifth title as the decade of the '90s rolled on. Montana was replaced by Steve Young, who continued to provide San Francisco with Hall of Fame-caliber play at quarterback.The 49ers' dynasty would face another, more Bobby Evans Jersey challenging road block in the '90s in the form of Jimmy Johnson's Cowboys. A 1-15 team during Johnson's first season, the Cowboys had rebuilt themselves by pulling off a whirlwind of trades (51 in all) that allowed them to transform their roster via the draft. Emmitt Smith, the NFL's all-time leading rusher, was just one of the players the Cowboys drafted using picks acquired via trades.The trade that propelled the Cowboys past the 49ers, however, was a trade that included both teams. San Francisco traded Haley, a year after he won NFL Defensive Player of the Year, to the Cowboys going into the 1992 season. The deal moved the NFL's balance of power to Dallas, who ended the 49ers' reign atop the league's food chain in that year's NFC Championship game. The Cowboys then celebrated their return to glory by dismantling the Bills in Super Bowl XXVII. No. 60: 1992 NFC Championship Game - Cowboys vs. 49ers "Changing of the Guard" (Jan. 17, 1993) : NFL 100 Greatest Games on NFL (@NFL) Dallas succe sfully defended its crown the following season. In the proce s, it again defeated the 49ers in the NFC title game. Desperate to turn the tide, the 49ers added over two dozen new faces to the roster for the 1994 season. One of those players, former All-Pro cornerback Deion Sanders, gave the 49ers a similar boost to the one the Cowboys gained when acquiring Haley two years prior.With Sanders on his way to a Defensive Player of the Year season, the 49ers defeated Dallas in the regular season while posting the Tyler Higbee Jersey NFC's best record. San Francisco then raced out to a 21-0 lead over Dallas in that year's NFC title game before the Cowboys went on a furious dash to keep their three-peat dreams alive. A touchdown run by Young, however, sealed the 49ers' 38-28 win and fifth trip to the Super Bowl, where Young would win MVP honors after throwing for a record six touchdown pa ses. No. 90: 1994 NFC Championship - Cowboys vs. 49ers (Jan. 15, 1995) : NFL 100 Greatest Games on NFL (@NFL) The winds of change began sweeping through the NFC in 1995. Brett Favre and the , who dethroned the 49ers in the divisional round of the playoffs, emerged as the league's up-and-coming thing. And while the Cowboys were able to hold Favre and the Terrell Lewis Jersey Packers off thatseason, Johnson's departure after the 1993 season was the beginning of the end for a franchise that would go 6-10 two years after winning their third title of '90s. Over a quarter century later, the Giants, 49ers and Cowboys are each in pursuit of their first title since the NFC's era of dominance. The Eagles, who won their first Lombardi Trophy in 2017, are hoping to continue their peers' respective title droughts. Regardle s of what unfolds, this weekend's slate of NFC games will be a fun trip down memory lane for fans who remember when the NFC ruled the NFL while displaying some of the greatest teams ever a sembled.
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