Are the 2022 Eagles the best Philly sports team of all-time?

Are the 2022 Eagles the best Philadelphia sports team of all-time?

It’s a discussion where you can use numbers or accolades in various ways to dispute any challengers. Given that Philly has nearly a dozen championships in the four major sports over the last 75 years, you could argue that the “best” team in city history has to be one of those.

However, none of the eight Phillies teams to even reach the World Series are one of the three to win 100 games, so can any Phils squad be the “best” we’ve had? Likewise for the Flyers, whose best two teams in terms of wins (53) didn’t win it all – at least the ’84-85 team made it to the Stanley Cup Final – and the best team in terms of points, the 1975-76 squad that had 118, also fell in the last round.

Or what about competition? The 1949 NFL Champion Eagles went 11-1, but they were one of three in the 10-team NFL to do better than 6-5-1 – not exactly a competitive league. Same goes for the first of the Sixers’ two NBA Championship squads, as the 1966-67 team that went 68-13 behind MVP Wilt Chamberlain (who averaged a double-double with 24.1 points and 24.2 rebounds) were one of only three teams in a 10-team NBA to finish over .500.

The 2022 Birds haven’t won it all yet, but they were the No. 1 offense and No. 2 defense in the league, set a franchise record with 14 wins – which tied Kansas City for the most in an NFL where half the league finished .500 or better and three more teams were 8-9 – and were the best team in a division where the worst team was 8-8-1.

That’s a similar arc to the 1982-83 Sixers, who won 65 games behind MVP Moses Malone, as they won a division where all five teams were over .500, were seven games better than the Lakers (whom they beat in the Finals) for best record, and played in a league where 14 of the 23 teams were over .500.

It may be a battle between Moses and Jalen, Sirianni and Cunningham, Dr. J & Little Mo vs. The Batmen – but even though the Birds still have to beat that next-best team in two weeks, it didn’t stop Jon Ritchie and Joe DeCamara from wondering if these Iggles are in fact the top of the Philly totem pole. Take a listen above!

Follow Lou DiPietro on Twitter: @LouDiPietroWFAN

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