If you want to start a fight at a sports bar in Northern Virginia or Maryland, just suggest that the '85 Bears or the '72 Dolphins were better than Joe Gibbs' 1991 squad. Honestly, it’s not even a fair fight. While those other teams get the flashy documentaries and the iconic nicknames, the 1991 Washington Redskins season was arguably the most complete display of football ever put on turf.
They weren't just winning. They were erasing people.
Think about this: they started the season by beating the Detroit Lions 45-0. That wasn’t a fluke against a basement dweller, either. That Lions team actually made it to the NFC Championship game that same year. Washington just made them look like a high school JV unit.
The Numbers That Don't Make Sense
Football Outsiders (now part of FTN Fantasy) has spent years refining a metric called DVOA, which measures team efficiency. For decades, the 1991 Redskins have sat at the very top of that list. Better than the 2007 Patriots. Better than the 1989 49ers.
They were top-tier in every single phase. The offense led the league in scoring with 485 points. The defense? It allowed the second-fewest points in the NFL. They had a turnover margin of +18. You don't just stumble into those kinds of stats.
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But it's the offensive line that really tells the story. The "Hogs." This wasn't just a group of big guys; it was a cohesive, terrifying wall of humanity. Jim Lachey, Raleigh McKenzie, Jeff Bostic, Mark Schlereth, and Joe Jacoby. They allowed only nine sacks the entire season. Nine. In sixteen games. Mark Rypien could have probably sat back there, read a Sunday newspaper, and still had time to find Gary Clark or Art Monk downfield.
Why Mark Rypien Deserves More Credit
People talk about the "system" a lot when they discuss Joe Gibbs, but Rypien was playing out of his mind in '91. He wasn't some game manager just handing the ball off to Earnest Byner and Ricky Ervins. He averaged 8.5 yards per attempt. That’s an absurd number for 1991.
He threw for 3,768 yards and 28 touchdowns, and he did it by attacking the deep part of the field. Gibbs loved the "max protect" schemes—keeping the Hogs and a tight end in to block—which gave Rypien the time to wait for those deep posts to develop. It was a vertical passing game that kept defensive coordinators awake at night.
Then you look at the receiving corps. The "Posse." Art Monk, Gary Clark, and Ricky Sanders. Monk was the reliable technician who caught everything. Clark was the emotional heartbeat, a guy who would fight for every yard and talk trash the whole way. Sanders was the burner. All three had over 1,000 yards in 1989, and while they didn't all hit that mark in '91, they were at their absolute peak as a unit.
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The Defense Nobody Mentions
It’s kind of weird how the defense gets overshadowed. Maybe it’s because they didn’t have a "Super Bowl Shuffle" or a "Steel Curtain" nickname. But Richie Petitbon, the defensive coordinator, was a mad scientist.
They shut out three opponents. They held the Browns to 14, the Eagles to 13, and the Giants to 17. Charles Mann and Fred Stokes were monsters on the edge. Wilbur Marshall was playing like a man possessed at linebacker. And the secondary? Darrell Green was still the fastest man in the league, and Brad Edwards was a ball hawk at safety.
They were physical. Brutally so. They didn't just play "contain" defense; they dictated what the offense was allowed to do. If you tried to run, the interior line stuffed you. If you tried to pass, Petitbon sent a blitz you hadn't seen on film yet.
The Road to Minneapolis
The regular season was a 14-2 masterclass. Their only losses were by a combined five points. One was a strange game against the Cowboys where they just couldn't get traction, and the other was a meaningless season finale against the Eagles where they rested starters.
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Once the playoffs hit, the 1991 Washington Redskins season went from great to legendary.
- They dismantled the Falcons 24-7 in a rain-soaked RFK Stadium. Fans were literally ripping seat cushions out and throwing them like Frisbees.
- They crushed the Lions again, 41-10, in the NFC Championship.
- Super Bowl XXVI was a foregone conclusion. They went up 24-0 on the Buffalo Bills before the Bills even realized what was happening. Rypien won MVP, the Hogs dominated the line of scrimmage, and the franchise secured its third ring in a decade.
The Legacy of a Forgotten Dynasty
Why doesn't this team get more love?
Maybe it's because Joe Gibbs was so humble. He wasn't a celebrity coach. He was a guy who slept on a cot in his office and worked 20-hour days. Maybe it's because the team lacked a "superstar" in the way we think of Joe Montana or Lawrence Taylor. They were just a collective of incredibly talented, disciplined professionals who executed a complex game plan perfectly.
But if you look at the strength of schedule and the margin of victory, the '91 Washington team stands alone. They didn't have a weakness. You couldn't run on them, you couldn't pass on them, and you certainly couldn't stop them from scoring.
Actionable Insights for Football Historians
To truly understand the brilliance of this season, don't just watch the highlights. Dig into the specifics of their dominance to see how it changed the game.
- Study the "Hogs" blocking schemes: Watch how Joe Gibbs used "Counter Trey" and "Power" runs to manipulate defensive fronts. It became the blueprint for the modern power-running game.
- Analyze the Special Teams: Don't overlook the impact of Brian Mitchell. His field position gains were a massive part of why the offense always had a short porch.
- Review the DVOA rankings: Look at how Football Outsiders compares this team to others. The 1991 Redskins' dominance was statistically significant across every metric of efficiency.
- Watch the 1991 NFC Championship: It’s a masterclass in how to nullify a high-powered offense (the Lions' "Silver Stretch" Run and Shoot) using disciplined zone blitzes and physical man coverage.
The 1991 season was the pinnacle of the Joe Gibbs era. It was a team built on the idea that if you are bigger, smarter, and more disciplined than the person across from you, you don't need luck. You just need sixty minutes.