Heinz Kluetmeier/SI, Walter Iooss Jr./SI
In his second stint in Minnesota (1972-78), Tarkenton played seven seasons for Grant, winning consecutive six division titles and reaching the Super Bowl three times. The Vikings lost all three of their Super Bowl appearances -- to three AFC powers, Miami, Pittsburgh and Oakland -- but Grant and Tarkenton together won 69 regular season games and seven more in the playoffs.
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Though they never scaled the NFL's highest peak, there's room on our list for this underrated pairing, which led Buffalo to four consecutive Super Bowl trips in the early 1990s. Kelly and Levy won using the Bills' K-Gun no-huddle offense, which featured multiple formation calls that confused defenses and did not allow them to substitute and match up against the potent Bills.
John Biever/SI
Holmgren and Favre were together for seven years in Green Bay, 1992-98, never once missing the playoffs during that span. They won a Super Bowl in 1996, and were denied back-to-back titles in an upset by Denver in 1997. But the defining legacy of their time was how Holmgren managed to tame the wild mustang of a quarterback that Favre was when he arrived from Atlanta before the 1992 season.
Walter Iooss Jr./SI
The Cowboys' coach/quarterback tandem produced four Super Bowl appearances in the eight-year span of 1971-78, with a pair of rings to show for it. In our book, that stretch of sustained excellence outweighs any claim that might be made on behalf of Jimmy Johnson and Troy Aikman, whose five-year relationship produced back-to-back Super Bowl titles for Dallas in 1992-93.
Walter Iooss Jr./SI
Dan Marino dominates both the NFL and the Dolphins' record books for his passing feats, but it was Griese who was under center when Shula won his two Super Bowl rings. The 1971-73 Dolphins went to three consecutive Super Bowls, going 44-6-1 in that span, the centerpiece of which was their 17-0 perfect season in 1972.
Heinz Kluetmeier/SI
These two didn't even particularly like each other for most of their early years together, but starting with 1974, when Bradshaw was installed as the Steelers' full-time No. 1 quarterback in midseason, Pittsburgh reeled off four Super Bowl wins in six seasons, which hasn't been equaled since.
Walter Iooss Jr./SI
In the eight-year span from 1960 to '67, the Packers went to either the NFL Championship or Super Bowl six times, winning their final five appearances. The Packers remain the only NFL team to win three consecutive league titles (1965-67), and the calm, cool-headed Starr was the ideal trigger man to execute Lombardi's relentless quest for perfection.
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Building a dynasty in the age of the NFL's salary cap, the Patriots have had these two as cornerstones. In so many ways, Brady is the perfect quarterback for the demanding Belichick, playing the role of his on-field alter ego, and in essence becoming a coach in uniform. Brady is both smart and instinctive, and says and does everything the way Belichick wants.
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Going strictly by results, the pairing of Brown and Graham in Cleveland has no peers. They were together for 10 years in pro football (four in the AAFC, six in the NFL), and went to the championship game of their league every year, winning seven times (four in the AAFC, three in the NFL). Their 105-17-4 record in that decade seems unbreakable.
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In their 10 seasons together (1979-88) in San Francisco, they won three Super Bowls and made the playoffs seven times. But the best part of their partnership was how Walsh drafted Montana in the third round in 1979 and helped mold him from the ground up. Montana was already a clutch quarterback when he arrived from Notre Dame. Playing for Walsh, he became a great quarterback, and the game's preeminent performer in the 1980s.
