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Success is about luck. Success is sweat and blood and sacrifice. It is luck. It is smarts.

This is part of a special series where we will count down the NFL's greatest franchises by a set of criteria (fans, success, future and star power). In this version, I rank the success of every NFL franchise.

To do so, I've created a 100-point scoring system that takes into account Super Bowl appearances and victories, conference titles, division titles, playoff appearances and overall winning percentage.

But since there is no exact formula for such an undertaking, there will be an element of subjectivity. Some of this is my opinion, but as someone who has covered the sport for over 25 years—and even covered some of these great franchises (yeah, I'm old)—I do bring a unique perspective to these rankings.

Part of solving this equation is longevity. Teams that won in the 1970s don't get more points than teams that did in the 1990s. But consistency is part of the answer, too. A franchise that's won throughout the decades does get a little extra weight.

The quotes used were taken from various online sources. I also acquired some of the quotes firsthand from players and coaches.

Success is calculable. The numbers don't tell all of the story, but they tell a great deal. Winning a Super Bowl is the culmination of those success factors. It's the hardest thing to do in sports: get a large number of ego-driven men, each with his own successful past, to jell and win a title.

"Champions are champions not because they do anything extraordinary," Steelers Hall of Fame coach Chuck Noll once said, "but because they do ordinary things better than everyone else."